Hugger; From Tainted to Extraordinary!!!

[Bucky67]

This is a thread dedicated to the resurrection of a 1969 RS Camaro with a factory X-11 Option. As some of you might know, the car was never finished at the “restoration” facility in Indiana, but I refused to give up on something. If there is one thing that I learned from the Army, you never give up. Where there is a will, there is way!!

With that being said, enjoy the pictures, the updates, and more importantly, the great length that I’ve had to take to bring this car back to life, better than new, the Right Way!!

The two pictures below show Hugger in Derek's garage for the last time and then in my garage. It was being restored for over a year and this is how it looked after being delivered. Not what you'd expect after paying for a restoration....

[Bucky67]

The next two pictures show the engine coming out and the engine bay right before I pulled the Tremec TKO out. My favorite part, none of the brand new wiring harnesses were installed, nor was the brand new Vintage AC & Heat.

It's gonna be a long road ahead, but she's gonna come out better than Jade!!

[Bucky67]

After the entire driveline came out, if was time to remove the brand new interior.

Now, I'm not the smartest man in the world, and I don't own or run a restoration shop, but who would have brand new interior installed when the trunk pan, the frame rail, wheel tubs, and quarter panels need to be replaced?! I can't figure that out for the life of me....

[Bucky67]

Finally, it was time to load the car up and haul it to Smiley's Custom Rod Shop for media/sand blasting....

This could be bad or good

[Bucky67]

Oh boy..... This is bad. How bad you ask?! Well, if pictures are worth a thousand words, I could write a novel and a sequel on how bad Hugger is and what we found hid.

First of all, we found fresh auto body paper stuffed in the rockers with bondo!! Yes, all that was painted over... I must admit that I've never seen someone use auto body paper to form a rocker, but I've seen it now!

Next we found not only rust, but holes in the dash.

After that, we found the passenger side lower cowl completely rotted out. The rust hole was so big, I could put my hand through it. But yet, the car was completely painted with interior?!?

Once the brand new vinyl top was taken off, we found more holes and rust. Now, why on earth would anyone have a customer pay to have a brand new vinyl top installed when this hasn't been repaired properly?!?

And last, the rear tail panel section... Yup, more holes and rust.

No Bueno!!!

[Bucky67]

And finally.... What came off with the vinyl top?!? More rust.... And some paint from one of the most amazing paint jobs I've ever laid eyes on!!

What can I say, I'm speechless!!

[street72]

Just make sure you allow some time off in Sept for a vacation to Southern California..

[Bucky67]

Just make sure you allow some time off in Sept for a vacation to Southern California..

No worries Rett, no matter how deep I'll be in this build, my ass is taking some time off to come visit you!! After all, I'm going to need a vacation after redoing one Camaro and restoring another Camaro...... Ha Ha!!

[38P]

Yikes! That "restoration" shop was a real . . . .

[Beagle]

Thanks for keeping it classy Bucky - definitely a Hugger Buggerer deal. I'm impressed by the paper-mache. Not really.

[Bucky67]

Thanks for keeping it classy Bucky

You're welcome Beagle. Like I said, this is a thread about making something positive out of something that was tainted and negative.... When she's all done, she will be SEMA quality. That I can promise you!!

I'm impressed by the paper-mache. Not really.

I'm still shocked at the amount of auto body paper that we found. Not only that, but how fresh the paper and bondo was. I can't believe that's the craftsmanship of some people.... But I'm sure it goes on in more shops than we will ever know about.

[silver_bullet]

Hang in there Bucky! we'll keep watchin'

[Bucky67]

Hang in there Bucky! we'll keep watchin'

Patrick, I'm not going anywhere brother....

Jade is getting a brand new paint job, after clear was peeling off the drivers side door and the the quarter panels. On top of that, all the body work is getting fixed that was F'd up. Ironically, Jade was painted in the same exact restoration shop as Hugger.

[Bucky67]

On the Jig

Well, Hugger is now resting firmly on a Frame Jig, which is what should have been done from the beginning....

These two pictures show the views from both the passenger side and drivers side. This is gonna be her new home while we cut all the old metal off and start to order new OEM GM Sheetmetal.

[Bucky67]

Cutting Time....

So the first thing we did was cut the entire trunk pan out. You all should have seen all the holes!! After that, it was time to remove the tail panel section along with the old rusted frame rails.

So to date, here's what's been ordered thus far:

Brand new OEM Frame Rails
Brand new OEM Full Trunk Pan W/Extensions
Brand new "RS" OEM Tail/Valance Panel
Brand new OEM Inner Valance Panel
Brand new OEM Trunk Lid W/Factory Spoiler Holes
Brand new OEM Trunk Filler Panel
Brand new OEM Inner & Outer Wheel Tubs
Brand new OEM Full Length Quarter Panels
Brand new OEM Dash
Brand new Front Lower Cowl Panels, Left & Right


And to think, Hugger had a complete, brand new paint job with a brand new hounds-tooth interior....