1967 Camaro coupe build - retrospective

I bought this Camaro in 2005, which for me represented a purposeful change in direction from early Ford hotrods to muscle cars. I previously owned a 1947 Ford 2 door sedan, a 1940 Ford sedan delivery, a 1946 Ford coupe, and a 1962 Chevy stepside shortbox. The stepside was the transitional vehicle, neither a hotrod nor a muscle car.

The Camaro was out of state, so that means I bought it sight unseen. This is not a smart thing to do, but I figured that I was buying a builder car, not a finished ride, so part of the building process would be to fix things like hidden damage. 

It's still not a smart thing to do.

Here are some pics the seller provided:

The reader can probably see what attracted me to the car. It seemed to be fairly clean and intact, not cut up or parted out. All the interior trim was present, all the stainless was good, and all the mechanisms, latches, and bracketry were all in their places. It had a radio, power steering and power disc brakes. And although it was an automatic car, in the trunk was a Muncie 4 speed. Also in the trunk was a 327 block, crank, and heads.

Having a complete, mostly assembled car is a great advantage. It is difficult to know what should be when it's not there. It's also difficult to know how something is supposed to go together when you weren't the one who took it apart. And all those little missing parts start to add up into a big expense, which is what I found out with my Lemans project.

When I got it home I found some surprises:

The driver's rear corner had clearly taken a hit. Plus, rust:

So it's time to dig in. I started disassembly: 

I took it to be sandblasted:

And there were problems:

Wow, that's a lot of Bondo. 

So I started the structural repairs. Rear frame channels:

Wheel house:

Trunk and shock mount area:

Sorry for the low quality pics.

Once all the underbody rust was solved, I moved on to refinishing the suspension and underside sheetmetal:

Once all the underside and interior surfaces were done I sent the car over to a friend for the bodywork and paint. Back then I was not confident enough in my skills to do this part of the work. Especially since it was eventually decided that the quarters and the tail light panel were not savable. 

So my friend did a lot of work, making sure the gaps were right and everything lined up:

This is my friend Mike colorsanding:

Time to bring it home for reassembly:

That's my son's 36 Ford 5 window in the background.

I built a bone stock 350 and backed it with a TH350 automatic:

And last, some pics of the completed car:

This build took only about 2 years, mostly because the hardest part, the bodywork and paint, was done by a professional. And, I didn't even get to enjoy the car because another friend bought it from me just as I was finishing it. 

And within 6 months of that I had the 1967 convertible, a car I still own:

The convertible did not start this way. I posted a series of articles on that build here, here, here, here, and here.