1969 Camaro SS

 

This 1969 SS Camaro was completed by Rumbleseat Restorations April 2014 and has been winning awards ever since.

The car was sent to us almost completely dismantled so when it arrived we cut the quarter panels open to have a better look at the inner panels. We then removed the front sub frame and suspension as well as the rear end and mounted the body shell on the rotisserie for media blasting. Once back from media blasting, sections of both driver and passenger floors were replaced and the upper dash panel braced, cut open, rust treated and replaced.

The body was then taken off the rotisserie, levelled and mounted to a rack to have the outer wheel wells and quarter panels attached.

After panel alignment, welding and metal work was completed the body exterior was once again epoxy primed then skim coated and block sanded. Slick-sand primer was then applied, guide coated then block sanded.

This is labour intensive and time consuming but makes for a much better job.

At this point the body was removed from the rack and again mounted to the rotisserie to enable the floor to be prepped and painted.

At this point welds were then smoothed and epoxy primer applied, some re-surfacing required then top coated with 60% gloss single stage paint right from the back of the car to the top of the firewall. We then re-installed the rear end and sub frame to again make the car mobile.

The next couple of steps were time consuming because the dash top & rear window surround had to be prepped and masked for one finish, the lower dash and steering column another, the heater box yet another.

This is a very condensed version but from here the body shell and parts were block sanded with finer and finer sand paper until the guide coat is sanded off with 600 grit. Cowl, window and trunk openings were painted, then windshield and stainless installed.

The body shell and parts were painted, allowed to cure then fenders and doors sanded in prep for stripes and the body and remainder of parts wet sanded with finer and finer grit paper in prep for polishing. The heater, doors and fenders were then installed for stripe alignment.

Once the stripes were aligned the fenders were removed and stripes painted, the fenders and doors were prepped for clear to ‘bury’ the stripes, The next step was letting the clear cure then wet sand the entire car one last time while disassembled to prep it for buffing and polishing. Last step was to reassemble and begin polishing.


This, of course, is the condensed, simplified version of events. The thing that separates a good job from a great job is the time spent on the details and finished product.

Thankfully this owner fully understood this so allowed us to take the time to do the job right.


The end result does indeed reflect this !







Completed April 2014