crawfish333

Ok here is the deal. I just purchased a 1972 coupe with 49100 miles. Everything currently works on the car. The paint is original and is glossy. It does however have a few small chips. Interior is all original and seat covers are in good condition, as is the carpet. The carpet does have some light stains, but is fairy presentable? Under the hood, it appears the alternator and vacuum canisters have been replaced. The other stuff apprears to be stock. Engine and transmission are numbers matching originals.

I am not planning to do a full on restoration on the car, because it does not need it. Having said that, I would like to do some cosmetic work like using some touch up paint on the chips. I might also want to get under the car and paint the frame parts. I also would probably paint under hood areas. The radio is not stock and i would like to replace it with one that looks stock.

Should I leave it as it? I.E. Does the adage "it is only orginal once" apply here?

On the radio, is it worth seeking out and finding a working example of a 1972 Corvette radio, or just finding one that looks stock?

Will using the touch up paint be a plus or a minus?

I might want new carpet and seats that are similar to stock. Would this be a plus or a minus?

I would hate to do something that I would regret it later. I am asking for your opinions just to bounce these ideas off of someone else before I go all in.

The Hot Rod Grille

Pics? I'm one for saying leave the car alone if it is in as good condition as you describe. My '70 LS-5 has original paint and interior with some small flaws, so I totally understand your situation. Whenever I take the car to a local event, it always generates a lot of interest from the spectators. Often they will walk past restored cars to focus on my "survivor" example. You can always restore the car at some time in the future, but you can never get back the originality once it is lost due to a restoration. Preservation, not restoration!

Jim

Revi

Since the car seems to be very original, I would leave as much original as possible, but that's just me.

Replacing the radio won't hurt one way or the other. Mechanical items can always be un-done. Same with replacing the carpet/seat covers, just depends how bad they are. If you can save them....great, but at some point they are too far gone to use.

Before painting the frame or under hood areas, I would do a thorough cleaning and see how it looks first. Again, at some point they are too far gone to use.

I'm local, up in Argyle. PM if you'd like to talk.

Easy Mike

I would, but the choice is yours.

Any 68-76 Corvette radio will fit the bezel provided the PO did not cut the bezel for the aftermarket unit. You can find working 72 units, mono and stereo, depending upon what you want.

Toss up. With new touch up paint, it may be difficult to get a good color match with your existing stock paint. A slight mismatch may not be visible in small areas.

Your choice. Stock upholstery and carpet kits are available.

Congrats on the 72.

billschroeder5842

If it were me, I'd keep it as original as much as possible.

Don't let the small "battle scars" from stone chips and the like bother you. If you restore the car to near perfection you will be freaked every time you drive and park.

Alan 71

Hi C,
There are lot's of knowledgable 70-72 people throughout Texas. Perhaps you might want to have someone take a look at your car in hopes that they can give you their opinion of just what you have and then what advice they might give you about how to proceed.
If the idea of having as an original a car intrigues you then you should certainly strive to limit what you do to it to those things that need to be done for you to be able to enjoy the car the way YOU want to.
If you decide to replace some things, (and that's o.k.), I would encourage you to save EVERYTHING you replace on the car if you even just have even a hint that it might be the original part the car left St.Louis with.
Perhaps if you'd post a few pictures of the car folks could give you an idea of what THEY would do with this car.
Not a bad predicament you find yourself in!
Pictures?
Regards,
Alan

crawfish333

Alan,

I tried to post pictures on Monday night, but I cannot figure out how to make them small enough to upload. I will try again tonight though and if I am successful, I will post a link to this thread. I think I have some Nikon software at home that I can install to make it happen. I understand that my car is not particularly rare and all of that, but it is close to original. I have always wanted a 2 bumper C3, so I am very excited about it.

Alan 71

Hi C,
I use a Nikon camera and upload my photos to Photobucket.
I use the 640x480 size which seems to be pretty typical of what people upload and post here.
Regards,
Alan

crawfish333

Ok I was finally able to post some pictures in this thread:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1592917941

20mercury

My 2 cents:

Beautiful 72 Corvette and great color!!! Targa Blue maybe?

I like originality so since this one started out in your hands as original, I would keep it as original as practical, particularly keeping the original engine and trans since both have the vin derivative. On the other hand, if the alternator goes out, I would not hesitate to install an Autozone alternator and store the one that came with the Corvette.

On things like painting the frame and touch up paint. I would do both in a heartbeat. Wire brushing and painting the frame with a rust convertor paint helps preserve and maintain the frame from additional rusting. So this would be maintenance to me by a caring Corvette owner. On touch up paint, yes, it true it may not match 100%, but again you are preserving and extending the looks of the original paint job.

So I believe it goes back to your world view and what is important to each person, no answer is right or wrong. You might want to not do anything for 6 months, keep a list, and then decide where you want to go.

bj1k

I will only comment on one of your questions and that will be about paint touchup . There is no faster way to de-value an original paint car than to do a sloppy touchup and by that I mean just slopping the paint on the nicks. The proper way to touch up the chips is to use a very small fine pointed brush and start with a very small dab of paint in the center of the chip and flow the paint to the edges of the chip so the paint doesn't flow past the edge of the paint chip . If you do it this way after dried the paint chip can be leveled with some light wet sanding using ultra fine sandpaper and polished out and often invisible depending on the chip size and shape.

shok

I would keep it as clean and shiny as possible and only touch up the chips if it is done in a professional manner as described above.

JohnnyQuik

I agree that poorly applied touch up paint is a whole lot worse than leaving the existing chips and calling it "patina." Unless you have previous detailing experience color sanding and polishing with a rotary, find a competent professional to do the work. On a driver quality respray, using a small hypo needle to "inject" paint in the chip and removing the bulge with Lagnka blob remover or similar works well enough and can be done by almost anyone. However on a valuable original paint job, you need to match the paint exactly, apply it exactly, and know how to level and buff the touch up to make it invisible.

7T1vette

The most important question to ask you is, "Do you really care about maintaining maximum value of the car while you own it?" If you plan on keeping the car for several [or many] years and you are planning on driving the car, then keeping it perfectly "original" is really not worth the effort.

Now, if you want to 'flip' the car and make some money (unless you paid a stiff premium for a "numbers matching" car when you bought it), you could do a quality touch-up job on the paint nicks, remove and clean the carpet well & reinstall, and find an original radio and alternator for it.

Otherwise, fix the nicks and then give it a good "cut-n-buff" to get the most out of what paint you have left; put the radio/speakers you need {for the tunes you want} in the car; and just keep it maintained well while you are enjoying it. If you do sell it in the future, you will still get a decent amount for the car if you keep it in good condition.