In 1979, when Kevin Livering was a junior in high school he got his first car: a white 1973 Monte Carlo with Cragar mags, swivel bucket seats, a sunroof and an eight-track tape player.
The previous owner had traded that Monte and cash for this Corvette... but, the guys girlfriend hated the Vette.
The man noticed Kevin admiring the Vette and said, “Kevin, my girlfriend hates my Corvette. Would you consider trading your Monte Carlo and $4,000 for the Corvette?” That was a fair price, but Livering was just a junior in high school, with parents who were not willing to help him get such a radical car, so he had to pass. A few days later the man called again and asked, “Kevin, how about $3,000 and the Monte Carlo?”
The owner of the Corvette was desperate and came back with two more offers: $2,000 and the Monte Carlo and then $1,000 and the Monte Carlo. This was becoming comical.
Livering was just in the 11th grade and had spent all he could on the Monte Carlo, so for the third and fourth time he had to say, “No thanks.” The man came back one last time with a Hail Mary, last-ditch offer. He said, “Kevin, I have to have your Monte Carlo back. How about an even swap?”
In the 1980s, Livering met the man that actually did the custom work on the car in 1972. “Stony” Galbach was a local guy from Manheim, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles away. After contacting Galbach, Livering paid a visit to the car’s maker with his Corvette. Galbach was dumbfounded; he couldn’t believe how good the car looked. Galbach built his reputation doing occasional custom work, but mostly painting local midget race cars. According to Galbach, the cost of the custom work came to around $12,000 in 1972; that’s around $74,000 in 2019.
The paint started with a silver basecoat, several coats of metalflake and then topped with a candy green. Then the ribbons and 25 clear coats of lacquer.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1969-custom-corvette-time-machine/
No comments:
Post a Comment