New Find - 1969 Corvette L89
 

Hi All,

This past weekend Dave (72-SS-L48), our father and I took a flight to Iowa to purchase our latest find, a 1969 Corvette Coupe L89. It is 1 of 390 produced in 1969.

The car is silver on red, and retains its born with original motor, transmission, tags, body/paint, and interior. All mechanical items are born with original like the 842 heads, tri-power intake, carbs, smog, exhaust manifolds, 4:11 rear, 882 alternator, 8400 starter, all 4 F41 shocks, distributor (w tag) and many others. VIN is on the frame in two spots. Documentation includes the original tank sheet, original POP, and all history since day1. We were even able to meet the original owner's son.

Options include L71, L89, M21, 4.11s, TI, F41, white stripe tires, AM/FM, tinted glass. It was originally delivered end of March 1969 to Shafer Motors in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The original owner had the car for long tenure and took it to a restoration shop about 12 years ago for what would have resulted in significant modification. The original owner passed away before the shop started modification work (blessing for the car!) but the shop did disassemble it removing the body, suspension, and motor from the frame and they also blasted the frame. To the shop's credit, they bagged, labeled, and retained every nut/bolt/part they touched.

The estate sold the car to a long time family friend and it sat in a heated garage for the last 10 years - body on a cart, frame against the wall, parts in boxes. Now is where the fun began. The day before we arrived, the seller and his son assembled the front and rear suspension. We dropped the block on the frame, assembled the motor for transport purposes, installed the bellhousing/transmission, gas tank, dropped the body on the frame, install most interior items, 1 door, the core support/radiator, the hood, and then wrapped up and boxed up all other parts for the car. The only missing items are a front windshield and rocker moldings. The only dated components needed are a center carb, and water pump. The car retains all other original to the car parts!

We're very impressed with the original paint and the original interior. Similarly, the chrome, carpet, and many original under body inspection markings are best left untouched and preserved. The goal is to fix a couple cracks, correct the paint, deep clean the interior, and then reinstall. We'll restore the chassis and engine compartment per original and then campaign nationally. We believe that is a great candidate to leave most original!

The best part of the trip was being able to reconnect and spend time with our good friends Bill Wente (67Since67) and his wife Jani. Our families initially met @ the NCRS National Convention where our ’67 Corvettes achieved the coveted 4-Star Bowtie award. We’ve kept current but due to the virus, have not been able to travel to see eachother. We had a great dinner out and then got to tour Bill’s outstanding collection and world class shop/memorabilia. Bill is keeping the L89 until the transportation service can pick it up and bring it back to NY. It couldn’t be in better company or safer space! Bill – thank you again for your friendship and most kind gesture, we sincerely appreciate your help.

I’ll do my best to keep the thread current. A good first step might be MCACN 2021 (or 2022) as a Garage Find!

Thanks,
Dan

Pics of what we walked into!

More detail pics

Mechanical pics

Assembly of frame for transport. We got help lifting the body from 5-6 friends of the seller. Great guys! They worked for Rolling Rock.

Dave absolutely kicked ass during this project. The guy was a machine - tactical and careful with a great result.

Docs... purposely protected but sharing what we felt comfortable with

Wow - congratulations. Looks like a great project. Looking forward to the updates and hopefully seeing it at MCACN.

We rented a Penske box truck with a uHual trailer. The looks we got all weekend... LOL

These are pics from the trip to Bill's shop. I purposely protected the pic in Bill's garage for privacy.

Very cool Dan!!!:headbang:

All I can say is WOW!

Spectacular find! Congratulations!!!!

Same car??


Ryan W31.


There were talks of having this car at our 2014 L89 invitational Display at MCACN.

Ryan - that looks like Mike N's 68. Been sitting at a shop of a good friends in the Chicago suburbs for a while (28 years?)now. Dan V. or Bill S. can probably elaborate more on the car. Guessing that pic came from Dan?

Hi Ryan, that’s not our car but I’d love to know more! Looks like a ‘68 and it had a top surround installed or about to be. Our car is a no hit nose with original paint.

Thanks,
Dan

Sorry to clog up your thread with another L89 barnfind silver Vette :-)

Dan V or Bill S are in the know on this one.

Ryan W31

----Nice find, guys! should be a really fun project for you. What a color combo, just awesome.

----I do know the other car and it's location and good guy owner and better guy restorer, but probably should not divulge!.....Bill S

Great find, Dan. There were some cool cars in Iowa, my new LT1 came from there, too.

That is a great find, wow! Congrats and I can't wait to see it someday.

Since this car is in my temporary care I can attest that it is a very special find!!
Beautiful no-hit body with original paint and a spectacular RED interior!!
It will be absolutely stunning when back in one piece!!

Bill W

I love love love silver on red. Old ferraris and Mercedes had them and they looked awesome.

Wow, what a great car, congratulations Dan! It's amazing there are cars like this still out there.

And Bill W is awesome :)


Yenko.net members always willing to help!!:headbang:

"A good first step might be MCACN 2021 (or 2022) as a Garage Find!..."

That would be great to see, thanks for posting.

Thanks all for the kind words. We're very excited about this project!

Dan

Congrats guys! Simply awesome! Love the color combination.

Amazing find Dan!
Great job by all involved.

Amazing find.
 

Congratulations!!! I am very happy for you two and your father. It will be a great family project. I am looking forward to following along. Can’t wait to see it in person. This is such a great color and drivetrain combo.

Congrats,
Marty

69 L89 corvette
 

It's a special car. I had the chance to buy it about a year ago, then a few months ago. Decided to go a different direction but it is great car and glad to see you are getting back to where it should be. BTW I was across the garage from you guys in 2019 in Bloomington when you had the survivor 67. I had the black 69 L71 convertible in survivor judging. Hope you see you guys at Bloomington this year!

Great car, and really nice pick up, the color combo is difficult to beat! Glad to see it going to a worthy home.

If not mistaken someone was after this car or a VERY similar one in the past year, I would have to dig up the photos I was sent.
There are some nice 69 L89 vettes around in the NCRS, Red red car at the national show in 2019 and then at the local chapter NCRS meet there was a original owner Olympic Gold 69 L89 and IIRC Terry M picked up a 69 Silver over gunmetal interior L89 auto in the past year or so.

69 corvette
 

It was me :) I sent you pictures a while back on the car. (DKM106)

Shout-out to Dan and Dave :youguysrock:

This arrived today, unsolicited. Scratched my head for a bit, :hmmm:, then pried out an admission.
Guys, this is so unexpected, unnecessary, but very much appreciated!!

Thank you!! Bill W

(Yeah, it's a real hardship tending an L89 Corvette for a few days! :Can-I-Have-It: )

Bill


Yep, that's Dan and Dave! If you haven't used Adam's yet, you will LOVE their products! :worship:

Once the L89 is delivered to us and we dive into it, we'll post more reference pics. For now, as we "in"-patiently wait for it (and continuously look at the pics we took), I figured I would share a few more!

Original paint on the block. (Don't mind the grease that was heavily applied to keep the rust away). Note the paint inconsistency from one side to the other.

What a special find! And it couldn't be in better hands. I see a sidepipe in one pic but not on the tank sticker? The look of sidepipes on a '69 is just awesome, I'd be hard-pressed not to add them to this car, but understand that it will be judged based on its originality so I'm assuming she will be built as the original rocker molding car she was. Again - this car couldn't hope to end up in a better place! Looking forward to this thread for sure.

Sent the L89 off to NY last evening!

With help from my buddy Brian and some supervision from Jani and Pam we used the tractor for "braking" to get it down into the neighborhood without a run-away.

Ready for the truck to arrive. Brian is a C3 guy, has restored two to show winning standards and is in the market for just the right LT-1 project. He is very impressed with the factory gaps on this car.

Passport arrives!! Then pre-loading inspection.

Loading, upper level at the front.

Loaded and gone!

It has been our pleasure to have played a very small part in helping put a great car into the hands of great people!!

Bill W

Congrats, cool car.