[toteyscamaro]

Hi, I just inherited a 69 Camaro which has quite an extensive amount of rust on the body. My plans thus far are to restore the body completely and needed some advice for a starting point.

[geezer69]

kinda hard to say without seein it. a few pics would help a lot. you can get bout anything you need for it though.

[toteyscamaro]

here are a few pics. the floor pan has major corrosion. driver side quarter panel does as well. Now, the dash, or where the dash used to attach to has been cut out. =Any advice?

[Bad66]

Doesn't look that bad. You inhereited this? Wow, consider yourself lucky. If you do this car right you will have and awesome collectable. I recommend, if you have no real bodywork experience, taking this car to a reputable shop and have it blasted, then get all metal replaced with METAL not BONDO lol. Shops and traveling welders will do the metal work if you don't want to. If you desire a #'s matching car, do your homework and be vigilant!

Some sources/catalogs you can search car parts and panels for:
opgi.com (body panels, replacement stuff tailored to your specific car)
Year one (lots of good replacement parts for interior, exterior, and engine)
Goodmark industries (Production quality replacement metal, ie, quarter panels, fendders...etc)
Sumitracing.com, aftermarket engine parts
Jegs.com, like summit

I have used all these sites to build my car. I used opgi for my weather stripping, year one made my seat covers, and I built my engine out of summit and jegs. I also bought rocker panels from Goodmark.
Good luck, that's a beautifull car

[dinger]

Nice! I would thoroughly check the sub frames to be sure they are solid and then start replacing the floors. Where are you located? If there are some drag racers in your area, go to the races and find out if you can find a guy that yanked his dash board out for weight savings. I know of a couple of guys that use 69 Camaros for the strip, when i get back home in a month or so I will ask. Good luck! Dan

[toteyscamaro]

Thank you guys for the tips !, I actually scheduled the car to be sandblasted this weekend. Now I'm planning to do the body work myself and are there any reads one might recommend to a first time restorer? ( emphasizing sheet metal cutting, inspection and sheet metal replacement fitting tips )

[deadbodyman]

start by inspecting all the body mounts and replacing them...Then rebuild the hinges then adjusting the door gaps followed by all the rest of the gaps,trunk ,fenders hood ,etc then your ready to take it apart and start stripping it...I always start by stripping the jambs and backside of the doors,epoxy and re assemble as I go keeping good gaps,one side at a time

[7069camaro@gmail.com]

well i have a 69 and went ground up on it and its alot of work but when i drove it out of the paint bouth it some thing ill never for get and it will get to u but just stop and go back later its well worth it but be carfull alot of guys will try to screw you on parts but if u look there are some good ones like clark auto parts in raybrough ont got both front fenders and ext for 500 bucks new so just take your time and dont give up you can do it o and mine is app at 42.000 witch blew my mind

[deadbodyman]

There is one DVD I can recomend very highly for any one getting started and for some more advanced hobbiests.Its so good I can sit and watch it all the time which is unusual for me...full of great tips and explanations of tools to use why and how to use them...
Its put out by HotRod magizine and its called Dream - Build -Drive, DVD library
complete bodywork and sheetmetal preperation.
There really isnt much this DVD dosent cover and I have to give it a 10 rating.
heck it even tells you what to look for when buying a rebuildable old car...along with a very good section on welding how to's and why's

[tuske427]

Congrats on the free Camaro

I've also heard good things about AMD for sheet metal:

https://www.autometaldirect.com/


Don't be afraid to take on the body work on your car. I'd recommend working one side at a time (you can reference the other as needed), take a lot of pics as you take things apart, and take your time. Don't rush yourself, it's not a race, and don't worry if you make a mistake. you can replace or repair anything on it as many times as needed.

I hope this is helpful.