mell69
06-30-2009, 05:36 PM
I've been a member for a while and thought it was finaly time to intoduce myself. A quick personal automotive background. My first car was a 69 Camaro that I had in highschool in the mid 80's. It was red with Weld superlite II's. Of course being 17 the only thing that mattered was speed so in went a 396 with solid lifters and 12:1 compression. It was backed by a manual valve bodied T400 and a 12 bolt with 4:56 gears. Yikes! Not exactly the best road manners not to mention that I spent more time under the hood than behind the wheel. I then became enamored with tri-five Chevys particularly the 56. I sold the Camaro and found a 56Bel-Air convertible that needed work. Early in the build process I became heavily influenced by street rods especially the early 50's mild custom style. For the next eight years I tried to emulate this style in the 56. This is what I came up with.
Near the end of this build the pro-touring bug bit, and I mean HARD. I sold the Bel-Air and immediatly began looking for another 69 Camaro to replace my highschool ride. But this one would be built right, to drive. I found a shell in Oklahoma and four years later it looks like this.
I have used so much information from this great sight especially for brakes and suspension. It has the stock subframe with Global West bushings and tall spindles from ATS, an AGR steering box and C5 brakes all aroun d from Touring Classics. It's mini tubbed with a Strange 9" in the back. For motivation it has a 383 with a TKO 600 behind it. The real problem with these 5-10 years builds is that it's so easy to want to change direction. There are many things I would do differently(namely wheels) but for now the plan is to get it back together and on the road. Any changes can be made later.
As you can see from the Camaro pictures my other current project is to get my new garage/workshop finished and useable. Speaking of which, back to mudding. Oh joy. Honestly, is there a more thankless job? I mean all this time and effort and it's only noticed if it's a lousy job. Anyway, thanks for looking.
Mike Bahr
Near the end of this build the pro-touring bug bit, and I mean HARD. I sold the Bel-Air and immediatly began looking for another 69 Camaro to replace my highschool ride. But this one would be built right, to drive. I found a shell in Oklahoma and four years later it looks like this.
I have used so much information from this great sight especially for brakes and suspension. It has the stock subframe with Global West bushings and tall spindles from ATS, an AGR steering box and C5 brakes all aroun d from Touring Classics. It's mini tubbed with a Strange 9" in the back. For motivation it has a 383 with a TKO 600 behind it. The real problem with these 5-10 years builds is that it's so easy to want to change direction. There are many things I would do differently(namely wheels) but for now the plan is to get it back together and on the road. Any changes can be made later.
As you can see from the Camaro pictures my other current project is to get my new garage/workshop finished and useable. Speaking of which, back to mudding. Oh joy. Honestly, is there a more thankless job? I mean all this time and effort and it's only noticed if it's a lousy job. Anyway, thanks for looking.
Mike Bahr