69 Camaro L78/L89 Engine

[Hotrodpaul]

The original owner purchased the car from Francis Chevrolet in St. Louis on May, 9 1969 after his 68 Model was stolen. After setting the car up for Drag Racing He blew the engine in the early 70's and the car sat for several years with 10,000 miles on the clock. In 75, his family moved to Atlanta and took the car with them. His son sent me the pic below of the car on the trailer:



He sold the car in Atlanta in 1976 to a friend at work who dropped a small block in it, then sold it a year later to the third owner. At this point the car was stored with about 12,000 miles and driven very little. Circa 1996, the third owner located a CE L-78 block (Aug 69 Casting) and put the car back to somewhat original condition. I purchased the car in September 2004 and did not know the car had the original paint and 20,000 original miles until I began disassembling the car.

The car features the original BV code rear end, M21 Muncie 4 speed, paint, interior, shifter, front shocks, etc. I have been restoring the car with correct parts and decided to use correct date 842 Aluminum heads for the restoration. The car also came with the P-O-P as shown here:



I still talk with the original owner from time to time. It has been fun so far.

Paul

[mockingbird812]

Paul,

Terrific story! The picture of the car with the kids is great. Your paint looks like it is in very nice shape after all of these years. Thanks for sharing your story. Looks like you ought to be just about ready to submit it to Bruce for the "Members Rides" section.

[Baldy]

Rick,

Where can I find this Boe-Shield. I have looked around the St.Louis area and can not find it. If you have an address,or phone # would you send it to me. My E-Mail address is [email protected]

Jim Shockley

[Mr70]

I buy mine locally at Berlands House of Tools for $9.99.
Sears should start carrying it regularly any day now.
You can also buy it on line here T-9 Rust Preventitive.

[KnoxvillePig]

Great story Paul. Thanks for sharing it. I love the old picture. It is priceless to the history of your car. I am also lucky enough to have contact w/ the original owner of my 1969 L-78. Hearing his stories about the car is just as important to me as the car itself. Although I have yet to meet him, we have established a strong long distance friendship over the telephone and talk on a weekly basis. I plan on meeting him soon. It will be the first time he has seen the car in person since the late 1970's.

Keep up the awesome job on the restoration and keep those pics coming. I love Lemans blue w/ white hockey stick. Those Dog Dishes are wicked dude. I may need to get a little engine resto advice from you in the next few coming months.

Bye the way, what brand of chevrolet orange did you use?


Darrell

[Z-11 396]

""" PIG ''', WHEN CAN WE EXPECT YOUR CAR PICTURES . , CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT IN /// FULL // OPERATION....KASEY....

[Hotrodpaul]

Thanks for all the positive response, it has been a long year collecting, painting, and fitting parts. Notice in the old pic the car is without spoilers. The third owner added them sometime after he bought the car. I like the look but would prefer to bring the car back to the original look. As far as the engine paint, I mixed it up custom using PPG Omni Urethane with Hardner from some original Chevy Engine parts I had. I can get the number later if you like. Here are some additional pics of the car today, less bumper, grille, and trim. Also, I started the engine today and broke the new L-78 cam in, boy those solid lifters sound good. Enjoy!









For some reason, the camera picked up some weird reflections on the side of the car. It should be finished tomorrow and the weather will be in the 80's. I will take some shots outside with better lighting.

Paul

[Hotrodpaul]

Here is another of the car on the trailer:



Oh yea, the second owner, after talking to him, bought the car, less engine in 1976, for $800.

Paul

[KnoxvillePig]

[ QUOTE ]
""" PIG ''', WHEN CAN WE EXPECT YOUR CAR PICTURES . , CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT IN /// FULL // OPERATION....KASEY....

[/ QUOTE ]

Kasey my friend. Sure glad to see you are up and running.
Hopefully things will slow down a little for me and I will be able to start putting her back together within the next few months.
If everything goes as planned, Mr.Thomas (original owner) is tentatively looking at flying down in the March/April timeframe.

I'll keep you posted.

PIG


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1969 RS/SS L-78 Camaro