- Joined
- Apr 12, 2019
- Messages
- 28
- Reaction Score
- 0
- Points
- 26
This has got to be my favorite car from my youth. I believe I bought this used when I was 18 years old for $1100 in Danbury, CT. When I got it, it was bird egg blue. The outside was light blue and the inside was light blue. I couldn't stand the color, so I painted it metallic gray. As you can see from these very old photos (27 years ago), I didn't really know how to paint, even though I worked at an auto body shop. The front bumper is darker than the rest of the car. But it made me feel better not being blue. I was actually going to paint it black and tried to do that one night, but all the paint dripped and I had to start from scratch.
The car came with a 305 engine. I don't remember what I did with that, but I do remember rebuilding a 350 in my garage for it. I cleaned it all up, got the heads redone, put in new piston and rings, bearings, a sweet and very fast cam (172/184 - I can't believe I remember that) and an awesome carburetor. It was a Holley 650 double pumper 4-barrel. I must have said that about a thousand times to my friends. When the secondaries kicked in, the car took off. It was a 4-speed, so I was always chirping second and third. That was the hot thing to do.
I also put on an Edelbrock manifold and probably a high volume oil pump. Those were the days. Those aluminum valve covers are from an old Chevy 327. My father owned that and I took the valve covers from it. I loved building this engine. I used to look at it every night in the garage. The camshaft and the carburetor made it fast.
After working at the body shop for a while, I got pretty good at bodywork. I did a bunch of repairs to the car and fixed some rust by cutting out the bad parts and welding in some patch panels. Then, I had a guy in the shop paint it for me. I chose red. The car looked mint.
I painted the interior with black paint and put on seat covers. I glued some fabric onto the ceiling. I did an okay job for a teenager. I eventually traded this car for my friend's 1982 Chevy Z28.
The car came with a 305 engine. I don't remember what I did with that, but I do remember rebuilding a 350 in my garage for it. I cleaned it all up, got the heads redone, put in new piston and rings, bearings, a sweet and very fast cam (172/184 - I can't believe I remember that) and an awesome carburetor. It was a Holley 650 double pumper 4-barrel. I must have said that about a thousand times to my friends. When the secondaries kicked in, the car took off. It was a 4-speed, so I was always chirping second and third. That was the hot thing to do.
I also put on an Edelbrock manifold and probably a high volume oil pump. Those were the days. Those aluminum valve covers are from an old Chevy 327. My father owned that and I took the valve covers from it. I loved building this engine. I used to look at it every night in the garage. The camshaft and the carburetor made it fast.
After working at the body shop for a while, I got pretty good at bodywork. I did a bunch of repairs to the car and fixed some rust by cutting out the bad parts and welding in some patch panels. Then, I had a guy in the shop paint it for me. I chose red. The car looked mint.
I painted the interior with black paint and put on seat covers. I glued some fabric onto the ceiling. I did an okay job for a teenager. I eventually traded this car for my friend's 1982 Chevy Z28.
