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1972 Corvette Bodywork & Paint Job - Nasty Little Homewreaker

Looking For Some Vintage Bow Tie Muscle That Won't Break The Bank? The Answer May Not Be Made Of Steel.

By Dan Ryder, Photography by Dan Ryder,
Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Exhaust Pipes

Shown here are the exhaust tips. They are specific from right to left.








Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Hood Ledge Seal

The hood ledge seal, which seals the hood to cowl area.









Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Begin Re Assembly

Here we begin re-assembly. First are the new triple chrome-plated rear bumpers from Mid America Motorworks. These babies fit like stock and came with all new mounting hardware. With the high cost to re-dip parts these days, it's almost not worth it. We'll save our old ones, however, as they were straight.





Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Tweaking

Next are the chrome license plate bezel, Corvette lettering, and taillight lenses. Some tweaking will be performed to later perfect all alignment errors.







Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Grille

We now moved to the passenger side in order to install the gills back onto the shark. These will be removed later in order to add the factory silver paint trim. Also installed is the Stingray side emblem.






Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Grille











Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Install Side View Mirrors

It was time to turn our attention to the passenger door. A new side view mirror is being installed. This is a popular modification nowadays, as a passenger side outside mirror was not offered on the Corvette until 1977. The problem is that these cars have massive blind spots and without the extra mirror, it's difficult to see what's next to you. The extra mirror looks good and adds a margin of safety. Mid America Motorworks supplies this template in order to drill holes. Sounds scary huh? With patience, it's not too difficult. Once the 3/8-inch holes were drilled, grommets were pressed in and the mounting bracket was installed.

Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Side View Mirror











Vintage Bow Tie Muscle Door Lock

Now that the door has been fitted with a sideview mirror, a door handle, and a lock cylinder, it's time to reunite it with the car. The factory door handles looked trick, but were prone to sagging and pitting. Retail replacements from Mid America Motorworks are only $49.99 a pair. If they are not pitted, the company offers replacement springs to keep them from sagging. Notice that the Motor City staff lines all edges with masking tape in case of accidental contact during installation.

By Dan Ryder
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