1967 Camaro coupe project, 2005

My dad infected me with the car disease. My first car project was this 1947 Ford:

We found this car for $200 in 1974. It was rough but all there. My uncle taught me to gas weld, and one of my dad's friends taught me how to bump panels. My mom sewed up an interior, and I did all the work including the paint. My dad financed it as long as I was willing to do the work. What a deal.

After leaving for college I left the car in my dad's hands, and he drove it for years, finally selling it with a tear in his eye. My attention turned to aircooled VWs, and through the early days of my marriage we bought and sold three of them.

I bought a 1940 Ford sedan delivery in 1985, and sold it in 1993 after fixing all the rust and replacing the floor pan, adding a Mustang II front suspension, and a parallel leaf rear. The next project was a 1946 Ford coupe, which received a small block Chevy. After that was a 1962 Chevy stepside in 2001, which was a basket case, but was built to completion:

This truck marked the beginning of my shift from early Fords to more modern cars. I love the shape and style of the '32-'48 Fords, but like aficionados of Model Ts and Model As, those who love the V-8 flathead Fords are a dying breed.

That shift was complete by the time I bought this 1967 Camaro coupe on ebay in 2005. Here's what it looked like:

It seemed to be pretty solid and complete, minus the engine and transmission. But there are always surprises:

Well, I owned the car, so it has to be fixed. I got started on the underside. There was rust in the rear frame rails:

The wheel houses:

The floorpans:

 I took it to be sandblasted. The tail light panel and wheel arches:

I'm in deep, deeper than I've ever been with a project car. At this point I had never replaced body panels and just didn't feel comfortable with doing them. I decided that I would complete the undercarriage myself and send the car to a bodyman friend to replace the rusty panels and paint it.

So I worked under the car for months fixing rust. After getting it welded up and prepped I sprayed some bedliner:

Very pleased with this.

Powdercoated and assembled the subframe:

I built a 350:

Now the car was a completely restored chassis. I trailered the car to Missoula and my friend started work. He replaced both quarters and the tail light panel, then primered and painted it:

Once I got it home I started assembly:

Final pictures:

Two years after purchase, after driving the car only a few times, a friend of mine with muscle car fever showed up with a fistful of cash and bought it. Lamenting my empty garage, within 6 months I bought this project, another 1967 Camaro, a convertible this time. 

I still own that car today.