08x04 - Restorations? We're Talking 'Bout Restorations?

[bunniefuu]

Kind of unique
on this car is we typically
don't do a restoration.

We're skipping
the modification step.

Heard that before.

I haven't seen
any damage to it,
the car drives straight.

It looks like to me
that the car was crashed
at one point.

-You know--
-no, no, no. Not this one.

A correct restoration,
if you will.

We got to go this way.

They just don't make them
like they used to.

So you're saying
there's a chance.

[kevin] oh, what
a great day to be alive.
Triple black corvette.

-I like that.
-You're not supposed to do it
while you're driving.

[dave] whee!

[dave] when I look
at a blank canvas,
I see endless possibilities.

As the ideas come to mind,
the lines start to fall
into place.

And before you know it,
we have a bitchin' ride.

A bitchin' ride
has intense color.

[man] this is gorgeous.

-[dave] performance.
-[man] it's fantastic.

[dave] stance. Wheels. Sound.

There's one thing
that makes our cars stand out.

Ours are bitchin' rides.

[kevin] that never gets old.

[dave laughing]

[dave] today we have an actual


four, 27 four speed
kick butt car.

It's actually
in very good shape.

So the cool thing about
this particular car
is the owners of the cars

are actually old friends
and old clients of ours,
but more importantly

this car has a very special
place in both of their hearts.

It was actually
a wedding gift.

So we get the opportunity
to freshen up this car,
make sure it's perfect,

but not modify it.

That's right, I said we're
gonna leave it stock. Weird.

Well, you ain't wasting
any time, are you, dog?

No. This one should be
pretty straightforward.

I mean, the more and more
we tear this thing down,
it's a nice car.

Yeah, well, you know I drove
this the other day before
they backed it into this spot.

Car, I mean, everything,
the brakes feel good,

the car's got plenty
of power, it's quiet,
there's no exhaust leaks.

You know we talked about this,
I know that she wanted
air conditioning.

-Yes.
-So what I do think
is gonna be the best

-is let's do a factory style
air conditioning.
-That's... Exactly.

So it doesn't take anything
away, we're not putting
modern stuff in it.

We will have the original
air conditioning that it would
have maybe came with.

-We're gonna
do electric wipers.
-Yes.

-[kevin] electric headlights.
-Please.

And then we'll just repaint it
and rebuild.

That's it. Really the outward
appearance other than

the paint looking
a little bit shabby.

These tires are going
in the garbage.

-[kevin] mmm-hmm.
-[dave chuckles]

[dave] that's the only
thing that really
needs to be done.

I'm going to have justin
look at the top,

make sure that it can
come clean, it looks
like it's in great shape.

So no point in changing it,

if we have to change it,
I'm gonna talk them into
doing a black top.

Okay. I don't think this
is going to be a problem,
I mean,

I think that's the only
downfall of this car

is like the lines just aren't
very sharp.

-It's kind of soft.
-Right.

So a nice new paint job
on this thing,
kind of rebuild everything,

-make sure it's clean and
nice. It's gonna be money.
-Mmm-hmm.

Yeah, I haven't seen
any damage to it,
the car drives straight.

I mean everything
works really, really well.

Every time you hit the key,
it fires right up so I mean,

it's a solid car
and like I said,
minus the paint.

Powder coat black
on the chassis just so
it's gonna last a lot longer.

I think the car
has already had disk brake
conversion done.

-That is correct.
-Which is fine.

Because it stops
just perfectly. So, I want
to repaint the engine.

Let's clean up and make
sure the transmission
is properly done.

And let's strip all of the old
lacquer and paint off of it.

Let's make sure there's
no stress cracks

and we'll just bring
it back up from there.

[kevin] I'll just sharpen
it up and I think
that we'll probably

find some filler or something
that softens these up.

-I think they'll come back
when we get it stripped.
-[dave] yeah.

So that's kind of unique
on this car is we typically
don't do a restoration.

It's like we're skipping
a whole step.

It's a nice car.

We're skipping
"the modification" step.

-"I'm hip." cool.
-Okay.

[dave] cutting out
an entire step.

Kevin, I'd say was pretty
optimistic about having
a restoration in the shop.

Now some of the other guys
might not feel the same way.

-Restotion,
bitchin' or lame?
-Restorations suck.

-Lame.
-It's bitchin'.

-100% bitchin'.
-Lame.

-Bitchin' all the way.
-Custom.

Hot rod all the way.

Why would you ever
want to recreate it?

Restorations all the way.
Making it...

Is pringle making funny faces
behind me?

Yeah.

-Why?
-Full custom. That's where
the true artists are.

Either go all out,
or put it back to stock.

Restorations are bitchin'
but resto mod
is where it's at.

I'd like to see it in a museum
like once, maybe.

Every day, day in
and day out. No way.

-[dave] whether you love
restorations or full customs.
-Restorations are lame.

You know, there's an a*s
for every seat.

But I can say for sure
that this one
is gonna be bitchin'.

[kevin] so on this corvette,
we're not getting crazy
with any of these panels,

we're not putting a kick a*s
chassis under this thing,

we are just
going to restore this car.

But with every car here
at kindig-it design,
starts with a tear down.

It's actually a really
clean car for what it is.

[kevin] so the tricky part
about these tear downs,

especially on these
restorations is you have
to be super careful

with all of the parts
because you don't know
what you can get,

you don't know
what you need to save.

We're trying to retain
as many parts as we possibly
can on this thing.

So we're just trying to be
really careful. But we
also have to weigh it out.

If it costs a ton to restore
the part versus buying it,

we was probably going
to just buy it because we want
to try to keep the cost down

on the car. But at the same
time, the big important parts,

engine trans,
really cool trim,
we want to save

because it just don't make
them like they used to.

And it's going to go back


original parts. So,

if anything we did any
different it was just
making sure we cataloged

all of the original parts
because that's what's
going to go back on it.

So usually we send
the cars out to dip but this
one we sending out to blast

because that dip stuff
that they dip it in,

the fiberglass will be gone.
Are we good
on that side, ira?

-[ira] yeah, we're good.
-[kevin] perfect.

-That'll work. Yep.
-[ira] right there?

Thank you guys
so much.

[dave] with the car out
to media blast, now it's time
to go through and categorize

everything that needs
to either get refinished,
redipped,

or especially this trim,
it's important that we use

as much of the original trim
as possible.

This is gonna entail us
calling up the trim whisper.

[upbeat music playing]

right now, I'm trying
to get rid of all
the little impressions

and dings and whatnot.

This is all the original trim,
basically saving it.

It will look better once
it gets polished.

You got to be gentle with it
because you can go way
too far, way too fast,

in no time whatsoever.

So basically, these are all
made out of stainless steel,

sometimes there's some out
of aluminum, you can polish it
and it won't rust.

That's why they use it
for the trim and bright work
and whatnot.

A lot of time, we'll chrome
them but not this car.

This one we're gonna keep it
all nice and original.

Because of the shape of all
the different kinds of trim
and everything there is,

you kind of need to have
different assortment of tools,

whatnot, I've got a lot
of jewelry tools

to try and help tap out all
the little areas and whatnot.

I got kind of a rather
semi large assortment.

Get more as I need to go,
a lot of times you have
to make them.

It's kind of like doing
bodywork,

shaping metal, but obviously,
a little different.

For the age of the car,

the trim's in a lot better
shape than others I've seen

and had to work on.
So it shouldn't be too bad.

I'm getting pretty close
to being done. You can see
those spots almost gone now.

It's pretty much gone.
I just I get rid
of the scratches.

And to do this
you have to have patience.

Since I have patience,
I get stuck doing it.

Every time I see pringle
doing some trim restoration,
I have to stop by

just to see how he's doing.
To see if he needs some help.

But most importantly,
make sure he's having fun.

[kevin laughs]

it's not bad,
I don't mind it.
It's kind of fun.

[kevin] well, I know dave
is super excited to get
this restoration done,

so we got it all
stripped down,
I got the car to the blast,

I just picked it up,

I gotta let dave in
on some news.

It's kind of cool to get a car
that we're just gonna not
like go all nuts on.

Here it is.

No, it doesn't look bad.

It's 80% good, 20% bad.
This is the good side.

-Is it really is that bad?
-Yeah, but basically, so

it looks like to me
that the car was crashed
at one point.

[dave] our '66 corvette
is finally back
from soda blast

and now we can
check and make sure
there's no damage.

If there is any damage
to the fiberglass,
we'll make some good repairs

and then get on
with the program, but so far
this car looks pretty clean.

It's kind of cool to get a car
that we're just gonna not like
go all nuts on.

Here it is.

No, it doesn't look bad.

It's 80% good, 20% bad.
This is the good side.

-Is it really is that bad?
-Yeah, but basically, so

it's really good.
We got it back.

It's on all new bushings
on the frame.

All the doors are hung.

Yeah, it looks like gaps look
pretty decent, really, I mean.

So you get a little bit
of body filler there, so

it looks like to me
that the car was crashed
at one point.

On this side.
We got two new panels--

[dave] it's got a crack
right here too. Yep,
on that header panel.

[kevin] we got two new panels,
you know some kind of,

kind of sub-par work down
there but like I said,
it's 20%.

-I think that's
more like 17%.
-Okay.

-I mean, we're under 20%.
-Okay, dave.

-We're in great shape.
-Okay, dave.

And these are all
original panels,

obviously, this has been
replaced at some point.

Probably a very early repair
but all in all, I mean,
the back's good too?

The back's totally good.
There's no other panels
that have been replaced

except for these two
right here.

I can actually see this
car getting done very quickly.

Yeah, that's real life, dave.
This is a great car.

So what's next,
what do you wanna do?

All right, so we'll work on
just the repairs, you know
we got a couple holes.

I don't think we need
to order any panels.

[dave] I really
wouldn't either.

And we'll get this thing
in vinyl ester and
they'll start the bodywork.

This is pretty crazy really.

I'm trying to think
of the last time that we
restored something.

-It was the futurliner.
-Right.

Aside from that we typically
don't do, what we're going
to do to this car

-and that's actually put
it all back to...
-The way we got it.

-The way it came in. Stock.
-Just shinier.

So the guys have
the engine going,
they tearing that thing down

so we'll have it all prepped,
all sealed back up,
obviously, we'll repaint it.

And the trans I believe
is just a natural thinness,
but we'll check.

Housing gets painted,
natural finish
on the housing.

We will recondition
the whole frame

and have it powder coated
and then we should be
good to go.

-Far out.
-It's just easy-peasy
on this one.

-[whoops]
-don't add anything.

-You know--
-no, no, no, not this one.

Let's go talk
about another one.

-It needs air conditioning.
-We maybe can talk
about air conditioning later.

And maybe we'll get rid
of that california
emissions pump.

Yeah. Okay, come on,
come on, come on.

[dave] we can lower it though.
We can lower it.

[both laughing]

[kevin] yes,
it is a restoration.

But I still have all the guys
sanding every square
of this thing.

Making it laser straight,
making sure the gaps
are dialed,

and we're gonna put
a kindig-it paint job on this
even if it is a restoration.

Well, we're taking care
of any major deviations

in the body with fiberglass
with fiberglass filler.

I had to add quite a bit here
to match the surface
of the hood.

Just taking care of the area
in between where I added
fiberglass and the original.

Skinned it close before we go
into our first primer

so we have less work
to do afterwards.

It's nice not having
to go full on fabrication
on one of these,

keep it more original.

This is called hugger orange.
This is the standard
orange color used on

most early gm muscle cars,
v8s and stuff.

Get in there
and get these parts
for this '66 vette painted.

I'm a ford guy.
I like ford blue.

But gm decided to use orange,
so here we go.

In true good fashion,
kindig-it design is now
in the restoration business.

Well, at least for this car.
And in that case, the engine
is going hugger orange

just like original.
And this will look great
with a black exterior.

It turned out great.
Definitely orange.

For what it is, it gives
it that authentic look,
I would say.

Back in the '60s, if you
had a v8 from chevrolet,
it was likely hugger orange.

Take it over to the assembly
side, we'll let them put it
back together.

They'll slide back in the
car once we get the car
bumped up.

[frank] '66 corvette,
it's a cool car, it's the
first year for the 427

that chevy introduced, I think
this is a 11-to-1 compression
motor on this one.

So it's you know,
a lightweight car


independent rear suspension.

It's a restoration, we're not
doing anything exotic
with this one

which is cool, so it's a body
and five other parts

that I've primed
so far instead of c10,

which has got like 700 parts
scattered around the shop.

So we're spraying vinyl ester
on the '66 corvette today.

The reason why we do this,
it's a high-build primer,

it's kind of the same
as like a poly primer that we
would do on a metal car.

Being that this
is fiberglass, we don't need
to do an epoxy primer

to lock in and save metal
from rusting because there
is none. Makes it easier.

Just pack it nice and thick,
this way we can
actually pump through after

and block out the body and not
have to worry about doing
too much filler after that.

So it's already been
straightened out
pretty well before here.

This is just gonna get
those minor imperfections,
you know the fiberglass

leaves little marks
with strands in it
when you sand it.

So this will fill all
that up. And then after
this essentially we should be

pretty much good to go,
blocking it out, little things
here and there

and get this thing sealed up
and actually painted. So yeah,
we'll sh**t this stuff down,

lay five coats, get a nice
and thick, pull it out
of here and block it out.

So the car's primed,
looks like it came out
really good.

Right now we'll just get
the booth up the temperature
and get this thing baking.

Right on.

Turn.

[kevin] to finish
the paint job.

We're gonna go ahead
and split this car apart
from the chassis,

this does a couple of things
for us, we can finish
the paint job,

we can powder coat
the chassis,

we can take care
of a couple of problem spots
on the bottom of the car,

get everything prepped
and when everything
looks good,

we're going to put them
both together.

[jason] so we had this
corvette come over.
We're gonna split it apart.

This is just bone stock build
from what I understand.

We haven't really done
anything to it over here.

So we're just gonna brace
the center a little bit just
because it's a convertible

so it doesn't move too much
on the rotisserie,

and then split it,
get it mounted.

I'm pretty confident
this one's gonna be easy.

Yeah, we're gonna brace
this thing up pretty
rudimentary though,

we're not going
to get too crazy.

[jason] just a little
left and right,
front and back action.

Mind your fingers.

It's stronger than
the fiberglass,
that's for sure.

[dave] now that the body
work's pretty much finished
up, jason and his team

are now going to get the car
over to the metal shop
and get a separated

from the chassis and put it on
the rotisserie.

[jason] that's good.

-What are we doing
to this thing?
-Paint job, that's it.

-As far as I know.
-I've heard that before.

[kevin] this will be
the easiest thing
that we do all day.

We don't
have any modifications.

There's no panels, there's
no flanges, the body should
just come right off.

Those ones got a nut
on them.

[jason] yahtzee!

Get it.

All right, now go up
about four inches.

Let's just go up real slow.

[jason] any cracking?

[eric] looking good over here.

[jason] I'm clear.

Easy, man.

It's only three o'clock,
we'll be done
before we go home.

-Most def.
-[laughs]

now we're gonna roll
the rotisserie under,
mount it up and be done.

Cool, thanks.

We gotta get all these
little extension arms
hanging from the car.

And then we're gonna
lower the car down
to the rotisserie,

and then weld it
to the rotisserie,
tighten them down

and balance it,
and call it good.

sh**t it
pretty straightforward.

[upbeat music playing]

at least halfway.

To distribute
the weight or whatever
so it swings really nice.

We're gonna bring it up
so we can

move it mo' better.

It feels better already.

I think we gotta go up
a little more still,
it's better, but...

Probably another four inches.

Yeah, that feels
really good.

Yeah, let's call it there,
tighten them all up.

I like it.

[kevin] with the
bodywork complete
and the car on the rotisserie,

the car is headed back over so
they can take care of a couple
spots on the bottom

and paint the entire car
black hole black.

Record time.
Same day delivery.

Let's go home.

[kevin] so we're not usually
in this situation a lot.

-[dave] I know--
-what do we do with the bottom
of the car?

Because normally we would
bodywork it and smooth it out

and paint it
and make it perfect.

Well, we're doing
a restoration on this one.
So I was a little tossed

and actually,
I've talked to a bunch
of corvette "gurus."

the correct way to do it
is to leave it in the beige
looking fiberglass.

So we're keeping it pretty
well close to the original,
but we're over restoring it.

The body is perfected.
There's absolutely no reason
to do anything more

-than what's already there.
-It's really solid, too.

-It's actually
a really nice car.
-Really nice.

[dave] so cars
from the late '60s
aren't really that old.

I mean, the car, yes, is old,
and it's just barely any older
than I am.

Right?

-'66.
-Yeah.

Okay, I was born in '71,
that's five years earlier than
'66, so let's just do math.

You're right.

-I'll be 50 next year.
-You're gonna be 60.

Shut the front door.

Let's just embrace it.
Look at this great car.
This is a great car, right?

It's in great shape.
As old as it is,
it's in really great shape.

It's got a couple of fractures
and a little bits been
replaced.

So don't get down
on yourself because you're 60.

But it's still
all original parts.

-You know what, you're right.
-Yeah. You good, dude.

-[dave mumbles]
-[kevin laughs]

[dave] all right.

Oh, god.

[kevin laughs]

so this is a stock '66
corvette chassis.

The body is on the rotisserie
now in final paint.

We got this over here,
we're going to get it all,

obviously the chassis
stripped down,
ready to go to powder.

We're doing this because he
really loves this car.

I think they drove
this car on their honeymoon,
I believe.

We're gonna go through
the parts and see what I can
powder and what I can't.

And we'll get it all out,
and when it comes back,
it'll be beautiful.

All the parts, panels, frames
need to be disassembled
and brought back to life.

Spindles and hubs.

A lot of the stuff's
not in bad shape.

It would be way easier
for me to just take
this car apart,

throw the parts
that don't look the greatest
in the garbage.

But this is a restoration,
we want to keep as many
original parts

on this car
as we possibly can.

So, yeah,
we're gonna clean that,
we won't paint that.

See, like these can go.

Saving and reusing these parts
on these restorations
can be a bear.

You know, all the seals,
all the rubber,
all these crusty bearings,

they gotta go.

These are the kinds of
things that make restorations
a little bit difficult.

You got to decide,
what's got to go,

and what can stay.

This thing won't budge.

[bleep]

damn,
this thing's not coming out.

There we go. Finally.

I haven't had this much
trouble since I tried to get
out of the womb.

This '66 corvettes
been stripped down,
re-body-worked,

and is better than new.
And now it is finally
ready to paint.

[dave] so this car originally
was black with black interior
and a white top.

And of course, all of these
cars had an orange engine.

So we're gonna
go back to the original
except for one thing,

we're gonna
go black on the top,
triple black it is.

No, that's from all
the bondo and
primer and

a little bit of everything,
probably time for a new one.

[chuckles]

connector and then
we'll throw
in some slow reducer.

It should be good to stir up
and lay out.

Now we get to mix.

[dave] the original black
has a little bit
of a brown hue to it,

whereas my black
is a little bit more
on the blue side

which makes it deeper,
darker, and colder and that is
so much more preferred,

especially on a car like this.

[brian] add some mixer.

Basically,
everything's just going black.

Gloss black up top.

And then a satin black
underneath.

Pretty straightforward.

Put some paint
in some spray cups
and load it in the g*n,

I'll suit up
and get ready to lay
some color down.

Coverage would be
number one for me, obviously,
how it looks at the end,

but coverage
is also a big thing.

You should get away
with two coats and then go
in and kind of do

some denibbing and then one
good coverage coat after that.

It's going good,
it's going down real nice.

We'll get this rotisserie
turned and get the top
of it sprayed

and let it flash,
and come into our second coat.

[upbeat rock music playing]

just doing a quick
denib before my next
coat of base.

The black, it gets pretty
dirty. So...

Go on ahead and kind of
toughen up most
of the cars

to get the big dirt nibs
knocked down.

All we have to do,
after the next coat, seal it,

and then go ahead
and do the final phase.

We'll get the clear.

People don't realize how much
I appreciate a good paint job.

It's not about the actual
paint itself that I get
excited about,

it's about what comes
after that.

The chassis's back. Mmm!

Even though this is a stock
chassis, I'm super excited
to put it all together,

and stand back and look
at this sexy chassis.

Everybody knows kevin's
a sucker for old chassis.

And for him, this one's like
a fine wine.

This is the 1966 corvette
chassis.

And this is kind of more
of a restored build.

We still have a kindig-it
quality here, we want it to be
as nice as it possibly can be.

But we're not polishing
anything,

we're not changing hardware,
so it looks the same.

We're basically putting
everything back just
the way it came.

And that's kind of more
of the goal. So it's
a complete like gearshift.

A stock chassis has a lot
of extra things that we would
normally get rid of.

But you know what, this stock
chassis has some character,
you can see how it was built,

you can imagine this thing
getting built back
in the '60s.

It's pretty cool,
I appreciate it.
In a way this is easier.

But we also have to be really
careful that we want
it to be exactly

how it came from the factory.
So things are completely
different for us over here

in the assembly area.
There's no polish washers.

There's not a lot of chrome
parts on the chassis at all,
there's a lot of zinc,

there's a lot of just brass,
the lines are stainless
and nice

but we didn't polish them,
you can see it's just got
standard hardware in it,

we didn't put them
on the buffer, we didn't
smooth any of the welds off,

we left them just the way
they were, we basically
just blasted the chassis

and we had it powder coated
and maybe even powder coating
was a step too far,

but we thought that it needed
the optimum protection.

So we went ahead
and did that, but if you
look close you can see

just how these are welded
at the factory back in 1966.

There's just slag everywhere.

You know, they're kind of
just welded quickly.

We just kind
of left it raw factory bare,

everything's going back,
you know, we've got
the steering box,

we didn't upgrade the rack
and pinion, we didn't
upgrade to anything.

Basically just going
to be stock 1966.

It's just supposed
to look factory. Factory,
but maybe a little bit better.

[dave] no chassis is complete
without its drive train and
this 427 big block is perfect,

especially being restored back
to its original hugger orange
with all of the fine details.

It's going to look beautiful
sitting in this car.

[pringle] one second.
I can almost
get a bolt in here.

That there is...

-[roy] we're in.
-[pringle] there you go.

How's that?

-[pringle] yeah. Sweet.
-We're good.

My main worry
is not scratching stuff.

This is a lot of stuff
to hook up.

[kevin] this has
got the big block
with the four-speed. I mean,

this is just true, iconic
american muscle car
right here.

Everything is coming together.
The chassis is all put
together, the body's polished.

Let's marry these things.

It's gonna look amazing
with all the restored parts
and the wheels.

Okay, perfect.
Thank you, guys.

-[man] happy hanukkah.
-[kevin] that's dead sexy
there, boys.

[man] it's christmas.

-[kevin] that's really nice.
-Can't beat black.

Dude, that's shinier and
deeper than it ever thought
about being from the factory.

That thing looks sweet.

[kevin] the chassis
looks amazing.
The car looks amazing.

We'll put the two together.
They're gonna have
amazing babies.

That's how that works.

Little baby corvettes.

In and as soon as we're ready,

we'll cut this thing loose
and get it down
on the chassis. I'm excited.

The chassis is complete,
the body's polished,

we're ready to put these
things together.

When the customers brought
this car here,

they had one condition,
that we added
air conditioning.

[justin] so this car didn't
have air conditioning
from the factory.

You know we're trying to make
this a correct restoration,
if you would.

It's a factory ac unit
that we've just restored
in house.

You know, the fit's great,
it's pretty heavy,

but it's gonna make
it easier in the long run
to get this in.

You know, and the wipers
mounted in here because

this is a big block car
and there's not a lot of room.

[kevin] so this car
originally didn't come
with air conditioning.

To add it in is
a little bit tricky,

but you know,
it's gonna be worth it.

[kevin] let's go your way now.

Watch that back, roy.

[roy] I almost hit the body.

I'm gonna get my saws off.

Oh, it looks like we got
to cut it up here then.

[kevin] there we go.

If you see something
you don't like, call it out.

Wait, hold it.

[roy] it should be free
and clear, right?

[kevin] let's just
keep an eye on everything.

We got to go this way.

[kevin] let's try it out.

[roy] put us in the ball park.

Okay, bring it on down
to chinatown.

Am I good
to go more?

I'm not gonna hit anything,
so, yeah.

[kevin] how's the front
of that gas tank?

[roy] it looks really close
from what I see.

[kevin] coming down.

[roy] the back should be
contacting right now.

I think we're good. As long as
we're not getting hung up
on anything. We're good.

[justin] three, two, one,
contact.

Oy] to the moon, alex.

[kevin] the '66 corvette
is now in assembly.

All the parts have been
restored or replaced.

Now it's time to get
these things all back
on the car.

[dave] you know, it's really
been a while since we've done
a stock restoration,

but this is actually
refreshing. We've got roy,
our good old boy

doing the assembly
on this car, it's going
right together.

There's not a lot
of custom panels.

There's not a lot
of things that are out
of the ordinary.

This thing's going
together slick.

All right, roy. I took
a moment last night and I
drew up this wiring diagram.

Everybody around the shop
knows I like to nerd out
with wiring.

So I took just a couple
of minutes and I whipped
up this wiring diagram

to give the roy this morning.

-I thank you so much for that.
-I know right. You're welcome.

The wiring is completely
different than we normally do.

-So normally, we buy...
-Wire by wire.


it's all custom. Well,
we didn't change anything.

They already make
a complete replacement
harness.

So this isn't really
like a wiring job.
This is more just like--

plug and play. It's not
that bad. It's just that we're
not scratch wiring.

So this should be interesting.

It should be.

This is an iconic car
because this is a 427
big block car.

One of my favorites.

The new corvettes,
don't even ask me about that.

You have to work
for nasa to work
on those cars.

It looks like you're making
amazing progress
on this thing.

You have about, what 99%
of the wires in this thing?

-Ninety-nine.
-I like it. I like it.

Does the headlights work?

[kevin] oh, yeah, boy.

I like it.

[honks]

got a horn.

So we're starting...
Those are the basics,
we have lights.

-[roy] turn signal.
-We have horn,

we have turn signals.

Back brake and...

Yep, good. You got it.

Reverse.

Does it run?

[engine roaring]

[kevin] just like it ran
before we took it apart.

That's awesome.

Go ahead and shut her down.

What saved me is that
schematic you gave me...

Oh, yeah, I do what I can.

[laughing]

and come out...

[dave] hanging and aligning
these doors in this corvette
is actually one of the biggest

last steps of the assembly.
One of the big keys is getting
the door gaps

perfect on this car.
Now it was perfect when
it was body-worked.

Now that it's going back
together with paint on it,
it should be flawless.

We'll pull these out
and we'll see where we live.

[roy] it actually looks
like it fits well.

But then again,
this is a fiberglass car

and when you bolted
the chassis, things move.

We're hoping for the best.

One down, one the go.

[dave] back in the '60s,
the cars weren't built
by a computer. So,

every one of these cars might
have had a little bit
difference in the shims

or the fitment of the doors.

Right here we're kind of
touching there.
So we might need to adjust.

Push it up.

I think we're 1/8 inch in here
and one over here,

just to get it just right,
just got to kind of
be patient with it.

Theoretically.

This one in particular,
we got to make sure
that we split the hairs

and make sure that it has just
the right amount of shims

to make this door
fit perfectly.

It's too hard to slide
it in right there.

All right.

-You ready to test her out?
-Be very careful with it.

Yep.

Doors on.

[dave] even though we're
putting a new black
cloth top on this,

as well as velour carpet,

the rest of the car's really
in great shape, and we're
gonna go ahead

and utilize
the original seat covers
and door panels.

To me, this is like
the ultimate convertible
right here.

Triple black
with the red lines.

I got to build the convertible
top pads,

because they don't make
those the way I want them.

The first thing we're gonna do
is we gonna build those
so they match

the safe house canvas
with the top we ordered.

I'll put the hardware on this,
get a bow height set,

we'll get the convertible
top pads built to our 18
and a half inch bow height.

And then we'll install
this top.

Awesome. I think
that black canvas top's gonna
look so much better

-than the white vinyl one.
-I agree.

[dave] I'm changing this top
from white to black canvas

and also going to velour
mercedes carpet because
it's just a bit nicer.

But you know what?
Justin's got this.

-Yeah, we'll make that happen.
-It's pretty easy?

No. It's not.

[laughs]

so you're saying
there's a chance though, okay.

[justin] the trickiest part is
making sure though, the frame
itself is all set up right.

If you're going to go
install at top to a bent out
frame or a crooked frame,

you're going to have
some problems.

The most important step
to this convertible top
on this corvette

is to find the bow height.

Bow height, very, very,
very important.

Everything's got to start
with the bow height.

This doesn't change,
that's got to stay within
a quarter-inch tolerance,

or the pre fit top
will not fit.

The next thing we got
to do is we got to build
convertible top pads.

When this top folds up,

and all these areas
fold together,

it doesn't pinch the top,
it pinches the pad itself.

Okay, so we got
the convertible top pads on.

It'll give it a nice clean
look like this.

The foam in there will
help protect all these hinges.

And then we're ready to start
putting a top on this.

The last thing we got to do
here is install this top
by gluing it into place,

a few staples, a little bit
of glue, make sure it's
stretched out really nice.

The key here is, make sure
this edge is all even.

But I took
that pre-measurement
and I got to make sure

when this comes around,
we're at this line.

And we are.

I got all this tucked in.
We're gonna screw
this back on and then

we'll pull this thing forward
and see what it looks like.

It's fitting really nice,
actually.

I like it.

Let's see how this side is.

This side's on the money.

A couple things I want
to check though.

This being a convertible top,
sometimes if there's
enough pressure on this,

it'll pull that windshield
frame back

which will screw up
all your door alignments.

So you want
to come in here and check

your door gaps. We still got
a real good door gap there.

Here, this is good
so that's telling me

there's not a ton
of pressure on this side,
and this side to me,

was the tightest.

[dave] the black top looks
beautiful on this car and
now alls he's got left

is to wrap-up
this mercedes carpet.

Hey, we're almost done
with this car and ready
to give it back to the client.

And with the high-end carpet
that we're putting in this,
we can't mold it so,

I've got to pre-fit stuff
or there's not going
to be binding

and still make it look
somewhat factory, and then
I'm gonna try to bind it

with all the factory stuff...
So, I'm going replicate that

but I'm going to replicate
it with the mercedes
cup car.

Oh, man, that's looking
beautiful buddy.

Those are three great things
a car should do, it runs,
it drives and it stops.

I have to tell you, roy,
you did an amazing job.

You know I'm very excited
to how this '66 corvette's
turned out.

I challenged roy and all
the rest of the guys here
to do a great restoration

and they've not disappointed.

I can't wait to take
this old bad boy for a spin

and then give it back
to the client.

I'm going to probably grab
it first thing in the morning

-and head up to park city
and drop it off.
-Great.

[eagle screeching]

you know what?
This looks like
a great place.

Here we are in not beautiful
downtown salt lake city,

but rather up in the mountains
which is better than
anywhere else on this planet.

Man, what a beautiful day.

-A beautiful day.
Look at this beautiful place.
-[eagle screeches]

[dave] he agrees.
He's loving the car.

-It's really nice up here.
-I know, we should
stay up here.

-Forever?
-Yeah, with this car.

[dave] I'm gonna miss
this car.

I am gonna miss this car too.
Restorations are the most
exciting thing,

but the way that this thing
turned out...

[dave] the story behind
the car and, yes, the fact
that it's triple black

is like priceless.

I mean, I wear triple black
every day.

Hey, I'm almost there.
I'm double black
with a little gray.

-Double black.
-And not up here.

We might have gone overboard
on the restoration
it's so nice, I think.

-But that's what we do.
-That's what we do.

[dave] at the end of the day,
we didn't have
a lot of stuff to do

as far as fiberglass repair
and replacement.

The bumpers look beautiful.
Let's take a look
under the hood.

You know this is a little bit
different, jewelry box

from what we're normally doing
because we didn't go, bam,

actually, we did
just the opposite,
but we did it so nicely.

-[eagle screeches]
-he agrees. [bleep]

-dude, he's coming down.
-He's coming to get you.

I've learned a lot
about corvette engine base.

-Right.
-Well, when they put
air conditioning

in the factory, they moved
the battery to the left side.

-See, I would never
have known that.
-Neither did I.

And it's almost impossible
to get that ac unit in the car
without taking the motor out.

Oh, 100%. And so we got rid
of the smog pump,

and we added
the air conditioning pump
but again,

this is as factory-looking
as it should be. I mean,
down to the line

on the gm hoses,
the gm heater lines.

[dave] this really
looks beautiful
under the hood

with a couple
of chrome accents and all
of the original lettering

and stripes back on the hoses,
the way it should be.

I mean, honestly the car,

it looks and smells
like a brand-new '66.

Mmm-hmm.
And '66 was a great year.

-That's when you
were born, right?
-Stop.

[laughs]

you know, overall, I think
doing a restoration
on this car,

-it sits actually really nice
for a stock vehicle.
-100%.

All the suspension
is new too, but like I said,
it's all factory.

That black canvas top looks
so much better

than that crappy
old white vinyl.

[kevin] it was like the white
vinyl was trying to match
the white walls on the tire.

[dave] tires got to go,
same with that top.

But one of my very
favorite parts has always
been red line wheels

-on something like this.
-Remember when it came in,

it had those like weird
white wall things.

[dave] I was really hoping
for a tire fire because those
sucked so bad.

It's the worst looking
tires I've ever seen
in my life.

This was really nice that
they allowed us to put

a proper tire on the car.
It's a radial.

It has a great looking
red line and it really makes
those knockoff wheels

look beautiful, all restored.
It's a nice finishing touch.

[kevin] I don't think you can
go wrong with red lines
on a triple black car period.

Nope. Speaking
of triple black, let's take
a look at the interior.

Oh, totally it came
out so good.

[dave] changing up the
steering wheel was a nice
thing because the other one

was pretty beat up. It just
so happened we had that one
in the shop

and it looks beautiful--

[kevin] that was one thing
I was kind of disappointed
about.

-Not having the wood
for the sex appeal.
-That's true.

-The only piece of wood
in the whole car.
-I totally get it.

This one looks way better,
I agree, but I was a little
bummed to see it go.

So one of the really cool
things about this interior

is a lot of it was so nice
that we didn't have
to replace it,

like the seats. We just
cleaned the seats up,
one of the backs

was broken, so we got
a new back for it
and then, obviously,

you can see we've added
the ducts underneath the dash.

Those are actually
another part that comes
with the ac.

Most guys that add
air conditioning
to these cars,

don't use the center vent
because it's too difficult
to put in.

-We are professionals.
-Well, look. We have
a center vent.

[dave] that's right.

Last but not least,
down to the very bottom
of the cabin,

well, that's velour carpet
from a mercedes.

It's black, it's deep,
and it is super soft.

And it'll stay looking great
for a very long time.

It's such a nice day.

Why don't we put the top down
and go for ride?

Well, I got a lot to do.
But we might as well,
we're here.

[laughs]

-let's do it.
-Let's do it.

We didn't do
any custom at all,
we did a full restoration.

And this is exactly that.
One bitchin' restoration.

-That's why
I love my job.
-[kevin chuckles]

[engine roaring]

[kevin] oh, what a great day
to be alive.

-A triple black corvette--
-I'll tell you what...

-And it has plenty of power.
-Totally.

Which is great.
And it sounds awesome.
Those tail pipes are rad.

[kevin] it's raw,
you can feel the road,
you can hear the engine,

you can feel the shift
from first to second.

I mean, you can just feel it,
it's just a raw american
sports car,

[dave] you got to drive
this car. This certainly
isn't a prius.

[kevin] they're gonna get
the feeling that they
had back in the day.

And that to me is really,
really, really important.

The memories that they
had in this car and how long
it has been the family,

like it's just really cool.

The owners of the car have had
it for over 25 years

and I bet they're gonna have
it for at least another


The engine just purrs,

ac feels good,
the updated bluetooth stereo
feels great. I mean.

Speaking of that,

let's turn that on.

[upbeat music playing]

-it sounds great.
-That's perfect.

It's perfect.

This was a great
experience for me
driving kevin around

in a car that I'm not going
to actually scare
the complete crap out of him.

Telescopic is a really cool
feature on this car.

I think it is super cool
because it's actually, it just
makes it so much easier

-to get your car--
-you're not supposed to do
it while you driving.

It doesn't really matter.

I like that.

[dave] whee!
It drives straight too.

[kevin] it's 25 in here, bro.
You're gonna get
us in trouble.

[dave] I forgot
about that...