Page 1 - Introduction/Day 1
Page 2 - News and Updates

Here's my Dad and I's project car, a 69 Camaro.  Dad has been wanting one of these forever, most likely because he owned 2 of them when he was younger.  We've been looking for an sharp looking 67-73/93-02 gen camaro or C3/C5/C6 corvette on craigslist for a while, but none of them really appealed to us except those we couldn't afford.  Then one day dad had me look up CL again and the first result was this car.  It was selling as you see it now for 5.5k, right in our budget (of course, it's going to take a lot more than that to get it road worthy).  We looked at the other CL listings but eventually decided to email the 69 camaro owner about more pictures and details.

We planned to go see it that Saturday (that would be 9/12/09) and we called Friday to see if it was still there.  After talking with the guy for a bit, we found out that there was a lot of interest in it and someone was going to be coming 5 hours away to look at it early Saturday.  We knew a 5 hour drive isn't someone coming to look, it's someone coming to buy.  We decided to go look at it that day... about 20 min after we got off the phone with him we hopped in the truck and drove the 90min drive to Princeton to check it out.  We saw how bad of shape it was in, dreaded over the amount of work that would have to be done to fix it, but in the end decided "what the hell" and said we'd buy it and come back tomorrow to pick it up. When we got there the next day, we figured out it was going to be a long one. 

I was only walking around on less than five hours of sleep so I was more or less an amusing, though worthless, zombie.  When we got there, we found a nice gravel parking lot across from his house that we felt would be perfect for loading the car on from as it would allow us to not have to back up with a trailer when it was time to go.  The guy we bought the car from started the camaro up and moved it behind the trailer as we were putting down the ramps. 

Dad, worried that the ramps would bow under the weight of the car, instructed me to put jack stands under them in an effort to prevent this.   We would soon learn why you should never do this.  The camaro was trying to get up on the ramps at a slightly strange angle I thought (though, in my zombie state, felt no need to express), but because of the gravel it was spinning the tires instead of going up.  The proposed remedy of this was to just gun it up the ramp.  Chaos insued.  The driver side ramp instantly kicked out when the back wheel hit it, the front passenger side tire drove up on the trailer wheel well, and the passenger rear ramp also was flung out, only caught by the jack stand under it.  Because of the stand, the back passenger wheel was sitting on the ramp, though had a very dangerous angle and looked as if it would slip off at any time.  Thankfully, the car did not fall down far enough to crush a rocker panel but it got close.  Thankfully still, the previous owner had 2 jack stands and a bobcat which we used to raise the rear to pull the ramps out, raise the front to move the front end to where it should be, and push the car onto the trailer.  The ride home and unloading was wonderfully boring, aside from learning the brakes were shot... and the parking brakes were cut...

So with that out of the way, lets see what we got here.  The car is a  non-numbers matching X-11 code camaro, which means it could be an SS but could just as easily not be.  The only way to know for sure is to have the original motor, but this vehicle instead sports a 350 from a 1975 Chevy Truck.  What we know about the engine is... very little.  It's clearly been modified after it was pulled from that truck though.  It has long tube headers, a Holley Contender aluminum intake, a Holley 4160 Series carb (750CFM), and some sort o f aftermarket camshaft most likely from CompCams (there's a sticker on the oil pan for them).  It currently has open headers and does not like to idle at all, which makes it very loud for the short periods we can keep it running.  It's also been modified to run an electric pump instead of the standard mechanical flavor.  What reason the original owner decided to do this is unknown at this time.

The interior is practically gone.  The back seat is there, though it's clearly a blue seat dyed black and starting to turn blue again.  Most of the dash is there, though it would seem none of the gauges are hooked up correctly, and there's a driver seat, though it's from a 4th gen transam and there's no passenger seat.  Headliner looks good though and we have half of the side panels... so yea, we got something to work off of at least.

The body is... rough.  Don't let the pictures fool you (if they even did).  We knew going in that it was going to be an uphill battle, and we only hope we're fighting the war with tanks and not swords.  I sure feel like a swordsman though.  To start, the floor panels, trunk panels, and both rear frame rails will have to be replaced.  That does not include whatever brackets are on them that we find we can't reuse.  Assuming it all goes according to plan (read: fair tale like), the cost starts at around the 1.5k mark.  I see it easily rising to 2k before all is said and done and even higher.  This of course doesn't count tools in the cost, like the brand new mig welder we had to buy to do this.  No one ever counts tools into the cost!  Can we do it?  We're sure hoping.  We're going to attempt it either way.

After that is completed though, I feel we will have accomplished the biggest hurtle this car has, aside from perhaps the roof.  The quarter panels seem fine, though the rear wheel wells don't.  After tackling the entire bottom of the car, I doubt they'll stand much a challenge to our newly acquired, trial-by-fire, mig welding expertise.  When that is done, only the rear panel will need to be replaced before we can slap a "finished (for now)" sticker on the rear end.

The front fenders will both, most likely, have to be replaced.  The front header, given the amount of bondo on it, will most likely need to be scrapped as well.  The radiator core support will have to either be really, really worked on or most likely replaced.  The front valance and fender extensions will be salvagable, as can be the hood.  We're hoping to get rid of it anyway for a cowl.  Wheel fender.. things on the front are good.  Cowl is dented, but I have an autobody friend (19camaro85 ) who thinks he can straighten it back out and save the piece.  The doors may need to be reskinned, but aside from some rust in the corners that we except can be patched, they're good to go.  Then you just paint and replace the rubber gaskets and she's, body wise, done.

CURRENT PLANS:
My dad wants to be able to drive this thing before it's show quality, as do I.  With that in mind, our first area of emphasis is getting it safe and road worthy.  Once that is done, we'll go from there, depending on how funds are coming in and what we feel like doing.  We will, of course, apply primer/paint/undercoating to all the parts we plan on keeping when applicable.  So, here's the list:
1.) Replace Floor Panels
2.) Replace Trunk Panels
3.) Replace Both Rear Frame Rails
4.) Replace Brake Master Cylinder and/or repair brakes to proper working order
5.) Tune up engine and try to get it to idle so it's driveable.
6.) Buy rear side marker lenses, buy new bulbs for those needing them, and have all lights working

FUTURE PLANS:
These are going to bulleted as not all will be done at once, but all will be done before the car is considered "complete".  These are all the things (that I can think of currently) we hope to accomplish on this car:
- Buy Cowl Hood
- Replace/Repair Suspension (namely ride height, shocks, and bushings)
- Replace tires
- Replace wheels
- Fix body to paintable quality
- Paint car
- Dress up engine bay (clean, engine chromed/painted fresh, chrome accents, etc.)
- Finish interior (beyond seats and carpet, make it look... finished)
- Sound System (haven't sold him on the idea yet, we'll see)
- Sound dampening (floors especially, perhaps doors, quarters, and toe board/firewall too)
- Exhaust System (Thinking true dual with X-pipe, flowmaster 40's, dumping it after, but we'll see)

Thanks for reading!