WE CRUSHED WEEK 3! 🏁 The Race to Get Out of Virginia

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:02]Go back.

[00:00:04]For the first time since 1982, this 1969 Chevelle convertible is looking like a real car again. No more rusty shell, no more Flintstone floors, just pure American muscle.

[00:00:20]>> [music] >> Welcome back. Week three of seven of our adventure to get this 1969 Chevelle convertible from northern Virginia home to Georgia.

[00:00:31]Last week was all about the cowl panels.

[00:00:33]It was getting the windshield header panel locked into place. I was able to get both wheel wells patched after work this week.

[00:00:41]Getting ready for what is the main effort, the decisive op, the center of gravity. It's getting this rear [snorts] quarter panel both fitted and to start the welding on both sides. This side's going to be a little more complicated cuz I've already did the trimming right after Christmas. One spot in particular I got to make sure it lines up and pulled tight is right here. We got to make sure the spot up here by the door, everything gets lined up, but we don't want to have it do is looking like garbage.

[00:01:06]That's it for sticking to the 20-minute rule. Let's get grinding.

[00:01:10]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> All right, I wanted to take a quick break and show you two things that we're working on now, especially on the corner.

[00:02:46]The quarter panel's going on really good. We're doing the stitch welds, taking our time.

[00:02:52]This is the piece that has been cut out.

[00:02:55]So, you're going to see this little random piece here. I'm going to have to make that.

[00:03:00]This is backside trunk extension.

[00:03:04]It meets up in here.

[00:03:06]Basically, just like that. I'm going to have to make all that. That's something we're going to get to during the week when I got some time. And then, the other part is we're trying to pull this in as much as we can. I'm going to hit this with a weld or two, and then I should be able to pull out these little butt clamps. But, I'm going to push here hard, try to get this spot. I'm going to spend a little bit of time patching up the location of this rear marker light.

[00:03:37]I took this line right here. It's off the original car. It's where the original quarter was. This marker light now is up about a half of an inch too high. So, we'll cut this out, put a little patch in, and and it where it needs to be, and then cut that back in. That's all time lapse stuff, but I wanted to show you this and then start welding on this guy.

[00:03:57]Now I got to find my stuff.

[00:03:59]It's funny when part of your uniform is your glasses.

[00:04:45]>> [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Day two, week three. It is a little after 6:00 a.m.

[00:05:54]I've already been out here drinking my coffee, watching the sunrise, just looking at the car.

[00:06:01]It looks so good.

[00:06:06]Quick update for everybody.

[00:06:12]This side is just getting a little stitch welds.

[00:06:22]It turned out really nice.

[00:06:25]Talked to James yesterday.

[00:06:29]He's like, "Take your time."

[00:06:31]So, we were originally going to do just the one side, focus on that, get it complete.

[00:06:38]But, we got this side started, so I can bounce back and forth to keep the heat down on the panels.

[00:06:49]Today, we got to continue to cut out the piece behind, and I'll put these little butt weld holders, clamps, as we go, and I'll hit them with some tacks.

[00:07:06]I just keep working my way down till we get this guy set.

[00:07:13]Gaps will be done when we get back to Georgia, when we do our final disassembly and get everything ready for paint.

[00:07:24]But, they turned out so good.

[00:07:29]All right, I'm going to finish my coffee.

[00:07:33]Week three, day two, and we're off.

[00:07:37]I wanted to show you what we've done with this quarter panel. So, we set it on, we got a couple of welds in place and then we just cut through the panels.

[00:07:46]Now I'm going to reach through the door opening as far as I can.

[00:07:55]Put this These are little I think they're butt weld clamps.

[00:08:01]Slides through like that, tightens up and then it makes sure the panel is on the same plane.

[00:08:09]So I'm going to give myself a little bit of slack.

[00:08:12]Reach my arm through as far as I can on this one to get me where I can start to get that guy.

[00:08:26]Cuz this will at least get the panels close.

[00:08:38]And I'm going to get that tight.

[00:08:41]Tighten that.

[00:08:42]And it locks in.

[00:08:44]Bring you in here.

[00:08:47]That spot it closes that gap.

[00:08:52]I got to get Andrew out here and maybe hold my But that that's the gap that we want.

[00:09:09]We're going to get another one in there.

[00:09:19]Let me go here and clean up that cut right there. Cuz oh, no.

[00:09:26]But we will get it where we're close.

[00:09:29]Particularly here and that's an ugly cut.

[00:09:34]Get your piece in there and then tighten from the back.

[00:09:43]That, I think, is we're a little bit off.

[00:09:48]See how that panel is overlaying?

[00:09:53]We'll get get everything lined up here, and I'll run my cutoff wheel through that gap, cuz that has now gotten a little tight.

[00:10:02]But, everything is good here.

[00:10:05]Those gaps are nice and tight.

[00:10:09]Nice and tight.

[00:10:12]I'm going to pick a side, put you on time lapse, >> [snorts] >> and probably work my way from the front, and just work my way down that seam, tacking it, getting this all lined up. So, come on for the ride.

[00:10:26]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> It's 12:18, and I just ran out of gas.

[00:10:55]We bought this little Lincoln 225 welder at a swap meet. I paid 50 bucks.

[00:11:01]I converted it almost 15, 20 years ago, and it's been an awesome little machine. Two things we've learned this week in a minute or less. I upgraded to the larger wire wheel. It's huge. It's 12 and 1/2 lb.

[00:11:15]And then, this is a 40 cubic feet volume tank I bought from Airgas for 315 bucks, an 80 cubic feet tank for just this moment. So, I knew I was going to run out of gas, I had a bad feeling. We just started welding all the little when I used the self-tappers on the driver side quarter, I just had a bad feeling I was going to run out of gas this weekend.

[00:11:43]And because I'm doing all this work on the weekend, Airgas is closed.

[00:11:47]So I swallowed it and I just I bought that big tank. So now I'm going to go put that big 80 cubic feet argon CO2 mix tank on the welder and then we'll go get this one filled up and then this will be my spare or a backup for times just like this when I do run out because Airgas on the weekends is closed and it wouldn't be until 7:30 on Monday and I got appointments all week I couldn't get to it. I just wanted to share that. This is going to be a 20 minutes or less video, I promise.

[00:12:15]And we're going to highlight the quarters. I've been looking forward to it the most.

[00:12:20]It's going to be awesome. So thanks for watching.

[00:12:22]Keep grinding.

[00:12:24]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Hey.