1972 Chevrolet Camaro

This 1972 Camaro Sport Coupe was given to me by my father when I got out of Military in 1997. The frame off restoration took place in 2007 to 2008 after collecting ALL the Rally sport and body panel pieces plus interior pieces. I started with a rear 1/4 and body parts with exposed sub frame. I first collected ALL the parts to complete the restoration. The goal was to have a restore modified 1972 Camaro RS Z28. I wanted custom while maintaining the originality of the car. Once the metal was straightened and coarse work completed the only part outsourced to a body shop was stripping to metal and applying Epoxy due to humidity I did not want moisture under paint. I completed the entire restoration in a make shift booth in a 2 car garage. The paint is Copper-head orange custom color paint. I started with the rear ¼ trunk and floor pans ALL solid no welding in anything new -no rust through, Whew!! After Epoxy primer we moved to Texas and worked on the minor fill and sanding to get body perfect for sealer primer. Once all filling and smoothing complete I assembled a paint booth and went to Affordable Auto Paints for the copper head orange – a pearl base with sunburst orange and copper flakes. I laid down 3 layers for Base followed with 3 layers of clear – Montana Big sky clear. Once the rear ¼ complete I went to the hood, fenders, doors and trunk deck lid. I placed the Run away stripes on the car free hand with use of Nasty Z-28 for proper spacing guidance and a role of tape from stencilsandstripes.com. The hood took 2 attempts and the trunk lid took three tries to get it right. I get a lot of compliments on the car and have had several people ask for guidance. The car came out beautiful I had very little buffing of blocking light 2500 to do. I only had to use a coarse buffing compound to bring out the luster. I replaced ALL the wiring and wired everything my self with a lot of solder and help of Radio Shack. All new tie rods, break lines, and fuel lines. The engine is a 1994 swirl port Chevy .030 355 cu.in with Vortec GM performance heads $1500.00 in the engine backed up by a Borg Warner T-56 transmission - $750.00 plus a refresh with new bearings $300.00. Rear axle is original 10 bolt 3.73 auburn limited slip. All the brackets for the T-56 were hand crafted with help of a friend with a welder. All body work and straightening occurred in my garage.