The Find
     Then 1 day, my nephew Jason called and said he had a buddy with a 1968 Camaro Convertible that hadn't been on the road since 1980. Sounds good until I tell you my nephew lives in north-western Minnesota. Yes, you guessed it, more rust than steel. Jason emailed me a few photos, and I wired him the money. September in minnesota is when all the Snow-Birds head for Arizona, and several transport companies just laughed at my request. They had all been booked months in advance with running vehicles. I received several quotes between $900-$1500, but would have to wait several months. A friend at work (Tony Racz) who recently finished his 1970 Mustang restoration let me borrow his trailer, and a neighbor (Mike Ulshoffer) agreed to make the weekend trip with me using his new Dodge RAM. The Diesel RAM rode like a cadilac and pulled the Camaro heavy trailer with ease.

The Workspace      (Lesson #4 - Get Orgainized!) Like most attached 2-car garages in the area, ours had open-stud walls, crap that I had forgotten I had, and more dust than spiderwebs, (but it was close). My first goal was to drywall the garage, paint, hang cabinets, bench and generally get orgainized. I knew that if I wanted to stay married, my wife's car would need to be parked inside during the Colorado winter and that making a bigger mess would not be acceptable. Like most baby-boomers, I had lots of tools for the job, I just couldn't find them. The garage actually turned out very nice, and the wheel dollies I picked up on Ebay was a wonderful idea. (Lesson #5- don't ever try a project like this without wheel-dollies.)

Stripped Down      I knew in the beginning that this project may take a few years and would be a difficult challenge, but the enjoyment I would gain would come from the journey, not the final destination. I built this website to document my journey and vowed to take lots of pictures along the way. (Lesson #6 - Document everything.) I knew I wouldn't remember where every wire or nut came from, or what I could reuse or need to replace. In addition to taking lots of picutres, I decided I wasn't going to through away anything until I had the it, or the replacement part re-installed. Just knowing how many broken bolts or rusty metal clips you took off, may come in handy before this is all over. Some stuff I keep out-side under a tarp, and some items I've orgainized shelves and plastic cups with "Sharpie" labels. I found a wide and shallow plastic tub to catch many different kinds of fluids this thing spewed out over time. I think it was a Rubbermaid under-bed storage container, 4' x 2'.

The Rebuild      Once stripped, I realized that most of the metal on this car had cancer. I quickly scheduled time with Blast-Tech sandblasters, and ordered lots of new metal from Classic Industries, American Grafitti and Dynacorn. With the sub-frame and control arms back from the powder-coaters, I completely replaced the front suspension and all steering components with heavy duty OEM replacement parts. Using new frame connectors from Competition Engineering and OEM metal from Dynacorn, I seam welded the entire tub. SSBC power disk brakes all around and 16" AR Hopsters complete the new rolling chassis.

Pursing Paint      I found some great software online, from the "House of Kolor" called Digital Paint Booth. The single car version was $29.95, and I hope to win some paint in the design contest. I haven't decided on hte color scheme yet, and am still looking for a talented painter and custom interior shop.

Power Plant      The protect-o-plate confirms this Camaro came off the assembly line with a 327 V8 and a 350THC auto transmission. I plan on rebuilding both, and getting 300-350 hp out of this strong powerplant.