complete restoration

im in southern s.c. about 30 miles from any decent town. im looking for a good place to take the rust and dents out of my 67 ss chevelle. i have restored alot of cars and motorcycles when i was young and if i had the time i would do this car. but im in the navy and finding my free time is like trying to find life on mars. it was my first car and id like to do a thorough job restoring it. the engine and tranny are new. also does anyone have any experience wiring older cars if so how much of a pain was it. dont know if id come out better doing it myself, like i usually do. or paying a car shop to do it.(somtimes thats a bigger headache:banghead: !!)

im in southern s.c. about 30 miles from any decent town.

Pyro, sounds like you're between a rock and a hard place. I can't offer any suggestions for finding a place to bring the car, as it's been 22 years since I lived in S.C. lowcountry. If you are planning to bring the car to a body shop anyway, might as well find someplace that partners with a shop that does more extensive type of repair work. If I read your post right, you are somone with a job and lots of experience. Just no time. And hopefully you have a few bucks saved up. So, if you take it to a shop and get the whole nine yards done (body, electrical, interior and more) you can breathe easy that your first car is gonna get on the road a whole lot faster than you will do it. You have enough knowledge to keep from getting screwed on the cost. That's an advantage you now have over some folks. I say don't let it sit under a tarp for years waiting for the time to do it yourself. Send it off and have it 90% complete - then do the rest yourself and still get the satisfaction of putting the final touches on it. Let us know what you decide, we'll be interested either way. Tom

I'm in Indiana and cant help much either on where to take it. But I do have a couple freinds who specialize in restoring old cars. Just to give you a heads up, its all according to how good a job you want done. My freinds have done complete off the frame restorations, have the car dipped, put it on a rotisory, weld in any patch panels needed, and then paint the car all tore apart, then reassemble it. They are doing a Cuda convertible right now and I believe they are charging $10k for labor only. It will take them a couple months to finish the job, but when they are done, the car will have a show room finish. So if you want to have it done, find someone that specializes in older cars, and be ready to pay to have it done, otherwise you might get back a Bondo buggy, and I doubt that is what you want. Just my 2 cents.