Jeff Helms '67 L78 El Camino at MCACN

[67since67]

If this state-of-the-art Jeff Helms/Terry Davis restoration didn't stop you in your tracks, you weren't paying attention! Jeff (jeffschevelle) doesn't find much time to post on boards, but his level of detail and dedication to authenticity is incredible!!
Two other cars built on the same assembly line with 30 days of this one were used as reference for things like hanging the rad support from the hole that allows paint runs same direction as original, to unseen details like sourcing matching roof insulation and duplicating oversprays and markings on the interior side of the firewall, even tough these would be covered up by headliner and firewall pad.
That level was carried through, around, under, inside and outside of the entire resto.

[Fast67VelleN2O]

I'm assuming since it's Jeff Helms we're talking about here, it must be an L78 El Camino.

[mockingbird812]

Handsome!!! More pix please!

[MosportGreen66]

This thing was over the top. I have more pics to share too.

We had the pleasure of spending time with Jeff (and Bill) at lunch at MCACN. Great dude who has an incredible collection.

Dan

[BJCHEV396]

Nice.Pics with the wheels on would be great!

[nova67]

Do we know of any other 67 Camino L 78 in existence?

[big gear head]

This same car was at MCACN 2 years earlier unfinished. Yes, it's a L78 4 speed, and it's fantastic. I got to spend a little time with Jeff both years.

[Steve Shauger]

Jeff's level to detail is unparalleled. He is an encyclopedia on manufacturing practices used in the manufacturing and assembly of 65, 66 & 67 chevelles. He has spent countless hours to replicate sound deadening, firewall pads and finishes to exacting factory standards. As Bill stated in the initial post if you missed Jeff's car put it on your bucket list. Just a warning he will spend at least an hour describing how a part was dipped painted, hung and why and were the drip originated.

[tom406]

My friends whom I consider THE most particular when it comes to detail were at MCACN with me this year and they were ALL floored by this El Camino, and dazzled by Jeff's attention to detail and the information he gladly shared with those who would ask.

[67since67]

Pics with the wheels on would be great!

Although I have dozens of pix of the restoration in progress I don't have one with the wheels on as Jeff and Terry were snapping on the trim rings on the show floor along with other final details.

I do have a couple from 2017, partially completed. Note the NOS spare tire with the Only-In-'67 white stripe, placed out near the tread.

By the way, I need one (or more) of these Firestone Wide Oval F70x14 in used condition if anyone can spare one.

[bashton]

Jeff and Terry are both great guys with incredible skills.

We are honored to have them as supporters of what we do at MCACN. Stay tuned to see what they are bringing to the show this year!

Bashton

[MJV1953]

Is this an example of the one year only 1967 Chevelle Firestone tire but mine is a 7.75x14?

[67since67]

Attached is an example of the '67 only Firestone Super Sports Wide Oval I was referring to. Note how the stripe is out towards the tread and all the model and size markings are inside of the stripe, same as Jeff's spare.

[442w30]

I've got the number of how many of these were built. Anyone want to guess the number?

[big gear head]

2?

[442w30]

Nah, way more than that.

[1967Z28]

34?

[442w30]

Cheater! :grin:

[GM Powertrain]

Would love to hear about the backstory and history of this incredible machine and maybe a pic or two before restoration perhaps?

[jeffschevelle]

Would love to hear about the backstory and history of this incredible machine and maybe a pic or two before restoration perhaps?

Thanks for the kind words. I’m late to the party, and finally got a chance to post here!

I’ll post some more pics of the finished product first. Then a couple of it before the restoration. The before pics aren’t great as I was mainly taking close up detail pics of various parts rather than “big picture” shots. Unfortunately due to a computer crash with inadequate backup, I lost all the excellent pics from the 2016 ebay auction by the fellow I bought the car from.

Then I’ll post the “story”. Fair warning, I might brag a little about the truck!

[jeffschevelle]

.

[jeffschevelle]

.

[jeffschevelle]

Left to Right - Joey Lewis (helps Terry Davis), me, Bill Wente, Orlando Cruz, and Terry Davis

[jeffschevelle]

Before

[jeffschevelle]

And here’s the story. Grab a snack because (as Steve noted) I can be long winded!

A very well known Chevelle enthusiast and author who is a friend of mine owned this truck back in 1990-1992 (before I knew him). He had told me about it a number of years ago, and gave me the VIN. I had been hunting it ever since. A VIN search on line told me the car was last registered in GA, but the search went cold there.

Then on a Friday afternoon in October 2017, Bill Wente (67since67) texted me alerting me to an ebay auction, and asked if this was the truck I had been hunting. I had the VIN in my wallet, and it matched! I snuck away from work and went and looked at it that day, since it was only 4 hours away.

There was plenty confirming it was a real factory L78. It had the Original block with virgin factory original stamps and broach marks, the Original late-67-only 840 heads, the correct aluminum intake, the Original L78-only 4-row radiator with finger guard correctly dated for the truck, and the Original L78 deep groove crank pulley and waterpump pulley.

After the thorough inspection and a test drive, the seller and I dickered for about an hour. When we got to $3K apart the negotiations stalled. Then his wife (who had been reading a book and appeared to be paying no attention at all to the entire conversation) suddenly laid her book down and said, “Boys, you are only $3,000 apart, quit being children, cut it in half, and end this!” So we did, and the deal was done. I went back and picked it up that weekend.

The truck also had the holes in the dash for the missing factory tach, and the correct real factory floor-shift tilt column and factory wood wheel. It also had the noise condenser on the heater motor wire and the extra body-to-frame ground strap that only came on FM radio cars. It also had a brake booster with the 67 Chevelle-only disc brake code, and a correct 67-68 only disc brake holdoff valve in place; but the calipers were 69 single piston. I asked my friend (the prior owner) about those items, and he said he removed the 4-piston calipers because they were leaking and sold them and the brackets, and installed the 69 calipers and brackets . He also snatched the FM out of it before he sold the truck in 1992, and sold it separately. He said he was also going to take the tilt column to sell separately, but (thank goodness) he didn't have a straight column at the time to install before the truck sold. So this was a very nicely optioned L78 truck!

The body was about as straight as one could hope for. The Malibu side trim had been removed, bucket seats added, an SS hood added, and some SS emblems. Re-opening the oval side trim clip holes in the exact correct locations and shape took some very careful work by Terry Davis, but he handled that flawlessly! And all the floor pans were in immaculate condition (other than the holes drilled for bucket seat bolts, which were an easy fix). The only rust repairs required were at the bottom corners of the back glass, and behind the right rear wheel.

The odometer showed a little over 28,500 miles, and based on the condition of everything I am inclined to believe that is actual.

There was a complete title history with the truck too, that had been obtained back before all the privacy laws made that so difficult. So I was able to find the widow of the original owner shortly after I bought it! She told me her late husband was the body shop manager at the dealership where the car was ordered. She also confirmed the tilt wheel and FM radio were factory options. She said he was a “big man” and always ordered tilts in his cars if possible. As to the FM, I asked why he would order that in Oklahoma back in 1967, and she said, “His friends asked him that too, but my husband was a visionary! He told them there will be stations, just wait and see!”

Overall he spec'd out a lot of good options:
.
“Elcamino Custom” trim level
L78 396/375
M21 close ratio 4-speed
3.55 Posi rear
F40 suspension
Power disc brakes
Front bumper guards
Tinted glass
Gauges and Tach
FM radio
Tilt Wheel
Wood wheel
Hood lamp
Courtesy lamps
Ash tray lamp
.
We found tell-tale signs on most of these items to verify that they were very likely factory, including original factory blue interior paint underneath the black on the tilt column and wood wheel hub, correct date code on the column, the FM noise capacitor and extra ground strap mentioned above, factory ash tray lamp attachment (rather than the dealer version), factory courtesy lamp wiring and factory attaching hardware (rather than the dealer accessory parts), factory tach holes in the dash with the tach extension harness still under the dash, correct brake booster code (which is nearly impossible to find) with correct date for the car, hood lamp wire chopped off and hanging under the inner fender, and factory bumper guard bolts rather than the hardware that came in the dealer accessory kits.

At least one of the prior owners apparently rarely saw a chrome or stainless bolt they didn’t like, so a lot of the underhood and suspension hardware was all wrong. So I bought an entire very low mileage 4-door car also built at the KC plant in the same time frame, and removed every single piece of hardware, and had it all correctly replated. There are precious few reproduction bolts or screws on this Elcamino! The donor had the same color interior too, which yielded many necessary medium blue interior parts in their correct original hues.

As to the restoration work, Terry Davis obviously did a fantastic job on the paint and body. I am a bit of a control freak, so I did a large portion of the detail work on component parts (like interior and suspension) and oversaw the details on about everything else, and Terry and I did the reassembly work together.

And Terry deserves a great deal of credit for having the patience to put up with me! I made him do crazy things like:

- All the engine parts were painted bare steel or cast first, then Tonawanda machining inspection marks and assembly inspection marks were added (copied from an unpainted NOS 1967 396 engine), and then the exhaust manifolds were installed. Then the orange paint. Why? You can see the inspection marks through the paint in the right light, and behind the manifolds and between the oil pan and clutch inspection cover show as mostly bare metal, just as a new engine arriving from Tonawanda would have in 1967.

- The rear axle was handled the same way, with appropriate bare metal colored paints first, then inspection marks, then correct black paint.

- We put visible runs on all the parts where the factory did. We dip-painted all the control arms and all the front inner sheet metal (even the bottom of the hood) just as the factory did, and hung each part from the same hole as the factory to get the runs going in exactly the correct directions.

- The tear down revealed the typical KC plant green primer along the inner rockers, which had huge runs going down onto the floor pans. We turned the body upside down on the rotisserie, painted the green where it belonged, then nuked that seam with green and quickly spun the body back over, which achieved an EXACT duplication of the factory runs. Then when the deepwater blue overspray was applied to the floors, it gave an EXACT duplication of the way the original runs looked, being bluish green on the side toward the rocker, and all green on the inside side!

- Frames were dipped at the factory too, hanging vertical from the rear crossmember. But I could not afford (and was not quite crazy enough) to build an 18 foot deep vat and buy that much paint! So Terry borrowed a friend’s boom truck and hung the frame vertical from the rear, built a 20-foot high scaffold beside it, climbed the scaffold and painted it hanging that way to recreate runs that are now horizontal to the ground!

- I found material that (although not really Asbestos) looks just like the original roof insulation, and made a template to paint the “A” logo on it in the same pattern as originals.

- The firewall insulation and pad are mint originals from the KC 4-door car, but before they were installed all bare metal areas, markings and runs and were duplicated on the inside of the firewall. Then dye was added to the spray glue to tint it the same reddish-brown that the factory glue was before installing the insulation!

- Original KC floor sound deadener had a brown paper top layer, not black like the repros. So I dyed the repro the correct shade of brown, and added the red lines that are present on originals. Yes, most of it is under the carpet now, but I also cut the carpet to factory specs so that there is no carpet under a large portion of the seat. So if you lean in and look under the seat, it is like looking at a picture of a brand new Chevelle taken in 1967!

A lot of work, and probably a little bit crazy. But if I drove this thing for a few years to get some patina on it, you would be hard pressed to distinguish it from a one-repaint survivor car!

A small fortune in real NOS GM parts was also used in this restoration (and they are all correct 1967 assembly line design parts, not later replacement versions), including:

- Every single piece of exterior trim, except the front bumper and front and back glass stainless
- Hood
- All exterior lamps
- All bumper brackets
- Steering wheel (yes, a real NOS Wood wheel from the original GM box!)
- Horn button and contact
- All four instrument panel gauges
- FM radio (yes, a real NOS 67 Chevelle FM radio from the original GM box!)
- All dash trim (including the woodgrain) and knobs
- Heater controls
- Ash tray
- Shifter
- Shifter stick, Tee and knob
- Chrome shifter bezel
- Shift boot
- Floor-mounted clock
- Pedal pads (correct Chevelle pads, not the Camaro version sold by repro vendors)
- Color-coded fuses
- Floor mats
- Visor mounts
- Inside mirror
- Vent window knobs
- Air cleaner (from 1967 dated box with FACTORY applied silk screen!)
- Correct EMBOSSED Air filter
- Alternator fan and pulley
- Voltage regulator (a real 1967 dated unit, not 1977 or 1987 or … )
- Horn relay
- Battery tray
- Master Cylinder
- Brake Calipers
- Rotors (2-pc – NOS not repro)
- Entire steering linkage
- Every suspension bushing and ball joint
- Sway bar links
- All 4 shocks (yes, correctly dated!)
- Body mount bushings with Chevrolet script (the small ones that go under the frame; the large ones are mint mint originals from the 4-dr car, with Chevrolet script and part numbers)

The door panels were made at SMS from NOS material dated December 1966, and (other than the 2 year wait and one thousand phone calls it took to finally get them) are nothing short of spectacular. The dash pad, all windlace, seat tracks, interior front and rear window trim, mirror bracket, kick panels, window cranks, seat belts, and many other medium blue interior parts are all the mint mint originals (in all the correct hues) from the 4-door donor car. I call this interior “50 Shades of Blue” because there are not hardly two parts that are the same color. But it is all assembly line correct.

I also made all my own frame ID sticker, spring tags, wiring harness tags, and various other ID tags and stickers, which are EXACT duplicates of originals with the EXACT correct numbers and codes (not the generic font / generic code junk sold by the repro vendors).

Well, enough rambling for now. Thanks again to Bill Wente for the heads up on the ebay auction, and for starting this thread!

And again, major props to Terry Davis Restorations, Wytheville VA, 276-620-9666 , for INCREDIBLE quality work (and incredible patience)!!

[jeffschevelle]

Some of the crazy stuff

[TerryDavisRestorations]

Thanks Jeff!
I am thrilled to have been a part of this fantastic project. I hope in the years to come we will continue our quest for perfection, your drive to make every detail correct (even the unseen ones!!) far surpasses a “restoration”, it’s art. Your vision of how things had to be done.... well I thought you were crazy, but the end result speaks for itself. Along the way, yes we may have butted heads a few times... lol, however after all the trial and error everything worked out just as it should. I gained a true friend, and a completely different attitude towards what a restoration has to be. Thank you. On to our next project..

[big gear head]

Well now I have even more appreciation for what an awesome car this is. Thanks for taking the time to post this Jeff, and for the time you spent talking to me at MCACN.

[markinnaples]

Totally appreciate everyone's dedication to reproducing all of the factory finishes and build quality. Really makes that car stand out from the others. Congratulations on a one of a kind '67 el Camino, and one of a kind restoration. Truly epic.

[nova67]

Fantastic job Jeff. Great detail on bellhousing with the full paint exactly how my 67 Chevelle SS KC car was when i removed it to change the clutch in 70.

[BJCHEV396]

Hi Jeff,I've been fortunate to own 2 Caminos,a '71 LS5 years ago and a '64 now.Yours sir is the nicest I have ever seen! The craftsmanship and attention to details is fantastic! Thanks for posting the pics.Cheers,Bill.

[cook_dw]

Amazing car. What driveshaft stripe color have you observed on these cars? 4 speeds.

Is it orange, orange and white or a mint color?

[67since67]

Amazing car. What driveshaft stripe color have you observed on these cars? 4 speeds.

Is it orange, orange and white or a mint color?

Darrell, The attached is a duplication of the original on the 396 '67 I just finished. It is consistent with other cars I have here and also with Jeff's El Camino, although stripe widths vary slightly.

Bill W

[cook_dw]

Interesting. Here is the one I am working on. Appears to be an off white or mint colored but now that you say it was blue I can see it being a faded blue. Once I complete the cleaning I should have a better idea of what it was originally..