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Old 11-30-2018, 01:40 PM
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Default Our 69 Yenko Chevelle restoration

The restoration chapter begins on this rare Yenko Chevelle by Musclecar Restoration and Design
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by Steve Shauger; 01-03-2019 at 07:41 PM. Reason: added Photo
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  #2  
Old 11-30-2018, 01:46 PM
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I finally got a chance to sit down and put together many photos of the progress of our Yenko Restoration. We work about 70 hours a week on customer cars and then the rest of the night and weekend is spent working on the Chevelle. Thanks to Jamie Cooper, Joe Griffith and the rest of their crew at Super Car Restorations who have worked tirelessly to get this car in paint for its photo shoot sometime in early January. I cannot thank those guys enough for what they have done for Annie and me. There work is second to none. My resto tech and I spent a weekend at his shop recently sanding the interior floor pans and trunk area and I learned in a very short period of time that there is a reason why body and paint is not cheap when done correctly. It is horrendously labor intensive and high in material costs.
We would also like to thank the dozens of people that have been extremely helpful with technical information, sending us memorabilia and parts and to those that sold us parts with many of those being below what they could have sold them to other people for. We are very grateful for the help from all of you. With rare exception our vendors have also been great to deal with as far as parts supplies and took much interest in being part of the restoration. It was the first time I ever asked for a major break from our vendors in over 35 years of purchasing so I guess maybe it was due.
As you may remember from the original post this car was in excellent condition despite how and where it was stored. We were blessed to find a very solid body and chassis though there was a fair amount of body and frame damage from the accident though nothing beyond saving. I expected the worst when I pulled the urine and feces soaked carpet but amazed that there was absolutely no rust anywhere on this car. As of this date, the floor pans and interior are painted; the rest of the body is about 2 weeks away from being in paint. The chassis is almost completed with drivetrain with only a few parts to be found, restored and installed. There have been many challenges with this car. The biggest one being that I realized, I know a lot about 1970 Chevelles and know squat about 69’s. The other issue was keeping focused to the fact that this is a 69 and NOT a 70. When you have 7 1970 Chevelles in the shop and that is about 90% of your business you tend to forget when you are working on a 69 as you have 70 on the brain.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by Steve Shauger; 01-03-2019 at 04:55 PM.
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Old 11-30-2018, 01:54 PM
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The belly pan and trunk area was extremely solid as was the rest of the car.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 04:44 PM.
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Old 11-30-2018, 02:00 PM
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Depending on who you talk to the original owner came out of a bar one night while drunk and proceeded to have an encounter with a guardrail which swung him around and then hitting the drivers side. The damage though considerable was actually very straightforward to fix with no major structural damage. All we had to deal with on this car was cosmetic and no rust issues what so ever.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 05:01 PM.
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Old 11-30-2018, 02:09 PM
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Here are several shots of the body progress. We not only had a great original body to start with but since it was in such pristine condition we were able to replicate everything we found from decal placement, caulking color and placement, primer colors, oversprays, tape lines, etc. We agreed and insisted that we restore this car pretty much exactly how it was found with regards to those items. Obviously the fit and finish will be much better than original but all other facets of the restoration will be duplicated. Jamie and Joe have understood the importance of those details and that is why they are not only doing the body work and paint but why their business is growing rapidly and is why all of our customer's body and paint work is done by them.

One quarter panel needed to be replaced as well as the driver’s door. For unknown reasons the original owner cut a large hole out in the driver’s quarter as if to access the window regulator though the inner door panel was also removed making easy access to it anyway. No idea why. Both rockers had sustained minor damage due to an encounter with a ditch so Jamie and Joe worked their magic and pulled those areas back into shape as well. Other than that the body was mostly virgin and required only minor massaging.

Note: The red overspray is not because the body was repainted but because that the body is riding on a donor frame while the original was being straightened. The frame is actually off a 70 Chevelle as noted by the rear wheel axel hump.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 05:06 PM.
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  #6  
Old 11-30-2018, 02:15 PM
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Work continued day, night and weekend at their shop. I cannot say enough about their dedication to this project and goes above and beyond. It was of the utmost importance to use NOS or GM parts only on this car and that all spot welds and other tell tale assembly line techniques were used. I might add that both MuscleCar Restoration and Super Car Restoration go to the same length on every car we do, not just this one.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by Steve Shauger; 01-03-2019 at 04:55 PM.
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  #7  
Old 11-30-2018, 02:24 PM
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I located a front clip in Minnesota of all places which was in remarkable condition needing only some minor work to most pieces. The header had to be replaced and I had to find a good GM donor SS hood but all in all we had some very solid parts to start with. Thanks to our good friend Luis Caceres-Rivera for delivering a donor door I found on the east coast. He drove from his house in Maryland to Jamie and Joe's shop and hand delivered the door. I believe it was a 6 hour drive for him. You certainly know who your true friends are when the offer up their services like that.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 08:21 PM.
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Old 11-30-2018, 02:33 PM
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All hands were on deck to keep this project on schedule with everyone at the shop lending a hand. Even Jamie's wife shelly pulled several late night shifts and was with us almost the entire weekend that my resto tech and I went there to help sand. Enough cannot be said about their dedication.

Something I learned the hard way. There is a reason why a true restoration shop charges what they charge to do these pristine body and paint works of art. The amount of labor is mind boggling. Jim and I spent almost two full days sanding JUST the inner interior panels and floor after all body work had been completed. That was around 32 man hours JUST sanding a small area. The material consumption was also a eye opener.

Note on the deck lid, this shows and is often argued that the decklid was in fact installed on the car at Fischer Body when it was painted. Same for the door hinge area.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 08:30 PM.
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  #9  
Old 11-30-2018, 02:38 PM
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More primer work.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 08:33 PM.
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  #10  
Old 11-30-2018, 02:47 PM
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The frame was very nice, solid and fairly pit free. Other than the frontal damage it was a great piece. Much work went into replacing the front horns, repairing some other bends and straightening the frame but all in all well worth the efforts. The cost to repair and paint this frame was far more than some are willing to pay to have their entire car painted in total man hours and materials but it was a must and no corners were cut.
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Rick Nelson
Musclecar Restoration and Design, Inc
www.musclecarrestorationanddesign.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r-6vgk2_8
specializing in (only real) LS6 Chevelle restorations

Last edited by SS427; 01-12-2019 at 08:42 PM.
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