K-Dog

I am new to the forum and will take a min to introduce myself or make that my project. I have a 1966 442. I purchased this car for a guy in 2001 and finally have the ability to restore the car. The car is all original with white bucket seats, red paint, original 400 motor with the 4 speed manual transmission.

When I bought the car I had high hopes to restore it and change a lot of things and make it just a hot rod with no care of original parts. Being older now I would like to restore it what ever way will bring the most value to the car. It seems from what I can tell going back as close to original as possible will make the car the most valuable, is this correct? My understanding is to restore the seats back to the white like they are and paint the car the original red. So what about the motor? Can I put headers on and maybe change the carb? I still would like to get as much power as I can out of the car. Also it has no power breaks and no AC. Can I add power break and maybe disk breaks? What about the AC can that be added and if so does this devalue the car?

Thanks in advance for the help with these questions.

steverw

From what i understand if you change to another factory color it wont hurt the value of the car, Thats what im doing to my 67. Its red and i dont really care for red, although there are some very nice ones here. I will be using another factory 67 color. As far as the motor, headers are fine and can easily be changed back to manifolds if need be. A different carb is the same, easy to change. If your planning on selling the car then original matters to some and not to others. In a nutshell its your car do what pleases you and enjoy it. If you do change equiptment just keep all the original things you replace. Also adding air will not hurt the value and maybe even increase it as it is an improvment in my opinion. Vintage Air and Classic Auto Air are 2 good companies to deal with although I dont think either company makes a specific unit for your car. I have vintage air in my Vette and its nice. Recently had a problem with the heater hose shut off valve so i just took it out of the circut for now and it blows nice and cold. Disc brakes can easily be added too. Best IMO is original GM brakes from 67-72. Any A body be it Olds, Chevy, Buick, Pontiac. If you cant find them there are alot of after market kits. Power boosters too. You would be better to change to a dual resevoir master cylinder. Right Stuff has everything you need for brakes, or Inline Tube.
Steve