John
Sounds like a great plan. Seems like not so long ago you were pretty disgusted with the whole thing. As for the doors, my understanding is the same as yours.
On 3/2/06, John Nasta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
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.
--
Rick Schaefer
72 TPI El Camino
