then $1,000 and the Monte Carlo. This
was becoming comical. Livering was
just in the 11th grade and had spent all
he could on the Monte Carlo, so for the
third and fourth time he had to say, “No
thanks.” The man came back one last
time with a Hail Mary, last-ditch offer.
He said, “Kevin, I have to have your
Monte Carlo back. How about an even
swap?” How could an 11th grader ever
get a better deal than that on an 11-year-
old customized Corvette? Nowhere. But
this is just the beginning of the story.
The Corvette had been at a local
repair shop for some time and was on
the slow track for some repairs. Much
to Livering’s surprise, when he arrived
at the shop to get his Corvette, it was
outside in the side yard and covered
in mud. According to Livering, “The
owner was a nice guy, but to him it was
just a driver, even in the cold, snowy,
salt-slushy Pennsylvania winters. And
the interior was in need of some serious
cleaning! Fast food wrappers, mud, dirt,
you name it, was everywhere. The car
was a total mess inside.”
It took some work to get the car
started and Livering limped the car
home. As bad as it looked, the car was
otherwise in pretty good shape and
cleaned up very well. And who could
argue with the price? Livering was still
in high school and had a badass, custom
Corvette.
The 1980s were not kind to
early-1970’s custom car tastes, so
through the 1980s, Livering regularly
got flack because of the Corvette’s out-
landish paint. But along the way he
met the man that actually did the cus-
tom work on the car in 1972. “Stony”
Galbach was a local guy from Manheim,
Pennsylvania, about 20 miles north of
Lebanon. After contacting Galbach,
Livering paid a visit to the car’s maker
with his Corvette. Galbach was dumb-
founded; he couldn’t believe how good
the car looked. Galbach built his reputa-
tion doing occasional custom work, but
mostly painting local midget race cars.
According to Galbach, the cost of the
custom work came to around $12,000 in
1972; that’s around $74,000 in 2019.
From the factory, the 1969 Corvette
was a low-option Fathom Green small-
block 350. The custom body parts were
limited to an L88 hood and flared fend-
ers from either Motion Performance
or Eckler’s. Stony then grafted in ’73
Corvette front fender vents. The paint
started with a silver basecoat, several
coats of metalflake and then topped
with a candy green. The ribbons were
real candy-colored paint, not vinyl wrap
material. Finishing off the paint was 25
coats of clear lacquer. Another custom
touch is that all the factory badges were
removed. A local upholsterer was hired
to do the diamond-tucked crushed vel-
vet seats and trim.
Back in the day, almost no one cared
about numbers-matching cars. The
original 350 engine was blown and
replaced with a 350 from a 1972 Impala
that lasted until 2000. After 28 years, the350 was ready for a refresh that included
a 0.030-inch overbore, new 10.2:1 pis-
tons, 2.02 aluminum heads, new Hooker
header side pipes and a new Holley 650
double-pumper carb over an Edelbrock
aluminum manifold. The Muncie four-
speed transmission was rebuilt and
the brakes, drivetrain and suspension
were refreshed. Since Livering doesn’t
take the car on long trips and gas mile-
age isn’t a big concern, 4.11 gears were
installed for that old-fashioned muscle
car off-the-line acceleration.
The 2000s have been much kinder
to Livering’s 1970’s Green Monster, as
most know the car by. At a local cruise
event, Livering met a man that com-
peted against his car at the 1972 World
of Wheels Show at the Harrisburg FarmThe candy-colored ribbon paint scheme covers every
angle of Livering’s metalflake green Corvette.44 VETTE 19.11
[FEATURE]
CUSTOM 1969 CORVETTE