This page is the story of my 1970 Chevrolet El Camino restoration project. This car was built at the Van Nuys assembly plant in California and shipped to Longview, Texas. A friend of mine knew I was looking for one and dragged it 1500 miles to Ontario. It is in excellent condition because they don't use salt on the roads there. The car was missing some parts but over the years I have managed to collect most of them. I'm not interested in restoring it to original condition, therefore it will be highly customized by the Chevy Shop. Click "here" for a pic of the original GM order sheet that I found underneath the bench seat. The owners manual was even in the glove box!

Listed below are links to pictures. After viewing the photo, just click your web browser "Back" button to return to this page.

If you would prefer to see them as a slide show, click here: Slide Show

1. 1989 bought car and stripped it. Removed body mount bolts by hand
2. Headliner bracket detail- sometimes I take pics to help me in re-assembly
3. Me removing parking brake
4. Wife removing some seam sealer
5. Chassis after body removal
6. Body on stands for next seven years while I restored my house :-(
7. 1998 stripped chassis and rebuilt
8. Temporary sandblasting booth in the Chevy Shop
9. More sandblasting!
10. Not much room left over
11. Hanging parts everywhere.
12. More parts
13. Coathangers are usefull
14. Chevy parts windchimes
15. Check out the aliens flying around the Chevy Shop in this pic
16. Wife cleans parts!
17. Wife inspects my painting
18. Rear end painted
19. Bare frame
20. More blasting
21. Frame is ready for repair work
22. I installed a motor and transmission to locate the proper place for the clutch bellcrank frame tab (car was originally automatic)
23. Wife scrubs frame with metal-prep prior to epoxy primer coat
24. Frame is painted with Glasurit metallic charcoal gray acrylic urethane
25. Hanging parts
26. More parts
27. Suspension assembly
28. Differential installed
29. Chassis back together four months later
30. Holley fuel pump
31. Chassis photo
32. Chassis photo
33. Chassis photo
34. Chassis photo
35. Chassis photo
36. 2002 I made these brackets to lift and rotate body shell on it's side
37. Shell ready to come off again
38. Lifting bracket
39. Body is rigged and ready!
40. Up she comes
41. Chassis slides out
42. Hanging El Camino shell
43. Just hanging around
44. Turning
45. Will your battery turn your car over?
46. Shell on it's side ready for work
47. Thick tar undercoating has to be removed
48. Time to flip the other way
49. More scraping to do. 3 cans of propane and a gallon of gas
50. A quarter of an inch thick in spots
51. I'm not complaining because that is what kept the floor in such great condition- scraping.....
52. Finally at the blast the shell stage.
53. Tough to do when it is 32C outside
54. Metal looks so good when it is white clean
55. Should only take 20-30 hours of glass blasting:-(
56. 34 hours in now
57. Almost finished blasting
58. finally finished 51 hours of blasting
59. a white car/truck!
60. Metal conditioner, thinner wash, and the first coat of epoxy primer!
61. Applying Epoxy Primer
62. Frame wrapped in poly
63. Shell back on frame! Aug. 11 2002
64. This corner is the worst part of the car. An accident or someone backed into something I guess. It is proving to be very tricky to fix but I'm winning.
65. After several hours of pulling and welding, the corner is as close as it will ever be. A minimal amount of mud and it will look perfect.
66. Some metal had to be removed here and there.
67. Some metal had to be added here and there.
68. Welding
69. Fenders had some rust damage in the cowl area where Chevys are known to collect leaves.
70. Fender patched up.
71. More parts hanging around.
72. Applying Epoxy Primer (on the 3rd gallon now!)
73. Test fit of the power seats.
74. To avoid door mounted switches, I made these switch packs.
75. Custom switches mount under the seat and out of sight.
76. Cab floor painted.
77. Amplifier rack installed.
78. Tricky stereo cabinet construction.
79. A whole sheet of 3/4 MDF- should help with traction :)
80. Lots of wiring needed and it all has to be waterproof just in case.
81. Four 8 inch drivers, an optima battery and a linear actuator in factory wasted space.
82. Movie clip of the stereo cabinet lid in action! ( 1681KB )