I’ve finally gotten off my butt and decided to start blogging on this very old subject. The blog is admittedly going to start out a bit disorganized, because the history of this project is very old, before we had a website or blog. But I might be able to back date some entries.

In 1997, I drove my ’63 to a Late Great Chevy Convention in Akron, OH. Late Great refers to the generation of full size Chevys from 1958-1964, which were built with a frame in the shape of an X:

The frame was said to allow the front seats to be set lower in the car for a sleeker experience. Anyway, I saw so many beautiful cars there at that show that I vowed I would have my ’63 painted so that I would be proud to have my car in a show like that.

The car show was organized by Late Great Chevy car club, which published a magazine. In the ads at the back of the rag I found a shop in Illinois called Old Coachworks Restorations to prepare the car and paint it. They stripped off all the trim, windows, bumpers, straightened out the body, removed all my ugly high school bondo work, and found some accident damage we didn’t know was there. I knew the trunk floor was rusted, but they also found rust under the front passenger seat. They replaced those panels. At some point, they asked me if I wanted to take the body off the frame, and I made the decision to do so.

Since they knew I was a gearhead, we agreed to let me take the rolling chassis and powertain back home to Michigan so that I could prepare it the way I wanted, and therefore, have a hand in the restoration. This was an opportunity I welcomed, and back at home, the frame came apart quickly. I spent a lot of time grinding off paint and smooth some of the ugly factory welds. I spray painted over this grinding with a can, which was only temporary, and allowed me to judge what it would look like when I eventually got it powder coated.

Then, life happened. Adam was already 3, and Aaron was born the year before the car show, and Arianna came in 2001. Raising children take a lot of time and energy, and that’s where my time went. I also took up R/C flying in 2001, and flying helicopters in 2010, and well, suddenly more than 20 years had passed.

Fast forward to October 2021, when the shop finally called me up and asked if we were going to finish this car or not. I said yes, and that I would have the frame ready over the winter. This work is what I intend to blog about, and I hope there will be lots to share with you.