C2 - What would it be work?

[Donald H.]

Re: C2 - What would it be work?

Don,
The motor is one of the hot buttons, if you have to rebore it - you can't see if from the outside, it looks original. A good restorer is going to have all that kind of work documented as a part of the cars' history versus those that hide the restamped motor passing down the line and eventually it becomes original again. You know what they say, its original only once. If you fit to the NCRS definition of restoration you are going to be very close, but not enough for Bloomington in certain cases.

Bottom line is you should have proper fasteners and proper finishes on all the parts - that comes from tons of hours invested in studying AIMS, GM parts books, this forum, and most importantly go see known un touched original cars when they show up. With all that as a bill of material you can put one of these back to factory appearance.

My opinion is you are going to pay a premium for a 67 because its a 67 and you can still find decent driving originals that are not completely destroyed inside or out, you were probably looking at 67's when a red 66 327 one owner sold a while back for about 33k.

To be sure on safety you should go through the suspension rubber and brakes, the driveline will let you know if it needs work, engines, clutches, etc all tell you when they need attention.

You need to look at this as GM had cars designed back then that needed tons of work at 50,000 miles, alternators, starters, shocks, brakes, tires, etc. So parts are going to have to be replaced and its what you replace them with, restored original, NOS, or repop heaven.

My advice on body color is different perhaps than others, around most NCRS shows a wrong color car is like they will treat you like you raped the car - been there done that, but the REAL key is to see how many times the car has been stripped, hit, repainted and repainted without being stripped. You have to look real close at claims of never been hit or never been repainted, but if you find a documented original paint or one repaint car, the body will have seen less machines grinding out all the body lines and curve detail that one that has been the subject of 3 or 4 repaints. Yes, those lines can be fixed, for a lot of money.

Advice on cars on the flee, those that are sold by car flippers are going to have paint dustings and other fast and cheap ways to make the car look better (than they really are) to sell it fast. You have to find the private sellers.

Tom hit the nail pretty straight - you'll be upside down, and I don't expect the market to be strong anytime soon, if ever again, so you have to make this as it is, a hobby and get the car you want or can make.

Thanks,

Part of my problem, is I know what I want and often am blinded by that. Case in point is the 60 I have now, I wanted a 60, not a 59 or 61 or 62, and I wanted Roman Red with White coves. After a 9 month search I finally bought one off Ebay and paid way to much for what I got. But I have learned a lot working on this car over the last 1 1/2 year. I have literally taken every nut and bolt off the car. You learn a lot by doing this yourself

So If I define originality as period and date correct on parts that are dated, and are original GM parts, then these parts are considered original. For example I bought a correct starter and was able to find a correct solenoid with a correct bakelite cap.

Another way to look at it may be if a knowledgeable person, e.g. a NCRS judge, looks at a part or something with the car and can not tell that it was not original to the car, then it essentially is original

I sort of got side tracked from the original intent of this thread, but I am trying to make my 60 as close to original as possible and that I can afford. And yes, I am already way under water on this car. When you pay $650 for a set of original restored horns, or $500 plus for a restored original and date correct generator, like I did last year at Carlisle, and on and on it isn't possible to not be under water.

Thanks,