1966 Corvette project, will I finish before I die?
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:21 pm
In 1971 I purchased a 1966 Corvette coupe. It is a L79, 327/350. 4 speed car, Milano Maroon. A member of this forum, Maverick, suggested I document whats been going on for the last 30 or so years. Actually, as i remember it, Maverick was with me when I bought the car and we brought it home together. If I remember correctly, it was about one week before the 1971 NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown NJ. That would make it around July 1971. The Summernationals is only noteworthy because that was our (maverick and me) first road trip with the vette. Son of a gun was a quick car! Any way, thats not the story I plan on telling. I wish I had pictures of the car when I bought it, but I do not. From 1971 through 1977 i used the vette as my every day car. By that time it had changed some. In 974 (i think), it developed some valve train problems, so I decided to have the motor rebuilt. The work was done at a local speedshop, machine shop, and led to a friendship (and partnership in race cars) that is still strong today. I'll revisit that later in this saga (and this is a saga). The car was fun, but it did need maintenance. The aluminum radiator leaked. In those days i could get a replacement aluminum radiator from the J.C. Whitney catalog (and a heck of a lot cheaper than the one I got a few years ago from DeWitts). I put Ansen Sprint aluminum slotted wheels on it with Firestone polyglas wide ovals. I had to put 2 inch spacers under the ear spring for clearance (these came from Whitney too). Finally I put Hooker sidepipes on it. They were quite loud. When i bought the car it had some paint issues, paint was peeling on one fender, and the chrome on the rear bumpers was starting to rust. So i decided to get it repainted.
For the grand total of $700 and 4 months in the bodyshop, it came back as a 1966 Cadillac color, Tropic Green Firemist. A dark Green metallic color.
If I figure out how to upload pictures, I have a paint chip chart from 1966 with the color.
Anyway The car was now newly painted, motor rebuilt and strong (totally stock) tastefully (to my taste) customized with "mag" type wheels and chrome (loud) sidepipes. This is how it was until the fateful day in 1978 when a rear brake caliper failed. No, it didn't crash. Luckily for me i was backing out of the garage when the brake pedal went to the floor. I put it back in first real quick and got back in the garage, stopping with the hand brake. This was the second caliper to fail. Anybody who has owned older vettes knows how the caliper bores and pistons would corrode (damn brake fluid is hydroscopic!), so any "smart" guy would have had all four calipers sleeved with stainless stee and stainless pistons. Oh well, I guess I wasn't one of them. That began a long period of "downtime. I'll get into that tomorrow. I'm tired of typing and if anyone is reading this, I will spare you more until then. And if I fiure out how to upload pictures, I'll start that, and lighten up on the text. (But this does seem cathartic for me)
For the grand total of $700 and 4 months in the bodyshop, it came back as a 1966 Cadillac color, Tropic Green Firemist. A dark Green metallic color.
If I figure out how to upload pictures, I have a paint chip chart from 1966 with the color.
Anyway The car was now newly painted, motor rebuilt and strong (totally stock) tastefully (to my taste) customized with "mag" type wheels and chrome (loud) sidepipes. This is how it was until the fateful day in 1978 when a rear brake caliper failed. No, it didn't crash. Luckily for me i was backing out of the garage when the brake pedal went to the floor. I put it back in first real quick and got back in the garage, stopping with the hand brake. This was the second caliper to fail. Anybody who has owned older vettes knows how the caliper bores and pistons would corrode (damn brake fluid is hydroscopic!), so any "smart" guy would have had all four calipers sleeved with stainless stee and stainless pistons. Oh well, I guess I wasn't one of them. That began a long period of "downtime. I'll get into that tomorrow. I'm tired of typing and if anyone is reading this, I will spare you more until then. And if I fiure out how to upload pictures, I'll start that, and lighten up on the text. (But this does seem cathartic for me)