“And now, the rest of the story,” was a familiar tagline from legendary talk show host Paul Harvey. A generation of Americans grew up listening to his velvety voice that turned the news into narrative and entertainment each week on his famous radio segment, “The Rest of the Story.”
In many ways, this is the rest of the story we started several months ago with Patti & Mark. Our first article titled, A $1 Corvette Becomes Their Perfect Project told of their plans to put the Covid lockdown time to good use.
Since that first article appeared in this magazine, we’ve wanted to bring you the rest of the story. So, befitting this project, their story is written by them with their photos about their journey to get a barn-find Corvette back to life.
Telephone Call Starts It All
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he surmised that it would change people’s lives. He was very correct.
This story started with a phone call from an old friend in Tennessee, Chuck, who was cleaning the house, as it were, and had a ‘white elephant’ to be done with.
Some years earlier, a friend of Chuck’s there in Tennessee asked if he would store an old Corvette she had parked outside her apartment under a tarp. Her plan was to one day restore it.
As Patti says, “Thank you for speakerphone conversations. If I hadn’t overheard Mark talking to his friend Chuck about clearing out old belongings, I probably wouldn’t know that 1979 Corvette was sitting idle in a 30’x30’ barn and that Chuck was about to send it to the scrapyard because his health issues kept him from even thinking about working on a project like that.
No one wanted it – not even the local high school auto shop (the technology was just too old). “Nothing left to do,” he said, “but to scrap it.”
The car belonged to Chuck’s friend, Barb Gregson, who parked the Vette years earlier with plans to restore it. Sadly, she passed away before that could happen.
Patti said that “Something about that story tugged at me to follow through with her plan. So, when the phone conversation was over, I asked the big question, “I wonder if he’d give it to me?”
Spirit Lives On
That started the process of acquiring, assessing, and moving forward to restore the car. Patti never knew Barb Gregson, but from what Patti says she feels she does know, she feels certain Barb would highly approve of her choices in restoring this vehicle.
Patti says, “Barb appeared to be a strong, independent thinking person, a personality trait I think we share. I dedicated the restoration of this vehicle to her and wrote a dedication on the car under the sound and heat proofing and carpet.”
Her spirit will ride with everyone who enjoys driving this beautiful Corvette.
Yes, the scrapyard might have been the car’s fate if I hadn’t talked with Chuck on the speakerphone and if Patti hadn’t overheard the conversation. Changing lives – really.
72+75+79 = 365
Let’s do the math – a 72-year-old woman, a 75-year-old man, and a 79 Corvette. Yes, even with vendor help, it added up to 365. We picked up the car in early August 2020 and announced our new ‘baby’ at the Classic Glass Corvette Club annual picnic later that month – and we were able to take it to the August meeting in 2021.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Chuck had contacted Barb’s sister, who now had ownership but no interest in the car, and for $1.00 “and other considerations” (we assume a big batch of cookies, a pie, or cake), Patti had a 1979 Corvette coupe.
On the plus side, it started and ran and had no severe rust (surprise!) – and no brakes (not really a surprise). However, we managed to coax it into Patti’s sister and brother-in-law, Donna and Steve Dyer’s trailer and brought it back to Canton, Georgia.
The initial triage included replacing major hoses, oil change with filter, air filter, front calipers, and rotors – time to drive it home.
M&T Pro-Formance To The Rescue
So, in light rain, cheers – the wipers worked, and the headlights came on and popped up. Hey, this is looking pretty good. Got it into the garage – and, “Let’s see if the high beams work.”
They did – for a nanosecond with a burst of nuclear brightness. Oops.
“This isn’t good.” Since Patti is petite, she squirmed herself into position under the dash to find and inspect the fuse box. “Show me a picture,” I said. She did…and…
“Can we change out the fuse box?” “We should be able to,” I replied with fingers crossed.”
But it’s more why the fuse and fuse box melted than just changing the box. So we’ll need to replace the harness.
And so, the adventure began. While we waited for the new harness to arrive from Ecklers, we cleaned up the engine bay, and Patti installed new flexible hoses on the intake snorkels.
In short order, the new harness arrived. We had it installed by M&T Pro-Formance in Canton. Yes, discretion is the better part of valor.
And, yes, of course, Covid made its impact – and the project met its first two-week delay due to a positive test by the tech doing the wiring. We also had a modern but ‘retro look’ radio installed since the original was unserviceable.
But a new harness doesn’t mean that everything is cured, of course. There are gremlins to hunt down.
Auto Image Paint
Meantime, it was off to the paint shop to give the car the personality Patti wanted. Silver with a hint of metallic in the paint, black interior, and black trim.
Auto Image in Woodstock had the honors and did a superb job. They removed the doors, removed what little rust was on the birdcage, and sealed those metal parts.
The car looked fantastic – but it still had some surprises and issues to resolve. As we set off to drive home (luckily not far), the ‘Gen’ light came on, and the volt needle pegged full plus.
The voltage regulator had given up the ghost. Of course, the voltage regulator is an integral part of the alternator on the ’79 Corvette, so we ordered up a new one.
That evening Patti asked me how much trouble it would be for me to install it. “No trouble at all,” I replied, “because you’re going to install it.”
Her eyes were as big as pie pans. “Me?! I don’t know how to do that.” “Well, it’s your car, so you should know how it operates and how to fix it.”
As my brother said to me decades earlier when my first car blew its head gasket, I said to her, “I’ll walk you through the process.” And we did just that.
All I did was support the weight of the alternator as she set the belt tension, tightened the bolts, and plugged in the wires. Finally, we fired it up, and everything worked just fine. Well, take that with some salt.
Most Grievous Lies Told By A Man
Next, we stripped the interior and it was off to Bob Catapano, a fellow Classic Glass Corvette Club (CGCC) member, to address lingering electrical issues and other novelties. While Bob worked on the car, Patti and I studied how to dye interior parts.
We triaged and tagged what we removed, determined what we could save, and ordered new for what we couldn’t. The driver’s door panel was a goner, so we replaced that but saved the door pull.
The seat inserts were trash, but the buckets were okay-ish although the bottom of the passenger’s side was broken. I fixed that by gluing the seat and using a metal strap to reinforce the joint.
We then decided to make that the driver’s seat – the repair would face the transmission tunnel and be hidden.
We then installed the new cushions. The good news is that we did not need to call 911 but getting those cushions in securely was almost the end of us.
After Bob finished his magic, we installed most of the interior – heat insulation we picked up at Lowes, and we added sound insulation from Davies Corvette (Corvetteparts.com) before installing the carpet. The carpet. One size fits all, bolts right in. The two most grievous lies told by man.
Obstacles Overcome
The rear piece managed to be too big and too small at the same time. Dear Lord. But, with Patti’s keen eye and knowledge of fabric, we finally managed to make it work.
Patti also trimmed and glued the cubby covers fabric in place, and we installed them to finish the look. One item to note, at 5’-3”, Patti found it difficult to reach the brake pedal and impossible to reach the gas pedal, even after the seats were installed, so I built up the footwell before we installed the heat insulation and carpet.
Black interior, it’s almost impossible to see the raised area until it’s pointed out.
Because the T-tops were cracked, Patti opted for a new one-piece transparent acrylic top, which became an adventure in itself. The top looks good, but the instructions are totally IKEA. Yes, there is a YouTube video – but the guy’s hands are in front of what you need to see, and everything is black. Not useful.
I easily figured out the front and center attachments, but the rears were, well – honestly, I had to walk away from it, but Patti brought her new perspective and figured out how to make the rear connections work. The top looks black from the outside but is a transparent blue tint looking up from the inside and adds about an inch of headroom.
After driving the Vette for a while, we were back at Bob’s to have the door lock actuators and door panels finally installed. Wow – it looks like a real car now.
Dream Fulfilled
But we had one more thing to finish before we were finished. So, it was off to USA Reflections Auto Spa for ceramic coating. We thought the car looked superb when we brought it there, but – wow! It glistened like a diamond in the light.
And just in time for the Classic Glass Corvette Club annual picnic meeting. Remember, it was one year ago at the meeting that we announced our $1.00 barn find, so we thought it would be great if we had the car showable for this year’s meeting.
We took it to VetteStock 2021, an all Corvette show at Miller’s Ale House in Alpharetta, Georgia. The car was a hit with many fellow Corvette owners, and Patti was thrilled to find that it had been chosen as one of the top 20 (out of 102 Corvettes) at the show.
There is one other aspect to this project, and that is the ‘us’ factor. You learn something about your project partner when you jump into a project like this.
While I know that Patti is not one to shy away from a challenge, I found that she is a very good student and not one to get frustrated easily. She might ask, “Can we do that?” And if I say, “Yes,” she’s all in.
She’s also really good at seeing alternative ways to get something accomplished. Great for saving time, money, sanity.
Patti was quick to note that, “What I already knew about Mark, and it showed with every aspect of making repairs on this car, is that he is very knowledgeable, very positive, very patient and kind. We delighted in working with each other on this project.
While I worked, I also kept Barb in mind – it was almost as if we worked as a team to complete her dream.”
There’s one other ‘us’ of note – and that’s Bob Catapano. Bob is patient, knows Corvettes, and has been a God-send for us. His contribution to the project has been major, and we truly appreciate all he has done.
No, we’re not done with it yet – there are still some weatherstrip issues to address with seals, gaskets, and brakes. Argh.
This winter, we’ll replace the suspension bushings, get an alignment, and have the chassis torqued. But for now, it’s drivable, enjoyable, and we’re happy to have saved this beauty from the crusher and to fulfill Barb’s dream.
What a year it’s been.
Perserverance Pays Off
We want to thank Mark & Patti for letting us be a part of this restoration journey. Their perseverance, patience, and fortitude give us hope when we face daunting tasks.
And as a reminder, if you got a Corvette story you want to share, we want to hear from you. All you need to do is send us your photos, give us a quick call, and we will do the rest.
Whether it’s a restoration, track experience, or car show, we’re interested if it involves the Corvette lifestyle somewhere on this planet.
Thanks again, Patti & Mark, for sharing your experience, and thank you all for reading Vettes of Atlanta Magazine!
Articles We Recommend:
A $1 Corvette Becomes Their Perfect Project
A Lifetime Of Memories With A 1964 Corvette
The ’57 Ravyn Swoops In To Capture Your Imagination