The car arrived safely back in California via an enclosed car hauler. Ron immediately disassembled the car (again) and sent it off to the media blaster for a complete strip of the oxidized original paint and primer. The car was treated to a new coat of epoxy primer and firewall blackout paint...
There were a number of clues leading to the conclusion that the car saw some action at the drag strip in the past like the sheet metal divider between the trunk and the back seat, remnants of ladder bars on the COPO rear axle and the HUGE hole in the transmission tunnel. Ron did a nice job of welding in the donor tunnel piece that came with the car...
The brakes and sub frame have been completely restored and bolted back onto the shell...
Ron located a correctly dated '657 block to match the other correct motor components that he received with the car. He also purchased all of the correct internals for the motor and had the intake restored by Jerry MacNeish. Here's how the car and motor look as of January 2003...
As you can see, this car is coming along very, very nicely! Have I mentioned that I'd gladly buy this car back? :)