We’re firm believers that the “Motorhead bug” runs in the family. Most times when talking with an enthusiast you’ll find someone in their family got them into cars at a young age. You can fight it, but it will find you at some point in life and you’ll be tinkering with your own project car eventually.
Rafael T. is no different. When telling us about his beautiful 1969 Chevrolet Restoration he mentioned that he’s restored a few Camaros, one of them being his father’s previous ’69 Camaro. It’s pretty obvious that Rafael’s father being into Camaros left its mark on him and he’s now planning to pass the “bug” to his son.
With Rafael’s son 9 years old he felt that he was ready to get his hands dirty and help his father restore a classic car. They picked up a complete (minus interior) ’69 Camaro and immediately began to tear the car down to a bare shell. What they found was a pretty rusty shell with major rust repair being needed in the rear end (specifically the trunk) of the body. To speed up the process Rafael enlisted help to repair the rotted sheet metal in the back of the car, including the entire trunk interior panels and outside panel.
Once the shell was solid again Rafael seam sealed the body seams with Eastwood Beige Seam Sealer and treated any remaining questionable rust with Eastwood Rust Converter.
Once they deemed the car ready for final block sanding they used a healthy portion of Evercoat Featherfill High Build Primer to seal the body up and get the bodywork laser straight.
After the bodywork was all finished they decided to repaint the car the original color. They settled on Eastwood Hugger Orange Urethane Paint for the main portion of the body and Eastwood Boulevard Black for the racing stripes down the center of the car. Rafael then top coated and sealed the color in with Eastwood Low-Voc Urethane European Clearcoat.
Once all of the parts were color sanded and buffed and the car assembled, Rafael and his son had a beautiful example of a classic American Muscle Car. The entire process took about two years and now that it is done they are enjoying the car. The time spent far outweighed the money spent on supplies and the results show the time and care taken when building the car. Rafael tells us: “I’m very grateful for having Eastwood around for their restoration products. I couldn’t have done it without you. Also the car is not for sale. This one I’m keeping and passing down to my son who deserves it.” So eventually his now 11 year old son will someday get the car passed down to him. We love stories like these and we thank Rafael for teaching the next generation of Motorheads the dying art of classic car restoration and modification. We hope his son can do the same for the next generation and so-on!
What this article is missing I believe: is that HE PAINTED THE CAMARO HIMSELF IN HIS GARAGE !!! (ask Him to post his black 69′ with the BIG cowl hood, that was equally impressive)
Been nice if the Eastwood IT guys would have made this a slide show. None the less great job on the vehicle
WOW!!!!
Very nicely done!!! I love the Hugger Orange color on the 69. Time, patience and great products are the keys to a successful restoration.