67 Camaro - Project Resale Red

[n77nxc]

Project: Resale Red

Car: 1967 Camaro

Engine: LS1

Trans: 4L60E

This is my first classic build, and I've already learned a ton during the purchase phase. The build phase will be an experience and I can't wait. I've always liked the 1st gen Camaros and knew I wanted one with a modern powerplant under the hood. After looking at many cars, I settled on this 67.





It seemed to be a good fit based on the description given. Run and drive, LS1 powered with brand new driver quality paint, no patch panels, no rust, and solid body. A good friend of mine, that is very familiar with classics, told me to look past the drivetrain and focus on the body when looking for my project car. After lengthy discussions with the seller and my buddy, I had a good feel for the condition and what had been done to the car. Unfortunately the car was in California and I’m in Texas, so I was purely going off what the seller was telling me and showing me in pics. Luckily the seller had a local reference, and I contacted them for feedback. Everything came back clean, and I proceeded with the deal.

For sale thread: https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=41233

I was looking forward to getting my hands on the car and ordered most of the parts the seller said it needed, mainly interior items, prior to it arriving. I was told the car needed roughly two weekends worth of work to get it on the road. I was stoked the car was so close to being road worthy.

I contracted All American Trucking and Transport to ship the car and they did an amazing job. It took 3 days from Northern California to Houston. The car arrived without any damage. The driver attempted to back the car off the truck and reverse decided to take a dump. Talk about bad timing. Luckily he had a winch and we carefully winched it off the truck. All the forward gears worked so I was able to drive it to the house. I inspected the trans fluid and it didn’t even read on the dipstick.

I was happy the car showed up in one piece and started looking things over to setup a game plan.

First off, the transmission, with a non-functional reverse, pretty much advanced my plan to switch it to manual. A T-56 will be on order to replace the 4L60E.

I noticed some questionable areas in the body and had my buddy stop by to take a look. He started off in the trunk and quickly pointed out both rear fenders had been replaced. The welds looked like, in his words, “bird sh*t”. The rear speaker panel wasn’t original to the car either. He pointed out rot along the base of the rear glass filled with bondo (bondo worms gave that away). The roof and floors look good for the most part with the exception of some pitting. Rot was also visible underneath the newly installed trunk seal along the gutter. There were numerous other areas with half a$$ body work but nothing that can’t get sorted out.




















The paint is far from driver’s quality. I’m confident I could have sprayed it better in my garage. It looks like it was painted and cleared next to a car being sanded.





I was really starting to dig the red, even though it wasn’t my first choice, but now I have a great excuse to paint the car. I’m thinking a dark gunmetal or black.

The LS1 runs great and is definitely the highlight of the car. I’m surprised it runs based on the wiring that was done. I’ve already identified 4 electrical connections using wire nuts!!! Someone started to wire up the fans and failed miserably. After a quick search on the forum, I found the correct wiring diagram. I wired those up over the weekend and they are fully functional now.



Near term goal for the car is to sort it out mechanically and get it running correctly. Suspension, interior, wheels, and tires will follow.
I’m hesitant to dive into the body at this point because I know there are some goodies lurking underneath that paint.

I’ll keep this thread updated as I go and look forward to input from fellow members.

[DETON8R]

Looks like a project, like a lot of "drivers" that get bought out there.

Good choice to swap the Auto with a manual.

Keep posting pics!!!

[Royalworks]

Sight unseen usually never turns out as hoped.

[turnhard]

Where in Houston are you located

[n77nxc]

Originally Posted by Royalworks

Sight unseen usually never turns out as hoped.

Yep, that is the number 1 lesson I learned. This is the first car out of roughly 35 cars I've owned that I purchased sight unseen. Unfortunately, its the one car out of all of those I should have never even considered purchasing sight unseen. Live and learn!

[n77nxc]

Originally Posted by turnhard

Where in Houston are you located

I'm in Richmond.

[Rick D]

Man that sucks, the thing is that some people think that the work done on your car is good, or a the very least don't know any difference. Not saying that was the case but I've had people come to me in the past and say oh I just need someone to paint my car I've done all the prep work and its ready for paint. Most times I just tell them sorry I'm not what your looking for to do a paint job for you! It's way easier then crushing them by showing them everything that they did wrong and then they get very pissed off at me.

Now if they paid someone todo that same work for them I have know problem letting them know what was not done correctly in a nice way.

And then there are those that just flat out want to rip you off and those kind of people just suck

At this point take what you've learned and move forward. This is why I didn't want to buy my new car unless I know the person or I can go get it myself or at the very least have someone close by take a look for me.

[n77nxc]

Originally Posted by Rick D

Man that sucks, the thing is that some people think that the work done on your car is good, or a the very least don't know any difference. Not saying that was the case but I've had people come to me in the past and say oh I just need someone to paint my car I've done all the prep work and its ready for paint. Most times I just tell them sorry I'm not what your looking for to do a paint job for you! It's way easier then crushing them by showing them everything that they did wrong and then they get very pissed off at me.

Now if they paid someone todo that same work for them I have know problem letting them know what was not done correctly in a nice way.

And then there are those that just flat out want to rip you off and those kind of people just suck

At this point take what you've learned and move forward. This is why I didn't want to buy my new car unless I know the person or I can go get it myself or at the very least have someone close by take a look for me.

Thanks Rick!

[CornHusker4Life]

I agree. Not my definition of driver quality either... You never want to see RUST on a "newly" painted car. Sucks but

[Greg from Aus]

Oh how this brings back memories, chin up. Good luck with the build.