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Anyhow, late last winter I started looking around for a replacement to update my daily driver 1st gen CTS-V, and the 5th and 6th gen Camaros were my logical go-to for a nice practical daily driver. So I ended up doing the right thing and picking up a 2010 6 speed SS Hennessey HPE650 with only 3600 miles on her. Perfect, got my Camaro fix right ? Naaaahhhhh.... it just further fueled my itch to own a 1st gen.
So a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a 69 RS that's been sitting under a cover in a garage since July of 1990 (That's when the plate on it had expired anyway). Not the original engine, the VIN indicates it was a V8 car, but the trim tag makes sense if it was an RS but not RS/SS. Currently has a 396/325 and a TH400 in it. Some rust, but not excessive... Rockers are solid, fenders are solid, subframe looks good, bottom of the doors look good, a little bubbling starting around the rear window trim molding and the captain's side rear wheel well. Paint job is probably a 1982 Earl Scheib... but it's mostly there, so I can live with it. Interior is very good, minus the carpet and dash pad. Air conditioning and heater had been deleted, probably when the drivetrain was swapped. So again, I did the right thing and dragged her home.
A week later, I had rebuilt the brakes and the carb, done a little tune-up, and gotten a set of wheels and tires for it. I tested on her properly, and verified that the high performance 4 wheel manual drum brakes can hold her from slamming through the garage while I broke in the rear tires in the driveway, and help fight the neighborhood mosquito plague So it was time to slide a new plate on it and start daily driving it. In the meantime, I've gone ahead and redone that carpeting and slapped in an aftermarket dash pad, swapped the original small block radiator out, dropped the tank and put a new sender in, swapped in some fresh oil pressure, temp, and volt gauges, put some new valve cover gaskets on, and probably a few things I'm forgetting.
So I've finally scratched that original itch, and crossed off a bucket list item...
...and looking at the pic, it's occurring to me that cleaning the blue off the raised white letters wouldn't be all that much work, lol
08-25-2021 | 06:51 PM
New to the forum - Greets from the Motor City
So it was time to slide a new plate on it and start daily driving it. In the meantime, I've gone ahead and redone that carpeting and slapped in an aftermarket dash pad, swapped the original small block radiator out, dropped the tank and put a new sender in, swapped in some fresh oil pressure, temp, and volt gauges, put some new valve cover gaskets on, and probably a few things I'm forgetting.
