Thread: They're still out there. Garage/Barn Finds

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The engine compartment picture kind of reminds me of a 69 Bonneville convertible we had come into the shop I worked at 20 years ago. Our customer had inherited it from an Uncle who had passed. He was really excited about it and came by the shop to tell us about it. He told us his uncle had bought it new and it had less than 30K on it and had been in storage for years. The car had been in Texas all its life so it should be almost perfect. He hadn’t seen the car yet but was having it shipped to our shop to so we could check it out prior to starting to drive it.

Well the car finally arrived and the rust and corrosion was as bad or worse than it is on the Vette…..and it was everywhere. Seems that all its life in Texas was in the Corpus Christi area on the coast (all that salt air). To make the car presentable would have taken a complete restoration. Long story short, the car was parted and the 455 and TH400 are now living happily in a Firebird body.

The Corvette is still a neat find and worth restoring but I’d have to think long and hard about whether I’d want to take on that much work. (OK if I was in love with Corvettes I'd do it god knows we've all started with less).


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Nice find but with that much rust showing I'd have to do a frame off. People don't think about how much steel there is in a Vett. OH yes I would do it I've done them before.