Well, after six years from my initial post we have some progress.
This may be a little long....
Found another 68 that had been sitting in the POs garage since 77!
He gutted it to make a ProStreet car, and sent the car and his son to Wyoming Tech Race Car Chassis school. Car is a 136vin Houston area car, and 11 miles from my house.
So now have a 4 bar link frame with narrowed 9" Ford, 15" Mickey Thompson tires on Centerline rims, and fuel cell for sale or trade soon.
Only rust on this body is at the bottom of windshield and along cowl. The trunk had been cut out but the tubs are only tacked in, so we will cut all that back out and replace with new repop metal. Even the area at the bottom of the rear window is rust free. Car has all stainless and tinted windows, front is new never installed. Both fenders are new, 77 vintage, true Chevrolet items. Not sure why he has those, but he acquired a lot of parts back then. 69 disc brakes.
My 138vin car has a body with what I consider more technical repair rust. Along the edges of both windows, and small 1-2" areas around the car. Both cars have never been hit, have perfect qtrs. The 138vin car needs body work that is within my skill set but will take a lot of time.
My guess the 138vin sat in a carport in San Antonio, while the 136vin sat in a garage in Houston.
The 138vin has a rebuilt 325/396 numbers matching motor and Turbo 4000 trans that have never even had fluid in them. So we will pull these to rebuild and see what is in them then go from there, I have no paperwork on who did machine work, so need to just check them out.
My dilemma, since both cars will have new cowls do I swap vins? The vins will need to be cut out of each car to do the repairs regardless.
This will save me a ton of time, I can have the 136vin metal body work done in less than a week, then scatter the 138vin car, blast the frame, rebuild the drive train, etc. at the same time or later. I have researched the legality of this, and it is allowed for restoration purposes. Since I own both cars, there is no problem. I was going to fill the firewall, so the numbers under the blower motor will probably disappear anyway, could cut number out there and move them.
My goal is to have a gently resto 138vin numbers matching car. Resto to mean lowered 2-3" with springs, EFI, maybe change to Edelbrock head intake package to get me near 500Hp. Paint and interior will not be original colors. If I can find a 700R4 I will swap trans. Anyone have a lead on one? Also looking for a set of 69 doors complete preferred. And a 12 bolt posi spool.
Pretty pumped to get moving on these. Money is set aside already. At some point will need to sell a 68 136vin body with clear title, and Prostreet modded frame, complete stainless set, bumpers, and glass.
