Prodigy 1966 Chevelle Project

[ProdigyCustoms]

Well, it has been a busy couple weeks of deliveries here at Prodigy. Besides finishing up Vegas 69’s bad ass black 1969 Project Payback, we also finished up this sweet Chevelle last week to. Like Todds Camaro that sat somewhere un touched and was basically saved, The Chevelle has a story too.The Chevelle has a long story behind it, and I always find the story as interesting as the car. This Chevelle belongs to a gentleman in Fayetteville NC, named Daivd. This car was originally built as a surprise for David by his son Will. Will has been fortunate enough in business to be able hire a shop to build this car and make this big surprise happen. The car was built to pay tribute to a similar car David had back in the day.

Well, when the car was delivered on dads birthday, the surprise part of this deal went over fantastic………….. until all the problems started showing up. And what started as a dream for Will and his wife Shanna, the dream of being able to do something so fantastic for dad, turned into a nightmare quickly. Long story short, after going back and forth with the shop that built the car, Will and dad finally had to accept what they had as they realized that the shop that did the work either was not willing to fix things, or was possibly incapable of fixing the problems. I wasn’t a party to those original negotiations, so it is hard to speak on what was expected, but from my experience dealing with these guys it seems their intent with us was always pretty clear.

I will not mention the shop name. But the car was a absolute nightmare of safety hazards and sloppy workmanship. And also, to make things worse, if they could get any worse, there is a second car that was started during the Chevelle build that is a even bigger nightmare then this car. Another intended surprise…………..It’s a long story. These are good people, and they really did not deserve what they got. So this is where the Prodigy Rescue Team springs into action and we picked up both cars.

Long story short, after Will found us back in the mid summer. He flew me in to inspect the cars, do a condition report and a estimate for repair. It was pretty clear both cars would have to be stripped to the bone to see what was hiding under the crappy paint. We could see before stripping bad prep work, blisters, grind scratches, bad panel alignment. For whatever reason, this place painted the car assembled and undercoated the door jam area at the door hinges, on both cars, to bury the over spray! Speaking of overspray! There was over spray everywhere! What we found when we stripped the Chevelle was horrendous. 3” deck screws to retain the lower fenders. Bondoed rust holes, pitted rusted surfaces primed and painted over, HORRIBLE body alignment. It was sad.

Mechanically there was a totally un drivable clutch that would lung if you tried to disengage it. A incorrect sized master cylinder with a pedal so hard King Kong could not stop it, Missing body bushings and bolts, MAJORLY leaking rear main seal! Nightmare, simply a nightmare! Before it was over the engine would have to come out to be resealed. Dyno testing was done to make sure everything was ok and also to verify the 450HP claims (right!)

Well, we got everything fixed, re gapped the body, blocked our you know what’s off, fixed the mechanical issues and last week we delivered David the car son and daughter inlaw, Will and Shana dreamed in the beginning dad would get.

Oh, about the car. The car is what I would call a mild Pro Touring car. The 66 Chevelle SS sports a nice 454CI that made 375HP on the dyno, a Richmond 5 speed, 4 wheels disc and some suspension mods, Vintage Air, etc. The teal color is rare and simply stunning. A super bright metallic that in the sun, it looks back lit! And with white interior is really a clean look!

David and Will lurk here a bit. We are working on Will’s Camaro now that the Chevelle is done, and in a few months he will get his car back, and then Will and David can feel like their “In the club”. Hopefully they will speak up since they have at least one of the two cars done now. They are great guys, so let’s welcome them in.

We are finishing the new Prodigy Customs website very soon and we will post a series of pictures then of the Chevelle before and after, but here are some quick shots before she went on the trailer back home

[Yelcamino]

Nice job! Excellent color combo and a big block to boot!

[David Sloan]

Nice !!
Great ending to a sad story.
Car looks killer!
Welcome aboard guys.

[jimhamptons]

Wow! Looks great Frank!

[LMDGUY]

d@mn that is nice!

[dropit69]

damn nice job Prodigy Crew..that is my fav year chevelle !!

[Steve Firebird]

The car looks great. David and Will if you are lurking I feel your pain. I went through a similar deal with the body work on my car. Glad you were able to find Frank and get it fixed. Enjoy and drive wheels off it.

[Young Gun]

whats new? another amazing car coming from the prodigy crew!

[ty1295]

Nice looking car.

Curious of if you have pictures of the "old" work that was done. I personally don't see a problem posting those pictures and who did it, let everybody else decide.

[wblanton]

The pictures can be posted but the name of the company cannot due to legal reasons. I will say that Frank and his guys did an awesome job with the car. This car is now what it should have been. I am glad that dad will get to enjoy his car now. What a mess!!! Do yourselves a favor and do some thorough research on companies before hiring them. The pictures dont do justice to this fantastic paint job Frank and his guys have done. Before Frank got the car you could have surfed the waves down the side of it. Now you could use it for a straight edge.

[6'9"Witha69]

Good to see another Prodigy rescue success. Makes me want that '66 down the street really bad now.

[gearheads78]

Nice job. Now lets see the quality work from before.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Nice job. Now lets see the quality work from before.

OK, here are a few. Pretty amazing stuff I tell ya


Wavy and hazy


Nice seam sealer job, NOT!


Undercoated door jams, UGH! Also notice no fender bolt, either side


More undercoated door jams, both cars have this same feature


This fender is aligned right?


This trunk alignment is acceptable, right?


More great prep work


How about this bodywork around this moulding, fits nice huh?


How about the divet in the bondo door edge

I will do a complete wall of shame on this car and the other on the new prodigy Customs website showing what we found when we striped it.

[BMF Machine]

I am sure you can get it CherrY!

SweeT RidE again ProdiGY!

[Young Gun]

wow... you guys really did an incredible job fixing it up!

[Chevrolaine]

Beautiful! I wish more cars had white interiors.

[newbaa]

Frank, in that second-to-last picture, the one with the moulding, what can you do about that? i know you've fixed everything already, but what would be done about that? do you have to pre-fit all the moulding and everything AND THEN do the body work, or did you end up tweaking the moulding to get it to fit after you had repainted everything?
just curious. i don't think i'll have any of those major issues, but it never hurts to have a little information handy in case something like that comes up

[ProdigyCustoms]

We always pre fit moldings before paint. In this case the previous shop had worked this corner, used some repo stuff and did not test first. (BTW, of more interest is the lack of paint behind the molding). In the meantime, we bead welded the corner, then we finsihed shaping it with a product called carbo fill. And to get a good fit, we actually press the molding (taped up for protection) into that corner, then pull the molding at exactly the right time. Finish sand the area and it is ready for paint.

But this corner was SO badly off we had to bead weld first to build it up with weld. It was to far off for just filler

I took a picture of this area when we deilivered it back to the owner. I will get it off my camera at the shop tomorrow and post it.

[gearheads78]

So the DA scratches in the back window not susposed to be there. Them boys were

The sad thing it it looks like 60-70% of the work I see around. I lot more trash work out there than good work. Glad it worked out for the guy in the end.

[tomspo04]

Will, Glad to hear all went well in the end. It's a shame that you had to go through the pain...oh how I know! When I look at the before pictures I see allot of that same crap that was done to my car! I still get upset every time I think of that mess... Frank and his guys worked a miracle with your car. WOW!!!! It's beautiful!!!! Hats off to Prodigy! AND, he stands behind his product/s. I can't wait to see your Camaro, too.

Tom