LT2300

Anyone have a recommendation on a shop to (almost certainly) replace a front clip and (possibly / probably) repaint the rest? 1969 Roadster. I live just east of the south side of Joliet, IL. The car is driveable (daytime), but I don't want to go too far afield, if I can avoid it (so I can resonably check up on progress, among other things). Thanks.

COBrien

Phase 1 Coachworks in Tinley Park does fantastic work; without a doubt one of the best body shops around. Ask for Joe.

speedydog5

custom cars in Lagrange, are on high side but you get undeniable the best job
http://www.customcarsunlimited.com/

LT2300

Very late posting this, but I got it back in July. Most of the delay was due to to getting fiberglass pieces.

Midwest Corvette, Manhattan Illinois (Marty Babich, 815-478-3344) did the work. A whole lot of thought went into picking a color, and waiting for the 'glass gave me a lot of time. It had originally been yellow, and I had it repainted white after tiring of the yellow (I've had it for 36 years, second owner). I happened to see a '78 he'd done in this color, and it really struck me. Seeing the car again in bright sunshine at Bill Jacobs Chevrolet's annual Vette show convinced me this was the right choice. Photographs don't do it justice.

The quality of the work -- both repairing the original damage and some I'd been totally unaware of in the rear. The paint is flawless. People who are in the business have been impressed, by the bodywork (individual 'glass sections, not a one-piece) and the paint. As I said, the pictures don't really tell the story.

Interior (seats and center cushion) re-done by Mark's Custom Interiors in New Lenox, IL (815-485-2277) -- recommended by Marty. That's a light gray Alcantara on the seating surfaces. Nice stuff and very nice work.

More pictures, including a couple of the original damage, in my album.

VetteTech81

I've met him before, when we were members of glass impressions corvette club. Seemed like a nice guy and had some really nice work. We left the club because of the lack of time to goto any of the events, but nice people.
-=Rick

Matatk

Glad you found a good shop. Pictures?

Matthew

LT2300

If stupid hurts (with which I agree), I'm a pain-causer.

I loaded pictures into my profile, but then couldn't figure out how to add more. Further, they're apparently not available to anyone else, which was not my intent, since I have access to them any time in my own files. Also, I changed my profile picture to the new one, and that apparently hasn't taken effect yet, either.

So I need technical help navigating in here. How can I load more pictures, how can I make them available to anyone, and how can I make the profile picture change visible?

I am such a dork sometimes.

Matatk

Do you have a photobucket account (or any other free ones, flikr, etc)? That's the easiest way I know of. Load them up and then use the img tags to post them here.

Matthew

LT2300

I don't have photobucket. My profile allowed me to create an album. I then went back and added a couple more pictures. When I later tried to add a few more, I couldmn't figure out how to do it, and apparently that album isn't accessible by anyone else anyway, which kinda blew my mind. What good is an album that only I can access? I already have the pictures! Also, as I said, when I access my profile, my picture has changed, but it's not showing up in my postings. And I thought I was pretty compter literate!

jimmac28

I have to agree they do great work but you pay for it.

LT2300

Finally! I had to go to another link, using tinypic (http://tinypic.com/) given by another member, to figure out how to do this. Each picture took a separate set of actions to save, copy and paste the [IMG] link, but they're finally here.

Now if I can onlyfigure out how to change my signature picture ...

The pictures: four "before" (a tear still tends to form when I look at them), several "after" (some before I added wheels to the mix, some after), a couple of the interior, and a couple more of the engine. One of the latter is one on the hoist just before going in, to show the Tremec TKO600 (Keisler).

Subjective, of course, but I had a roommate in college who had a (new then -- I'm obviously old) '67 435/427 coupe, and my butt tells me that this 383 is stronger. Edelbrock Performer RPM heads and roller cam kit. With the 2101 manifold that I've had for 25+ years and that Edlebrock told me to keep because I know it fits unter the hood, they estimated the neighborhood of 440HP / 440 lb-ft. Tt feels about right. Giving away no more than 5-10 HP without an RPM manifold

; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Quick Silver Z

I love the after, the before, not so much!

dun4791

Looks good, I prefer the rallye wheels. Why does it sit so high?

LT2300

Forgive me -- I always thought Norm Crosby's malaprops were funny. If you're under 40 (maybe 50), you'll have to Google him.

Anyway, the rockers are black. The car was originally yellow and I thought black set it off better than argent, so I changed it all around (rockers, vents, wheels).

When I made it white I continued that.

This time Marty actually painted the vents argent, but I didn't like the look and went back to black.

One more factor probably contributes to the impression it sits high. For the side-on view at my house it's sitting over a seam in the concrete driveway and it's slightly concave in that particular spot. I didn't notice the effect when I took the picture, but saw it myself when I looked at it on-screen.

I think if you look at the wheel to wheelwell relationship -- with both wheel types -- you'll see what I mean. The springs are relatively new, too -- no sag.

I always liked the rallyes, too, and never had any inclination to change when it was yellow or white, but I saw those and decided to make a switch. They're 17", too, which was also a factor in my decision.

It's not very evident from the pictures but, although different, on the car in most light they look to be the same color as the car. I've had a number of positive comments about that and even been asked if they were painted to match.

540i 6spd

looks good!

VetteTech81

Nice!

baja216

Marty does good work. I've had him do a lot of mechanical work on my '80.

Breze84

Car looks good but your front tire seems to tall or something, Kind of odd looking... I would try to give the car more of a raked look with either a larger rear rim and smaller front or go with a thinner side wall tire on the front... Looks good otherwise