Visited Rick Wilkin this week. Rick is the guy that painted Rat's Nest back in 1970. I brought him a 1968 Bell helmet I bought off Ebay. Rick is going to paint it up just like the helmet he painted in 1970 for his buddy Doug using the original helmet as a pattern. He told me the story of this L79...Rick was working at Mattson Chevrolet in Hillsboro in the mid-60's. Rick ordered this car (lower RH in photo) for his friend Doug Davis (2nd owner of my car) strictly for racing. Marina blue, L79 4 speed, 3.73:1 rear, rubber floor mats and no options - didn't think it even came with a radio. Told his boss to not figure on prepping the car as it was going straight to the strip. Got a heads up on the delivery date so he drove his 1959 1 ton Chevy flatbed to work that day. The L79 was backed off the transporter truck and drove up on his flatbed using 2x12 wood ramps in the dealer parking lot.
I was born 15 years too late.......just love these stories!

Back to topic.....Rick and I spent some time talking about the paint he used on Rat's Nest BITD. He was not able to locate any leftover paint in his shop like I discussed in an earlier post about the tail panel color. He did go to an old file cabinet and pull out this color card booklet by MetalFlake Corporation. He opened it up and showed me the exact paint colors used on the car. He said he painted the whole car with the white base, then did the entire car in silver mist pearl, taped off and sprayed the Iced Blue pearl, taped off and sprayed the Fire Red candy apple. All in lacquer, then topped with several coats of clear. We talked quite a bit about how all the photos show the silver as very "white". He said that Doug did not like how some of the white pearl paints had that goldish/tan cast to them so they went with the silver over a white base.
The Rat's Nest name was hand-applied by Tom Blackstone "Stoney" (deceased). The letters were gold leaf with a white outline.

That is awesome to be able to gather all the paint info direct from the original painter, and even more credit to him for having such a great memory!

Those metal flake paints are the same ones they used on my car, pretty cool to see the swatches, thanks.

More detail stuff....
 

cleaned up my original cage nuts that mount to the inner fenders. Interesting that 3 of the 12 were a slightly different style with a part number stamped on them. Went to work on my door latches - before/after pics that show original LB paint residue.

Interesting, those are not the J-clips that I normally expect. Most of the time, 69 NOR used square nuts, not hex nuts.

by the way - a short stent in evaporust helps with the orig finish come thru beautifully

I obviously can't guarantee they're original to the car.....I wonder if it's a late model year thing? Maybe some other owners of "last 3 month" cars will chime in.

These are the ones in Nuge’s 69 copo. 09E if I’m not mistaken.

Thanks Darrell, yes Nuge's COPO is 09E. It may not make a difference but the j nuts I posted were attached to the inner fender where it bolts to the wheel opening of the fender.

Emphasis on 'short' . Too long and evapo will destroy original finishes

I don't recall seeing a hex J-nut on a 69, fwiw. Many here with more detailed experience than me...

Thanks Kurt. NOS fenders installed in 1978 when the car was painted black. That was the last time the front sheetmetal was off the car until I took it off. J-nuts must have been changed then.

Cleaned up my floorpan wiring covers this weekend. One was stamped 34th week, the other 38th week. Also soaked my lock rod covers to get 51 years of dirt off them. Didn't realize there was a thin blue strip in the cloth!

It's been a month with not much activity due to running out of stuff to work on while waiting for the shop to get the car painted. They plan to do that this week so I loaded up the rear end and subframe so it can be re-united with the body next week (hopefully). Also spent some time working on "whitening" my original washer bottle. Progress being made, still more work to do. Both bottles started out the same shade of tan. Also cleaned up the window tracks, they turned out pretty nice.

Lemans Blue color porn....
 

Stopped to check out the paint today. No color sanding done at this point. Overall very happy with what I saw.

beautiful lemans blue - top notch paint booth as well!!

very nice!

Nice !

Looks great

Looks Amazing! I should be right there with you this week :biggthumpup:

Picked up a piece of memorabilia tied to my car this week off of ebay. Rat's Nest entry into the 1973 US Nationals. A few lines up there's some guy named K. Barnhart......I've think I've heard that name before in Camaro circles:wink:

Too cool! Great to have found that :worship:

Great progress photos. Thank you for the ride so to speak .

Not much of an update but the cutting of the paint is in process. Hard to tell from pics but looks to be turning out really nice.

They’re doing great work, looks fantastic!

Well, I only read thru page 18 and I see you got a different engine for it. Sorry if you posted, but what did/are you doing with the engine that was in it ? Possibly interested, if selling.

The engine that was in the car went to the guy I got the new engine from. He needed it for a client of his who had a 66 427 Impala.

Yeah, I figured you wouldn't have any problem finding a new home for a rare, 1965 427 block.


Your work and the paint shop are doing a meticulous job of restoration. When that obsessive bug digs in, there is no hope of just doing a nice clean and paint on them, eh...;)


I have that bug too. I was "just" going to do a front disc brake up grade on my '67 ss/rs 18 months ago and by the time my Chevelle Club tech session was over, the bare sub frame was laying on the floor and I was cutting out rust in the outer cowl panels...:eek:

Thanks. In my case "the bug" is a full-on swarm of locusts:grin: Once I decided to do a full resto, it was all-in with research, details, etc. Tips and advice from many well-known experts from this site & CRG have helped me immensely to "get it right". I'm sure I'll miss a few things but my goal is to do it right and correct - except for the Day 2 stuff that will be done - all bolt on stuff so it will be easy to get it all back to factory stock after I have some fun first.

Does that mean you will be bringing it back to SCR?

I sure hope so Freddie. Going to pick it up tomorrow and bring it home to start re-assembly. Hoping to have it road-ready by spring. It may not have race trim graphics on it then but I'll bring it anyway just because it's such a great event.

Good to have it back home again. It's raining like crazy here so I'll unload tomorrow after work. Here's a couple of shots to get you warmed up.

Your Camaro is turning out great. Nice tie down system too. :biggthumpup:

Here's some better shots with it outside the trailer.....felt it was appropriate to include a little American Pride in the one shot.:flag:
For those following this thread you know I'm committed to "transparency" about this car and also have been overly obsessive about the trim tag. Well, when the heavy layer of black Imron paint was carefully removed, we found that the tag looks like it got hit with a sandblaster. The PO that painted it black back in 1978 told me he sandblasted the firewall. Oh well, it is what it is, now y'all don't have to wonder about it.

Great car and flags!!

The tag is not that bad, one can tell it is real.
Mike

You guys like pics right? Can't help myself....pushed it outside yesterday to do some re-arranging in the garage and just had to take a few shots of the paint with some sunshine on it - really makes the LB pop.:biggthumpup:

IMO no better color on a camaro than Lemans blue! Please keep the pics coming.

Got started on re-assembly today with my brother. Got the fuel tank, brake line, fuel line, axle snubbers, and shocks mounted. The tank is new (original is hanging on the wall with a few minor dents), but re-installed the original vibration dampening strips, wire pad, wire, tank straps, and sending unit. Shocks are NOS 1970 dated HiJackers:headbang: Fuel and brake lines are repro but clips, bolts, snubbers, brake distribution block, and fuel cap are original to this car. Installed the Norwood water test tape under the shock mounts and rear subframe bolts.

Looks great!

Love it.

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