Well I guess I should finally introduce myself; my name is Tim. I have been hanging around here, lurking for a number of years, but haven’t had a project until recently.
A little background about myself. I bought my first car when I 16 years old, a 1968 Ford Galaxie 500. I got it from a friend in school… all I had to do was pay the tow and pound fees and it was mine. I drove that for about 6 months, cruising up and down the strip in first gear (thought it sounded cooler that way) with a set of 5 spoke Crager’s on the back. After 6 months the frame snapped and the car went to the bone yard.
I went a couple other cars (76 Cougar XR7 and a Beetle) before I purchased a 67 RS Camaro with a 350 and a 4 speed. The Camaro was a fun car until the spring perch came up through the floor. I decided at that point I was going to make it a strip only car, so I had the floor replaced, pulled the 350 and 4 speed and built another 350 with a powerglide. That didn’t last long.
Along came the era of prostreet and mullets… I already had the hair and I seized the opportunity when an ex-drag car became available, a 69 Camaro with a narrowed Dana 60 (5.57 gears), full cage and lots of fiberglass. Spent a couple months converting back to a ‘street’ car…needed everything; interior, wiring, etc. I built a roller cam 350 with nitrous (that’s when ‘Mighty Mouse’ started), and kept the powerglide (big mistake...car needed more gear out of the hole).
Well I had the 69 for a couple years, until I got hired by Toronto Police and moved up to the big city. The Camaro was a bit much to be driving around in Toronto traffic, so I traded with a friend for his prostreet 82 Cutlass Supreme. It was mild and very streetable, but I lived in an apartment and needed to rent storage space to keep, so it too didn’t last long in my possession.
Then life happened; policing career, kids and responsibilities.
Well 23 years later, four kids and marriage number two brings to today.
My youngest son just turned 16 years old this year. He has seen pictures of my cars and heard me talk about the ‘old’ days, and he started to show an interest in cars. We have spent a fortune (trust me, I could buy a Steilow car with what we paid for hockey) and the last 9 years on the road with his hockey. He’s at the age now where we don’t have to pay anymore.
A few weeks ago I came across a 74 Camaro on one of the local lots. I knew it was going to need a lot of work, but I thought this would be the perfect learning experience for him. I made an offer (too much in hindsight) and took it home.
It hasn’t taken us long to strip her down and find all the ‘ugly’ buried beneath. This going to be a very budget build…my first wife is still on my ‘payroll’.
(Looks like they fastened the patch panel down with whatever screws and bolts were laying around)
The first priority is to get the body in order. It’s going to need new floor pan, trunk, quarters and maybe frame rails (Canadian winters are car killers). I will mini tube while we are at it. No one makes full quarters for a 74 Camaro and the NOS ones that are still floating around are way out of my budget. I did find someone on line that made 73 quarters work, just need to graft the back corner around the tail lens from the 74. Front bumper is going to be sectioned to fit a little ‘tighter’ and the rear bumper with be tucked in a little.
Suspension upgrades, front and rear are a must. I haven’t decided what we are going with; I will have to keep my eyes open for some used parts to piece together…budget willing.
Ideally we would like to put a LS motor and a T56, but that may be a pipe dream.
So far the most expensive part has been acquiring the tools. I’ve sold off some of my woodworking tools to make room in the garage and to finance a mig welder and other odds and ends. Still need a better compressor.
I picked up some steel this week and started building the rotisserie. My son is having a great time learning to weld… I’m still re-learning myself (it’s been 24 years since I was welding bumpers in the factory).
Here are a few photos of the project.
Floor pans are shot. Previous owners tried to patch them at some point... had expandable foam covering the holes this time.
Stripped down waiting for the rotisserie (metal laying on the ground). My son has scraped most the paint off...hoping to cut the cost of media blast down.
Previous applied quarter skin. It had lots of bondo covering the seam. I started messing around to see if I could pop it off so I could butt weld a new skin on, but I think I will go with converting the full 73 quarters.
The roof has a couple patches; one on each side. I'm not sure what I'm going to do here. May need to go with new roof skin.
Had the original 350 (was a two barrel, now has a Q-Jet) in it. It's sitting in the garage on a stand.
Thanks for looking. I will try to keep it up to date as the project slowly progresses.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Father and Son 74 Camaro project
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