I purchased my clean Antique White '77 Type LT for several reasons, but the biggest one is because I never finished the first project that I ever started in my entire gearhead life. It was my first car, a 1977 Camaro Type LT with 96K miles on it. I got it when I got my driver's license, even took my DMV test in it. It was my Aunt's car, she was gonna GIVE it to me, but my Dad made me pay $1000 for it...some BS line about learning about the value of money...but his intentions were good, and correct (I just didn't know it at the time). I worked my ass off mowing lawns to buy it. It was faded silver with a Firethorn Red interior. It was my dream car, and I was just happy to have it. Bone stock, it had an LG3 145HP 305 2bbl, TH350, and a 2.56 open rearend. Not quite a furious musclecar.

Still, I have to say that anyone who says a 305 small block is weak is full of crap. I put this car through a version of hell that only a ham-fisted testosterone-fueled teenager can administer. COUNTLESS over-revs, literally HUNDREDS of "neutral drops" just so I could get the tires spinning, and the coup de grace, a restification that exceeded the budget and ended up never being finished. One of my endeavors in this car netted me a spot in Car Craft's "Stupid Gearhead Stories" (Sept '03, Page 38 "The Human Throttle). For all you avid Car Craft readers, yep, that was me. That's the closest I've gotten to having my car in that magazine...yet.

Dad was really cool when he bought me my high school graduation present, a set of American Racing Outlaw II 15x7 and 15x8.5 wheels with BF Goodrich P225/70SR15 and P275/60SR15 tires. The rears rubbed the sharp quarter panel like all hell and chewed up the outside edge because of the wrong 3���" wheel backspacing (completely my fault). Dangerous, but at least they still held air, and the car looked cool. I got so many compliments on the car after I had it painted '85 GM Dark Red Metallic by a local Maaco shop, after sanding and priming it myself. I even raced it at Lebanon Vallyey Dragway and won twice in the 6X Trophy Class...took home a cheap plastic trophy each time, running blistering 16-second quarter mile times, but it was a thrill, to say the least. I still remember driving home with the trophy in the back seat, blasting Motley Crue on the cassette player!

Here's some pics from when I raced it in the stock drivetrain condition. DIG the L88 hood and the air-shocked stance! 

 Clean interior, just like my present '77

I was happy with the car for a while in stock form, then the bug took over. I blame my long-time friend Anthony and Car Craft magazine for putting hot rod thoughts in my head. The first thing I did was rip off and mutilate the catalytic converter, manifolds and exhaust, and install Blackjack AK5000 headers and a universal dual exhaust with Sonic Turbo mufflers. After a couple dozen more "neutral drops", the trans finally said "screw you, I'm done" and spit a bunch of needle bearings into the pan. I had it rebuilt, and decided it was time to restify the car. So, I bought a crate engine from Speedway Precision Machine in Texas, which was supposed to be a hot-rodded 350 with 2.02 heads, 4-bolt main, steel crank, forged pistons, and a way-too-big Crane Commander camshaft. It had a Holley 700DP and a Weiand X-ellerator intake on it, which I later swapped out for a Victor Jr. By the time I bought the B&M Super Holeshot Torque Coverter, I ran out of funds, so the suspension, brakes and rearend remained in the as-purchased condition. Nothing like a hot-rodded engine with a soggy 2.56 open rearend!

The engine would have been OK, except it had 2 completely different heads on it, and the shoddy assembly ended up spinning a few rod bearings, and the cam wasn't a Crane cam like I had specified. Bastards! I drove it for a few months (spun bearing and all), then after realizing how much I was tempting fate, I bought a 65K mile '87 350 IROC-Z for a daily driver so that I could park the '77 and restore it. My brother, along with some friends and I tore the car apart down to a bare shell. I had visions of a back-halved car with a 509, 572 or 632CID engine (thanks to a trip to Bill Mitchell Racing and Car Craft's article about BM's 632CID back-halved pump gas '67 Chevelle - bright blue with a black vinyl top), and a Turbo-Clutch TH400 (TH400 with a clutch instead of a torque converter for you younger folks) or Lenco trans. I wanted a car like the ones that were top notch at the time, the first NMCA Pro-Street cars running 9's on a back-half chassis. Sadly, it didn't get any farther than a barely started project. It occurred to me that I would have had to spend at least $40K to build it that way at the time. Lesson learned: be realistic in your expectations! I held onto it for a while, thinking MAYBE I'd find the money to do it, but I was living at home at the time and Dad finally said "Get that piece of shit out of my garage!", so off it went to the scrapyard. I kept the VIN tag and a shitload of parts, some of which will end up on my "new" '77 Camaro...as a tribute to what "could have been" many years ago...

My Brother Mike and good friend Tom "road testing" it after some tuning. My Brother is in the passenger seat. Yes, that is a mullet you see!

 One last hurrah: The day before tearing it down to a shell. Mom was pissed, but I had to do it! 

 After the teardown; notice the Lebanon Valley Dragway Class Winner stickers in the back window 

 Here it is in shredded condition, with my then daily-driver '87 350 IROC-Z 

The engine that screwed some rod bearings shortly after installing. Screw Brett Nance and Speedway Precision Machine of Texas! Burn in hell!!!! 

 As it sat after blowing the crate engine; notice the hellacious oil leak from the cheesy chrome oil pan

I went through a few cars after scrapping this car. The memory of it and the desire to redeem myself is what ultimately led to selling my 40K mile, 12-second ’87 Buick Grand National. The GN was a bad ass car, but I was determined to build the car I really wanted my first Camaro to be. So, here I am with my new '77 Type LT, which is in much better condition than my first '77 was when I bought it.

Part of the inspiration for the style in which I did the new mods on my current Camaro was my younger brother Mike's '80 Z28. It was a killer street car...a stripeless, all black Z28. He added a ZZ3 w/ported heads and Comp Cams roller tip rockers, a Holley 750 vacuum secondary carb, Hooker headers and Flowmaster exhaust w/transverse muffler, a 700R4 trans, '80 Trans Am WS6 disc brake rear end w/4.10's & Eaton LSD, Polygraphite suspension bushings, VetteBrakes composite leaf springs and Koni adjustable shocks. Rims & tires were Weld Draglites w/235/60SR15 Radial T/A's on the front, Hoosier Quick Time 275/50D15's on the back, but it still spun 'em like they were hard as frozen hockey pucks. It has some of the spirit of my first '77 since it had its Competition Engineering bolt-in subframe connectors in it! For a relatively "mild" engine, it sounded bad as hell through that exhaust. He did a killer job on the engine compartment...all black and natural finishes with no chrome. I followed this theme with the '08 winter mods in my Camaro.

Some pics of his car:

During the restoration:

He wasn't even TRYING...it was too easy to smoke 'em up.

Currently, the Z28 is off the road undergoing a complete frame-off restoration. I don't doubt for a minute that it's gonna be magazine feature article quality when he finishes it.

Page 1: The Story
Page 2: Mods & Plans
Page 3: Pics w/Convo Pros & Hoosiers
Page 4: The Inspiration – Why I sold my GN and am building this car
Page 5: Restification Progress Reports - Page 1
Page 6: Restification Progress Reports - Page 2
Page 7: My '05 Z71 Tahoe 4x4 & Miscellaneous Stuff