"Hi Mike, My name is Dave LaBarge and I live in upstate NY in a small town of Copenhagen. I have looked at your site many times and I am very interested in what you have done. I would like you to know a little about my background. In the late 70's and 80's I worked in body shops doing collision work and when work got slow we restored old cars. I have always wanted to do one on my own, but couldn't afford it until about 6-7yrs ago by brother bought a '67 Imperial convertible and we did a complete restoration frame-off. We completed it three years later and since then it has been a first place winner in area car shows, to our surprise. After completing this car, I decided I would like to do one of my own. I attended Carlisle,PA looking for a Chevelle SS and became very discouraged because they were a dime-a-dozen. While there my friend came across a 1970 Torino Cobra 429 sitting on a trailer which needed complete restoration. The motor itself sat on the ground in pieces and the interior was inside in a pile. The owner was asking $6,000 for it and said if he hadn't sold it by that Sun it would be negotiable so I waited until that Sun eve. and he was willing to take $5,000 for it. There were also three other people interested in it at this time, but I was able to give him a down payment to hold it for me and he did. I picked the car up the following week. Now , three and a half years later, I am still working on restoring it. I am doing a thorough restoration on it and have built a rotisserie system for it .I have completely stripped all the paint and removed all the factory undercoating and sandblasted the underside and all the body bad spots. I am now at the stage that I am 80-100hrs from painting. I am to the point of blocking it out and have primed it 2-3 times now. I have completed all the drive train and motor. I built a motor stand and am now able to hook up my radiator to it. I have 3-4hrs of running time on it. My brother is the mechanic who rebuilt all the drive train and I do all the body work and painting so we make a good team. I am making this car completely original right down to the spark plugs wires.I had all the body bolts sent out and re-blued and zinc coating re-applied to the remaining parts or cadmium plated. The carburetor was sent out to a specialist and re-built with all the cadmium re-applied. All the dings and dents were removed from the undercarriage and I am now repainting it 30% flat black. I have lots of pictures I would like to share with you. I also have lots of questions about keeping it original and locating some of the remaining parts I need. I would appreciate any help or suggestions you might have to offer. I no longer work in body shops and have been working construction for the last 22yrs, presently working as a construction supervisor for a large construction company here in the north country with my wife and two children. My son is 11yrs old and would like to be able to ride in it before he goes to college. Now that winter is here again, I am able to start working on it more. Thank You for any information you might be able to offer. I appreciate your time and web site.
Sincerely, Dave LaBarge and Blake LaBarge (son)"