First, a question. Can a 1968 El Camino door skin be used on a 69? DII has them listed as 1968 only but OTTOMH I don't know how they would be different. Jim at DII said that there may be something different about the door handles, but then I pointed out that 68 & 69 ECs use the same door handles. Is the placement of the handles the same? If so, there should be no reason why these skins fit 1968 only. In fact, didn't El Caminos have the same doors from 1968 to 1972?
I saw my good buddy Hank today at Excel Auto Body in Queens. Hank is the guy who I should have taken my El Camino to in the first place instead of that con man I hired. I can't say enough good stuff about Hank's work. Hank had a 1969 SS Nova that was so nice he sold the body w/ no engine or transmission for $14k 15 years ago. He used to actually be able to pull wheelies with that car, and it was street registered. I have gone to Hank twice in the past 10 years for collision repairs and both times the car came back looking like nothing ever happened to it. Nice, nice work. Anyway, I'm hoping to have Hank replace my floor pans next month and install drains in the front corners of my bed, and possibly reseal the front & rear glass properly. I told him I'm not in a hurry and this is the kind of project that his guys can spend some time on whenever they are having a slow day. He says the car will have to be laid up for about 2 to 3 weeks, and he won't be ready to take it in for about a month. He also said that he recommends replacing the full pans and doing it right the first time rather than doing a patch job and then having to redo it again a couple of years later. We also talked about some of the work that Ron Miller did and I may have to buy another new quarter panel to replace the one that Ron ruined. Basically everything that Ron did has to be redone, including painting the dash. I'm probably going to go with new metal all the way down both sides (fenders, door skins, and quarters). My hood is already new and the tailgate seems to be fine. I'm really hoping that things work out with this Chevelle I'm seeing on Saturday. If I get that, I want to put historic plates on the EC and find a garage for it. Then I will drive the "new" Chevelle while I get the EC ready to be redone. If anybody knows of a garage for rent on Long Island, please let me know.
