Hello , I have a 66 chevelle that I am going to finish within the next 2 years. My son who is 11 is ready to lend a hand and I am looking forward to me and him going through this vehicle together (which when he is 25 I will hand him the keys). When the car is finished we plan on driving the car to pomona to meet my father at the nitro nationals. I am not intending it to be show or all stock, just a nice solid driver that me and my son can have some fun with .The drivetrain is finished but the front end needs to be rebuilt,ac system installed, and floor pans/trunk needs to be fixed,then off to body/paint. My question is where do you think I should start, The sheetmetal or the mechanical ? Thanks, Mike

Mechanical. My approach would be to fix everything mechanical and then drive it for a while. Then you'll know if you need or want to make any changes before the finish work.

IMO, it's too easy to damage things when you do mechanical work, and it's no fun to drill, weld or whatever on a finished car if that's necessary to change something after it's all nice and painted. And changes you make after painting everything might just end up looking as afterthoughts too. For example, I know that I would most certainly do a lot of damage installing that a/c system in a finished engine bay. :D

Good point , and out here in the desert the a/c system may be my starting point. My car did not come with a/c so I think I will start looking into the different systems out there to convert it. Thanks, Mike

I made the mistake of doing the mechanical last and now I will have to spend another small fortune to fix all the dings and scratches.