Car Craft - Vintage Wheel Works

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I bought the car
I took the Camara to college
for $1,800 from a
in Pennsylvania where I blew
friend in high
up the "new" used motor I'd
school back in
installed. I pulled it at my
New York in 1985.
part-time gas station job,
As delivered it
and then the '69 sat derelict,
had cast-off '605-
as seen here circa 1988. At
vintage Torq­
this point the front end is
Thrusts (not cool
battered thanks to a run-in
in the '80s), a
GM
with a drunk driver two
cowl hood, and
years prior, though the
black spray-bomb
wheels had yet to be stolen.
the car for street
·0
•
on't
Perfect-.
That's H
Road i a
OU
••
•
IX·
unnln
'6
9
ras
This is what
I was
left with by 2003.
Hard to believe I
was ridiculed for
hanging on to this
car. Actually, if the
value of '69 Camaros
hadn't gone through
the roof, I'm sure the
Automotive
, criticism would still
artist and GM styl·
run thick. Regard­
ist Jeff Angeleri took our
less, I somehow
thoughts and penned the Camara
managed to hold on
with a stylized version of the factory
to a vision of this
hockey-stick stripe incorporating the Car
gem's potential for
nearly 20 years.
T
Craft logo. Stripe colors discussed included off­
white and silver metallic to tie in with either the white interior or the argent grille
and wheels. Since this would not
be a forever paint job, we CQuid get a bit loose.
•
As I pulled the last box off the hood
away at it so that it would be on the road and
of the '69, all hopes that it wasn't
in some way useful, even if it fell way short of
actually as bad as I recalled were
m y ideal. It took until I was over 30 and living
dashed. It looked like hell. I'd been toting this
in California for the foolishness of m y ways to
Camaro around for more than 15 years. ever
hit me:
since it had ceased to provide transportation
waste, both of time and of a Camaro.
realized that sitting on the car was a
At that point my thinking finally shifted to
while I was still in college. and being dragged
about the country and stored in dusty. damp
the here and now, and I formulated a new plan
Quarters hadn't helped a car that already
to make something happen soon. The revised
looked haggard in 1985. Most people scrap
philosophy was based on the notion that even
cars when they're no longer useful. but this just
with a limited budget and timeframe, it should
wasn't the sort of car that got junked.
be possible to return a car to some sort of use­
But once the car didn't run anymore, its con­
dition worsened despite my efforts to maintain
it The spray�bomb primer continued to fade
•
I
ful state-not necessarily daily-driver useful,
but at least cruise-night useful.
I took some inspiration from the retra­
into an ever more blotchy. chalky mess; the
rodders who bolt cars together in their most
interior steadily became more musty: and its
Spartan form, with functionality the main moti­
arch nemesis, oxidation. quickened its pace.
vator, just like they did after WWII. If done
Adding insult to injury, thieves made off with
right. the patina of old parts and primer is bru­
some of the Camaro's best remaining bits in
tally cooL so why not take a similar approach
several separate incidents, leaving it up on
with a muscle-era ride? Spend the money
blocks the last time after absconding with the
where it's most needed, reuse the decent parts,
rally wheels. I hadn't had the means to get the
fog it with some kind of uniform finish, then
car running again, nor to store it securely, but
worry about making it better later . . . or don't.
once stuff started disappearing, I scraped and
The ball was set in motion by tackling the
scrounged and screwed it back together with
car's worst feature: the dented. rotted body.
junk parts so it would move under its own
We covered the installation of Goodmark
power. Finally, it returned to the security of my
quarter-panels in the April '04 issue and soon
parents' garage-the first of many storage
after ordered more Goodmark sheetmetal for
spaces it would occupy in the coming years.
the front end. With that handled, the car began
Through it all, I was determined to someday
to gan;1er more respect: it was now a solid
return the Camaro to a level of glory it had not
foundation for a project. Shortly after, during a
seen since sometime prior to m y ownership,
staff meeting, Freiburger suggested I take the
though I wasn't thinking that I'd have to wait
'69 on Anti Tour. though it was implied that
for nearly as many years as I"d then been alive
limping it there with its Sanford and Son vibe
to get it there. Probably a good thing: I didn't
was not what he had in mind. The rest of the
have that kind of patience at 19.
staff chimed in and the "intervention" was in
Back then I had developed typical teenage
full swing. So, with a mixture of peer pressure,
pie-in-the-sky visions for my pride and joy, see­
a six-week deadline. and some extra hands for
ing past its many faults to envision what the
help, the Camara was officially underway.
car could look like with "just a little work." The
The accompanying photos tell the tale,
trouble was. I wanted perfection. So even after
though in the end. the car fell just short of
I'd finished school and started earning a little
making the Tour. I blame the California DMV.
money. I kept the car stashed rather than com­
No biggie, as the Tour was merely the carrot
bating its immediate problems and getting it
that fueled this project and got the Camaro
back in action. In my mind. the car deserved
looking and running better than it ever has dur­
nothing less than a full-on rebuild.
In retrospect. I was being stupid. waiting for
ing m y ownership. Now it's on the road for the
first time in over 15 years and evoking a bit of
the perfect combination of time, money. and
lust from onlookers rather than contempt.
suitable work space to come together for a
Meanwhile, I feel like I've got a new toy, when
actually I had it all along.
total rebuild when I should ha ve been chipping
JULY 2005 CARCRAFT.COM
41
Up front it was IT\Of"e of the same,
though less of the original stuff was
salvageable. Goodmark provided the
grille so the Camaro would have one
for the first time in nearly 20 years,
and we installed it using the original
stiffening brace and headlight
bezels. Another new bumper, also
from Goodmark, was installed,
while the original parking lamps
were polished up and reused. For a
few extra bucks we also ordered a
factory-style chin spoiler from
Goodmark.
-+Base·model
'69 Camaros used
argent grilles, as did standard
Z/28s, while only
SS models got a
black grille from the factory.
We hadn't really thought much about the interior, figuring i f the car would run and drive we'd sit on
whatever to go to Phoenix. But as the body was getting better, the interior started looking worse.
We cleaned up the original white seats,
but the door panels were still at the folks' place in New
York, and not worth shipping costs. A call to Year One and we had a fresh set of assembled white
door panels and installation hardware. We also picked up a set of window felts while we were at it.
The crowning jewels of the project were the
new wheels, one of the areas we felt shouldn't
be compromised. Vintage Wheel Works pro­
duces classically styled wheels in traditional
and contemporary sizes; we selected a set of
Vintage 45s in 17xB and 17x9.5. To wrap the
rims we went to Toyo to try out its new
Proxes T15 high-performance street rubber
(P255/45Rl7 and P275/40Rl7). The guys at
Flip's TIre took their usual care while mounting
our gems.
Freiburger wasn't digging the slick '80s-vintage
aftermarket steering wheel, nor was anyone
else for that matter.
I took the hint and the
opportunity to order a repro version of the fac­
tory sport steering wheel I'd lusted after for
years. Year One offers the wheel in kit form,
including the mounting hub, hardware, hom
contact, and hom cap. I'm still Clinging to the
Sun tach, though.
48 CAR CRAFT JULY
-+Yes, we know th
is makes us Cam
ara
We'r also workin
g on an AMC, som
e
�
Pontracs.
C raft again. Get over
it.
Mapars. and a couple
"Wow. You really saw the jewel in
a
pile of dog dung."
Henry D.
Afterdark Signworks; Torrance, CA;
323/595-6781; afterdark03.com
American Musclecarsj Ontario, CA;
909/605-7731: americanmusclecars.net
Baer Brakes; Phoenix. AZ; 602/233-1411;
baer.com
Classic Tube; lancaster. NY; 800/882-
3711; c1assictube.com
Dynomax; Jackson. MI; 734/384-7806
(tech); dynomax.com
Edelbrock; Torrance. CA, 310/781-2222;
edelbrockcom
Goodmark Industries; Lawrenceville,
GA; 770/339-8557;
goodmarkindustries.com
Flip's Tire Service; Van Nuys, CA;
818/786-8686; flipstires.com
Johns Customz & Performancej
Torrance. CAl 310/808-0005;
johnscustomz.com
Made For You Products; Pinon Hills. CA;
760/868-6962; made4uproducts.com
Optima Batteries; Aurora, CO; 888/867-
8462; optimabatteries.com
Performance Suspension
Componentsj Phoenix. AZ; 800/572-
3768; performancesuspension.com
Stencils & Stripes Unlimited; Park
Ridge.
IL; 847/692-6893;
stencilsandstripes.com
Toyo Tires USA; 800/442-8996; Nearest
dealer; 800/442-8696 (West Coast).
888/444-8696 (East Coast); toyo.com
Vintage Wheel Works; Whittier. CA;
562/906-8600; vintagewheelworks.com
Year One; Braselton. GA; 800/932-7663;
yearone.com
50 CAR CRAFT JULY 2005