Aussie Shed Find

[usa-69z]

Heres my sunday 3rd march 2013.. as you may guess im in Australia, yes 'downunder' I wrote this down today after a call from a friend saying a guy has passed away and the widow needs me to come look at his old car.
So some of the ramblings may sound a little odd as its written for an aussie forum , but im sure you will get the feel of what today was all about..
thanx, Gav


My Sunday ,, ive spent 2 hours today with the lady in her double garage filled with junk,,I felt like i was in a episode of pickers.. The garage had broken roller doors and took us 20 mins to get inside. The floors were very damp as its situated on the side of a hill where the runoff was continously coming thru and over the floor. Inside i was greeted by piles of electrical equiptment, tools, canoes, windsurfers, old tvs, pushbikes, engines , mags, seats , and general junk sprinkled with a few gems here and there. This guy that filled this garage had a hoarding problem and his wife was very close to leaving him over it..Sadley he died from pancreatic cancer 2 years ago..

Now to the piece of muscle in the corner.. this car has not been touched , looked at , moved or seen for 27 years,, It was thick with dirt , cobwebs all over it ,, it was covered with boxes of 'stuff', old carpet and other items to protect it from prying eyes. I asked why he parked it and it never moved? She told me he it was due for rego in 1985 and he didnt want anyone to 'scrutinise' it so he let the rego lapse and there it sat forever.' he was funny like that' she said. It still has his personal plates on it. First thing i notice its got a corvette style scoop molded to the original hood,, a pretty decent job too. I walk around it , just squeezing up next to it to get a good look and spy a few smallish rust spots here and there,nothing too serious, Big 'magnum' style rims ,drum brakes front and back with the classic stink bug rear lift .I decided i needed to look under the car to see if the rising damp has effected the underbody, it was suprisingly clean as it was very oily and even the exhaust looked in good shape. A 10 bolt diff, mono leafs and sway bar preside under there too.
Now to the interior , i wipe the scum away from the window and spy the keys on the front seat,, bingo! i can now look in the trunk for rust ,, i open the door cautiously thinking the hinge mite drop off onto my foot ,, no such luck solid as a rock,, it was moldy but complete and the seats were still pliable and not brittle.. I sat inside , marvelled at this time capsule id found..very cool. I opened the console, a set of 1985 rego papers were in there,, $300 for rego and 3rd party in 85. powerglide transmission , RS wheel, RS tach and it is RHD. console and 'factory'? guages? Interior was very nice but grubby ,, Dash conversion is nicely done . I couldnt open the glove box to see what treasures were inside.. bummer.
ah yes a 'ferris ' cassette deck was in place with matching speakers up back..Nice.
I asked more about the car , she said they bought it in wagga for $7000 when they met , got married, had 2 kids , it was her daily driver , he had a new sandman,,She told me she got a lot of attention driving it around as a young 'blonde'. Im sure she did,
I jumped back outside the camaro to check the boot out now that i had the 'keys'.. It had the RS fuel cap .. I open the boot up, fully carpeted,, and dry,, no rust anywhere, up under the rear screen was clean as a whistle.
Im now thinking about whats under the hood? I go to the front of the camaro and she asks how do you open it? I fumbled around under the RS grill and find the 'lever'.. It takes a bit of effort to get it loose but it sprang up an half an inch..I open it for the first time in 27 years.. It looked like it needed a battery and it would go,, but things like the alternator were corroded and the headers looked pretty rusty but all in all complete.. A holley on top of an aftermarket manifold.. fuellie heads , roller rockers and some cool retro rocker covers..327 powerglide 67 rally sport.
She was offered $17g by a family friend 'as is' .. It would need a full going over and paint and panel,, but very complete ,, an awsum project, or fix the brakes up, clean it and get it running.. I said id like to try and get it started one day,, she'll let me know what she decides , she dosnt have to move it, no emotional attachment and its fine to sit another couple of years if nessesary.
It was a cool day and a privlidge to get to climb all thru this car.. I thought this only happended in the US.
I still never got inside that glove compartment.

[usa-69z]

[usa-69z]

[usa-69z]

[usa-69z]

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Pretty cool, I always wondered what you guy did to get the carb linkage to work.

[usa-69z]

yeah Vince a bracket to the old smokey yunick ram ,, very cool !

you gotta remember this is in australia so its not that often we get barn find camaros , mainly old holdens etc !

[XLexusTech]

Awesome and congrats... still strange seeing the right side drive

[WSSix]

Cool find and interesting intake manifold. Thanks for sharing the story.

[syborg tt]

Awesome find and thank you for sharing