Hello, came across true ss 369 69 convertible, matching, with doc but needs to be restored. 369 is running but needs to be rebuilt so is tranny. Floor needs replacing, and have rust issues. Thing is I have no idea where to start or know anyone who has done it before and have a shop to restore. I can buy it for 17k but my guess is I will be out over 50k or more by the time I am done.
My gut says this is a money pit unless I am able to do most of it myself and better to look for restored 67-69 convertible even though not matching and not big block. Wanted to hear from the forum because if this is restored, it will be one of the rare ones.

 

Follow your gut. If you have to pay to get everything done, you could easily go over your estimate depending on how bad the car really is to start with. I say "really" because some serious rust issues can be hidden and aren't discovered until the time the body gets stripped. Unless you absolutely have to have an all numbers matching big block convertible, you'd be better off finding one that's already restored. Oh, and the engine is a 396, not 369.

 

You need to be very careful buying rag tops with floor rust issues. Remember the floor and rocker panels are structural. The GM engineers did not want to put the big block in the first gen due to rigidity. They were out voted by marketing. Unlike the hard top the rocker panels are very important and there connection to the cowl must be as close to as strong as stock as possible. Rag tops with rocker and floor rust should be restored on a jig to hold the in place or you could be welding a car together out of whack. With hard tops you can just brace everything up when you replace your body panels and floors but on a rag top the rusty car is already sagging just sitting there and needs to be forced back into stock shape before repairs can begin.

Unless you are doing the work yourself the dynacorn replacement body is most likely cheaper than getting a rusted ragtop rebuilt right. If you look at other cars you should have someone that knows what to look for check it out. There are a lot of cars out there that have been repaired externally but did not have the internal repaired and there are a lot of car that do not quite sit right because they were not assembled on a jig.

If you head over to V8 TV and watch the series for the Royal Purple 69 Camaro you can get a lot of info. It is the best coverage I have seen on buying a rusty rag top and what is involved. Funny part is the car even fooled very experienced restoration guys. It is pretty scary.

 

Camaro 69, thanks for the advice and the correction (yah, it was late at night after thinking about what to do). For some reason, I got my mind set on a convertible. big block and number mathing would be nice but can't afford buy the ones restored already. I've seen some nice restored ones with 350 so looks like that will do.

 

Gorn, awesome information. thank you. sounds like 350 is better with the first-gen camaro rag tops.. This is the first time I heard about V8TV. Looks like very informative site. but i was not able to find this royal purple 69 series about restoring rsuted rag tops. do you know the exact url for the video? Thanks

 

If the car was priced lower and if you were able to do the work, then that might be a different story, but I'll be the third party to say, I think your gut is right, sorry.

On projects like what your looking at, it doesn't take long to find out you spent more then what was in your budget.

My brother-in-law wanted a 78 Trans Am, so he saw a black 78 with the big bird on the hood. He paid $4500 for it, and now between paying me and another shop he has more then tripled his original cost and the car is still in need of a lot of help. On top of that, I had to be the one to tell him, it was a fake T/A.

So just be careful on what you're buying and you did the right thing buy asking first and following your gut.

 

Try this. I thing there is a DVD available if you want more details. There was more info on the site while they where doing it with almost daliy updates.

V8TV, Muscle Car Of The Week, V8 Speed & Resto Shop 314.783.8325 - 1969 Royal Sport Camaro

 

bruce69camaro, I agree you. If you can do the work yourself and/or have friends who can help out, I think it's best to look for restored ones. I got interested in this one due to it being documented rare 69 396 camaro convertible and thought of getting it restored over next years.

 

Gorn, thanks. I will try that.
By the way, I see you have 67 rs/ss. When I go to car shows, what I notice is that mostly I see 69 rag tops. I also see more 69 on sale than 68, and 69s seem to command higher prices in general. There were about the same number of convertibles made in 68 and 69. I personally like 68, but was wondering 69 may have better resale values.

 

Across the board the 69's do better in sales rag top or not. I love the 67 because you don't have to prove anything. All the options are listed right on the cowl tag. With the 68 or 69 it almost impossible to prove the car is original. Just about anything can be faked.

Well, you could fake the cowl tag but I bought mine long enough ago that it was not worth it money wise to have a tag made.