“Wow that is awesome. 69 is my favorite year! ”
“Nice Nice Nice !!! .”
“Looking pretty fricken sweet!!!!!”
“It looks really great!! Nice job on the paint, and the color selection.”
“The GUTS!”
“Looks awesome Curt! What a great journey!”
First Purchased in 1989
As you can, it was a rust bucket. In the third picture, you can see the cement floor through the floor of the Camaro. In the first picture, you can see where the previous owner attempted to tub the car. I didn't know what I was getting into.
Here's the result. First build complete.
Even though the car was beautiful, I didn't like the way it rode. It only did well in a straight line.
With luck, I had an opportunity in 2010 to rebuild the car once again. This time, I wanted to look like a classic Camaro, but drive like a track car with modern comforts.
I was working for Mitchell International at the time and we were co-located at Car Crafters, the largest auto collision group in New Mexico. Jim Guthrie, the owner of Car Crafters and my business partner with CIMS, gave me an awesome opportunity to rebuild the Camaro the way I wanted.
So, with that, we tore the car down and began work.
The last row of pictures above show the clean up of the underneath which I couldn't really do right in my first build. This time, Car Crafters did it right!
As you can see we chose and awesome color and applied it to the whole car.
Work progressed with a full Hotchkis suspension system, including rack and pinon steering.
We welded in subframe connectors as well.
Baer disk brakes all around. Moser 12-bolt rear-end.
Let me tell you, this car rides nice. Very much like you're in a go-kart.
Body work continues...
We replaced the roof with a donor as the original roof had an aftermarket sunroof put in.
Car Crafters does good work!
Made it in and out of the paint booth.
Work continued with putting more parts on...
Unfortunately, this engine turned out to be the wrong choice. It came out of an older Corvette where we were, told it was a good build. In any case, we ended up replacing it with a ZZ4 crate motor (later). The transmission is a Tremec 5 speed (awesome transmission). We installed the FAST fuel injection system.
The air conditioning is VintageAir.
Another misfortune was installing an original style gas tank (set up for fuel injection). It turned out not working as when you cornered the car, the engine starved for gas. This too was fixed later with baffled tank and a sump.
Parts continue to go onto the car.
The radiator is a four core radiator for trouble free cooling.
I installed Autometer gauges and had a friend machine the aluminum faces to fill in the Camaro instrument panel.
I did all of the interior work myself. Pretty amazing, considering.
I also put in progressive rear led tail lights. The front lights have blue glow rings, as well as, the driving lights. Cool stuff.
Jay at Bearnut made the rear seats (as the bench would no longer fit due to the roll bar). He matched the same pattern as the Corbeau seats (front). Awesome job!
Nearing "first" completion...
I put on the finishing touches myself (i.e., chrome parts, lights, etc.). I had to do something, right?
Now, we're ready to get this thing running...
After a wash, I was able to drive it home. What a feeling.
The following is my first experience with my new Camaro:
On the way out to the Sandia Motorsports Speedway (SMS) for a car show, I was cruising down the freeway doing about 65 MPH. I noticed something fly by my driver’s side. A little “flash”. A few moments later, another one. I didn’t think nothing of it and thought the tires picked up stone or something. At the time, I was more focused on the horrible sounds coming from the engine compartment. Clattering, vibrations, and drones. I took it easy on the way out. Kept it very slow.
When I got parked at the SMS and prepping the car for show, a guy was standing on the driver’s side and said, “did you know you’re missing several lug nuts?” I circled around and low and behold, indeed, there were missing lugs. I pulled out my little hand socket set and lucked out that I happened to have the correct socket size. I promptly started checking all of the lugs around the car. The rear wheels were still tight. A few were loose. In fact, I took one from the rear to place on the front, driver’s side.
When I got to the driver’s side, all three remaining lugs were extremely loose. I tightened them down the best that I could with my little ratchet. I attempted to add the extra lug I took from one of the rear wheels but it wouldn’t “grab”. Looking closer, I saw that the two missing lugs had “sheared” off the studs. I went to the passenger side and found that all of the lugs were still there. However, they were all very loose. It’s a miracle I’m alive. A lot of scenarios rushed through my head. As I told the story to others, they were astonished.
Now thinking back, the last mile or so before getting to the SMS, I was hearing (but not feeling) a funky drone. I thought it was the exhaust, but was unsure as the racket from the engine compartment suppressed all other noises.
Needless to say, I was extremely nervous on the way back home. More so than I was on my way to the SMS. I had Lorenzo, the president of the Camaro Club, follow me to the Big-I, just in case. I did make it home.
Back to the motor… I’ve decided to swap it out for a ZZ4 Turn-Key Crate Motor. This crappy old motor sounded like it’s about to blow any second. When I was nearing home, the oil pressure gauge was bouncing between 0 and 25. I’m thinking it’s still okay and there’s just a loose wire on the sender. But, it didn't add to my confidence.
On a positive note, the body, the paint job, the suspension, the drive train are all awesome! The ride was great with the exception of the last few miles (due to the front tires). Everybody at the show loved it.
What an experience!
As mentioned, we swapped the motor out with a 350 cu in ZZ4 Fast Burn Turn Key. 385 HP, 385 ft lbs torque.
The old motor the Corvette guy sold us had actually "hand ground" the forged pistons. There were different piston rods throughout. Also, the rods were in the wrong positions. It's amazing!
Needless to say, this new motor is awesome!
The Camaro was quickly back on the road and won its first car show as "best of show".
Right away, I was asked by a local photographer (Josh of Lunchbox PhotoWorks) if he could do a photo-shoot with the car (pictures are above). Beautiful work!
Then, it went to the 2012 Supernationals and was the main attraction for the Car Crafters booth.
Simply Awesome!
As the word got out, my car started getting some attention by other photographers. This time, with Zach from Zach Sutton Photography.
He did a full production with a "behind the scenes" video expose. It was awesome!
I still say my Camaro stole the show from the model!
Check out the videos:
Behind the Scenes II (my favorite)
I love the drone shots in Behind the Scenes II.
The first two pictures below are Zachs. The remainder are Scott Welch photos (another prominent photographer).
Most people tell me they love the color. Indeed, it's a beautiful color on a beautiful Camaro.
The 1969 Camaro is a unique in that this style was only in one year of production. The 1967 and 1968 are similar in style, but the 1969 stands on its own for this first generation. It's a longer body (to accommodate the big block engines) and has prominent fender lines.
The photos below were done by Severiano Buck of Illustrations by Severiano.
and the journey continues...
