Hey Guy's,
I've been a member for a long time here and had a very nice project beginning at the debut of the PT craze (05/06) that i finally ended up finishing as a Super Street "Fastest Street Car" styled car in the end. It had air Ride, a ne C6 Z 06 brake set up, the first 345's, 19/ 20's, Forgelines, t-56 and LS yadayadayada....
Anywway, I have been doing different street cars over the years and have matured a lot id say (not everyone will agree but hey, if i say so!) i have been mostly still into Camaro's and last summer i got the deal of a lifetime on a mint 69. It has only 49k orig miles on the clock and has never been apart. Its an all numbers match car and is ultra clean. It has had one repaint and is all ori panels. No rust can be found anywhere on, under or around the thing!!! The paint is not the best but is a nice 7-8 footer. I love it. Its the first time i get a car this clean and to tell the truth.... I stole it!!! Yep that good, it almost had a bad ending when the guy wanted to back out of the deal when he realized he sold it for too little when a few friends tol him what he could have gotten for it. Long story short, he finally apologized and said that he was wrong and that was his bad to not have made his homework before selling and he was the one that accepted my offer....( my way of doing everpything in written via email and my sister beeing a lawyer - as i told him to put pressure - surely had a part in his excuses coming that fast!) but the important thing is shes with me and weve now had two great summers and im getting the itch to start working on it more and more.
I was really on the brakes as i was seeing the potential $ to be made by flipping her and i was also having some personnal stuff that was making that venue even more interesting. Now, things have settled down and me and my wife have now both retired (me at 38 and her just now at 36, me now beeing 41) and both from stupid work accidents. Her case having just been settled, we are officially getting paid in full 'till we're both 68 years old from Canadian work incident insurance. That might sound bad but im getting used to it and since now we're both secure financially i think i can start playing again and further more, at the level i want to, not one im imposed to.
That doesnt mean im rich or anything by any measure, it just means i now feel like i can do some stuff and also keep my 3 little girls (well...6, 10 and 12 if you call that little!!) eating and having whatever i want to offer them.
Maybe my introduction will sound a little weird to some of you, but the sport has grown so much over the years that even if i had one of the most promising cars at the beginning of the rapidly growing sport, i felt at some point, that it was impossible to follow or do everything like i wanted to and that.... I think got me to stay away for a few years. I looked et the cars and i saw all those cars beeing built like in the first years of Pro Street. It also came to the same build manner; Always try to top the others. And thats fine. Competition is great! But it got the better of me and rendered the sport un-fun as i was having serious back problems that were preventing me to work on my cars.
Now, a few years have passed and i'm back on my feet better than ever, i have the greatest foundation and my financial status has never been so stable lol!!!! So im thinking i can try on for one more bad ass car.
I wasnt sure if i was going for another Street Machine car or if i was trying out on a new PT build until life made me decide all in the most natural of ways. Having that 100% stock car made me stay away from any modifications as i didnt want to lose any value off of it. And that, made me have a STOCK car, and stock isnt all bad when you think about it.... It starts every time, drives super smooth, i have a radio (i put in a high end hidden Alpine unit recently too!!) it gets good mileage, has very nice manners i can jump in anytime at a moments notice etc etc and that made me realize i really liked that and that i never had that with my pseudo street cars (more like race cars with plates) and that is what made me think i really want a Pro touring car!!
Now... If it would have been a few years ago that i would have realized that i would certainly went and tore apart the whole car and it would have been 5 years until i would have seen it on the road again!!! But not this time around. I want to keep enjoying it and i want to keep it streetable. So i am thinking the foundation should be the beginning and for that,ill start from the bottom up.
I have already bought and installed a 600 steering box with 14 to one ratio (yeah i got that instead of a 12 thinking i would show my new way of "not over doing things" and going for the middle unit..... But i wish i had gone 12.7 now lol!!! And i also have some new sway bars on the wall waiting for their turn they are Hellwig units front and rear and the rear is the adjustable one with the link bars. The interior is mint and has a new carpet (i tried a cut pile instead of the orig. loop style and am VERY happy i did. Its nice! I got a few nicks and nacks replaced just to make the car be all it can be. The car had a/c (working) but i removed it when i replaced the rad as it was leaking and i was tired of having to deal with the a/c radiator in front taking all the space and also my alum rad not having a tranny cooler was the last drop when i needed space in front to install a seperate oil cooler and could not cause of the lack of space!!,
When i got the car it was on its original 14 inch rallye wheels and had the dealer style littl pinstripes... I removed all that and put some SS396 repro wheels w/225 and 275 tires in 15 and a black hockey stripe to add a little style to a gold and black vinyl top car.
At first the gold wasnt much for me but i have grown to LOVE it and im even going to repaint the entire thing and keep it as it is!!
Now. My newly refueled fire has got me thinking and dreaming and the plan is slowly taking shape in my head. Im thinking since i want to keep it Gold that some black wheels could be a very nice addition and once lowered the car will look Menacing!! So, i started looking at the styles i liked and at first i wanted a 5 spoke Concave wheel and i didnt really find somethink i liked...then i stumbled (back) onto Charlie's Jackass.... Uhmmm.....ZR-1 Replica wheels eh? (Replica for me real ones for Charlie lol! Hey!! I said i was stable budget wise i didnt say i was going bananas no budget style!!!) and started loking at the available wheels. I just now sent for two bids on 18x8.5 and 19x12 2012 gloss black ZR-1
Replica wheels. The plan is to mini tub the car and shoe it over the coming winter. I also want to change the 4 wheel dripums to 4 wheel Wilwood brakes.
Im looking at what i can do rear susp wise but brakes, wheels and tires plus a complete tear down and rebuild of the whole under car (with repaint of floors) is what im planning for the next season. That should keep me occupied for the winter and make the car even more fun to drive.
The motor is the stock 327 2 bbl so i at least am going to put in a 4 bbl and intake plus a MSD pro billet (bran new) dist i have laying around or, i have been looking at the Atomic system but my ultimate plan was a LSX 454 crate motor and t56 or Tko 600 to keep my floor intact.
Im very excited to be starting a new project. Even more so as i know what i want and that has been a long time coming. I was frustrated and i had lost the taste of building cars for a while and i didnt really know why. Having found a way to build my car and enjoy it is a great feeling!!! I know that you guys can understand what im saying.... And i think that is something i also missed not beeing here for so long.
Hopefully my plans go as well as i did thinking them up!!
So.... If things havent changed too much round here you guys like pics right???
So here is the car!!
Ever seen a REAL speckle paint???
Thats before wash and new carpet
Hope you like it!!!!
Lead.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
GOLDEN JACKASS Wannabe....
Due it justice...
Linear Mode
