This 1969 427 Corvette arrived at Route 66 Restorations, as many projects do, on a flatbed truck, disassembled without any parts labeled.  It had been to two shops before arriving here.  Oh well, no job too small.

When this Vette was purchased new back in ’69 the owner immediately spent huge sums of money to screw it up by chroming everything.  They chromed the oil pan, front suspension, rear suspension, the drive and output shafts, the radiator, the hood lock latch…..everything.  Better yet, they put a Camaro front end on it and Firebird tail lights, and flared the fenders.  Thankfully that Camaro/Firebird jazz was undone by the time it arrived here at Route 66 Restorations, Inc.

Our job is to get it back as close to original as possible, but not be overly obsessive about it as tends to happen in the world of Corvette restoration.  We disassemled the car, and de-chromed the front and rear suspension, and everthing including the frame has been powder coated in a correct sheen satin black.   As can be seen in the photos below, the correct date and part number has been stenciled back onto the frame upside down just as it was found when we pulled the body. The frame has all been wrapped in paper and plastic so that it stays clean duing all the bodywork and paint phases.

The engine required extensive work and was de-tuned from over 13:1 down to about 10.25:1 by Maloof Racing Engines. The engine was painted with the bell housing attached so that the overspray from the engine would also get on the bell housing and bottom just as it would have at the factory. The original tri-carb manifold has also been repaired and re-installed.

We're making great progress on the car despite all the missing parts we're having to track down or work that the two previous shops have done that we're having to correct, undo, and or re-do. The nose has just been glued back on and it looks like a car again. We had to actually add fiberglass back to the door edges of the trailing edge of the nose as the previous shop had ground/cut away too much of it, leaving huge un-even door gaps, that weren't shaped to the doors.

As you can see below, the body now has a coat of gloss black. Any remaining flaws will be addressed and then it's ready for a coat of dazzling Lemans Blue! You can also see that the tri-carbs have been added, and we're getting close to being able to test run the engine.

Click on each picture below to see a larger version of the image.