Two exceptional Chevrolets were honored with the PPG Dream Car awards at the Goodguys 17th PPG Nationals held at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, July 11-13. The two winners, a 1969 Chevy Camaro owned by Angelo Vespi of St. Augustine, Fla., and a 1951 Chevy woody wagon owned by Terry Henley of Birmingham, Ala., dazzled the crowds and drew raves for their colorful style and finishes.
The PPG Dream Car awards are given to the two vehicles (cars or trucks) that best display the outstanding use of color, design, gloss and execution in a paint job. This year, the three-day event drew more than 100,000 auto enthusiasts and more than 6,200 custom cars and trucks.
Vespi’s winning Chevy Camaro RS was a five-year project. He had dreamed of owning a ’69 Camaro since he was 12 years old. Once he acquired the car, he turned his dream into a dream car with the help of Detroit Speed Inc., of Mooresville, N.C. The car, designed for autocross competition, is equipped with a 427-cubic-inch fuel-injected, supercharged V-8 engine, five-speed transmission, and Detroit Speed-built rack-and-pinion steering and QUADRALink rear suspension. Detroit Speed also gave the car its gleaming white finish with red and black accents with Michael Neighbors and Ted Dobkowski using PPG’s Deltron DBC 2000 Basecoat and Global Refinish Sytem D8115 Matte and D8117 Semi-Gloss clearcoats. Colors used were PPG Glacier White (code 932097), New Formula Red (code 5638) and Universal Black (code 9700).
The lush red and wood grain ’51 Chevy woody wagon owned by Henley also took about five years to complete. Henley is the Chevy’s third owner, and the car had been sitting idle for years. He bought it without having seen it, had it shipped from California and turned it over to Big Oak Garage in Hokes Bluff, Ala., for work. The crew at Big Oak gave the wagon a thorough restoration and customization from the ground up using original and new parts, including the shop’s proprietary components. The car sports a 350-cubic-inch V-8, stainless steel manifolds, custom engine cover and a modified frame.
Big Oak is also responsible for the car’s rich finish. Painters Tommy Brock and Gavin Graham applied several Deltron products including DP 90 Primer, DPS Global Primer and DBC 2000 Basecoat along with Global Refinish System D8152 Glamour Clear to create the rich PPG Toreador Red (code 5096) finish.
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