Day 2 67 Camaro restoration

[Chuck_Burg]

Early last year while trolling the craigslist ads I stumbled across a very solid single family owned 67 Camaro. The car is a Granada Gold 327/2 barrel powerglide, factory console, standard gold interior coupe. It is a 54k mile original car, unregistered since 1978. The car was sold new in late 66 (Car was built second week of September and is body number 932) at Stewart Chevrolet in Colma (San Francisco), CA. After a couple phone calls I bought the car sight unseen. I live in Southern California and the car was still in the San Francisco Bay area so going to see the car was nearly impossible between work and several other prospective buyers showing interest in the car.

When I received the car in February 2019 I was delighted to find most original components were intact. Some original pieces were missing including: Harrison radiator, master cylinder, some heater hoses, water pump, and thermostat housing. The original AIR pump is intact and even the original alternator.

I wanted a solid car that hasn't been messed with so I could easily do what I want with the car. I always wanted a big block Camaro. Over the years I have become more and more interested in Day 2 type cars and thought a base model 67 would be perfect for me to do what I envision a Day 2 car would have been.

Since the car is a base small block car it'll retain it's 327 emblems. I'm not building a "sleeper" or a Clone. No SS badges either. I want the car to look like a guy bought the car from the old lady down the street and turned it into a serious street machine. Sure it's got a big block now, but who had time (or extra money) back in the day to change the emblems

Anyway... the car looks good in the pictures. I received A LOT of heat on the Camaro.org site for altering and restoring this car. In the pictures the paint looks good. It has mostly original paint but unfortunately the car was stored under a tarp for decades. Moisture would gather under the tarp and over the years created a lot of surface rust on the decklid, roof, hood, tops of fenders and 1/4s.

Back in March I decided to start the restoration. I have spent the last year collecting parts and decided now was a good time. Now I understand this isn't a real day 2 car, it is a day 2 tribute. Thanks to Jose, jbtech, for talking me into starting a build thread on this site! His 67 and mine are both early production cars

**Update 10/21/2021** When I purchased this car from the estate of the deceased owner I was told he was the original owner of this car. This was not true as Paul (fsc66) discovered. I was told the car was sold new at Stewart Chevrolet and the car had very old Stewart Chevrolet license plate frames. I decided to run an NCRS report and discovered this car was sold new at Ellis Brooks Chevrolet in San Francisco. Paul discovered my car for sale at Stewart Chevrolet in 1969 in a few San Francisco Chronicle ads. The car was listed for $1895 in November 1969. Paul discovered this with my plate number whilst searching newspapers.com I am not sure how many previous owners there were to 1969 but probably only one. I would assume the original owner purchased it new at Ellis Brooks and traded it at Stewart.

[Chuck_Burg]

Huge thanks to Mr4speed (Russel) for these seemingly NOS Appliance headers. He replied to a wanted ad on this site. I was looking specifically for these headers. My father in law had a Rally Green 69 Z RS in 1973/1974. He purchased a set of Appliance Headers for that car from Reath Automotive in Long Beach. Ever since hearing the story about his headers, I wanted Appliance for a car of my own and Russel made it happen.

[AnthonyS]

Will be fun to watch this thread too!

Yay!
Anthony

[jbtech]

I'm glad you FINALLY decided to post your build thread here! Pumped to follow another build thread buddy! A lot of great people here going to help you reach your goal.
-Jose

[Chuck_Burg]

Originally Posted by jbtech

I'm glad you FINALLY decided to post your build thread here! Pumped to follow another build thread buddy! A lot of great people here going to help you reach your goal.
-Jose

[Chuck_Burg]

My dad is responsible for getting me addicted to classic cars. He and I restored the 68 in my avatar picture about 17 years ago. On the eve of starting my 67 project he gave me his old Snap-On box from around 79/80. As you can probably tell by the stickers and emblems on the box he is a Porsche guy. He worked at an independent Porsche repair shop for many years in his younger days. He has a nice shop now with all built in boxes so he asked if I wanted the old Snap-On, otherwise he'd sell it. OF COURSE I wanted it, this thing is a family heirloom. I took it apart to oil all the tracks and cleaned the carpets in the drawers.

Anyway this is the last pic of the car I took before taking it apart in my garage. As you can probably tell I'm not up to date with the progress made on the car in this build thread.... we'll get there soon enough

[nova67]

Sounds like it will be fun Chuck. I'm putting my Ca 69 back to Day 2 status. Too many missing original parts and not matching so why not have a fun Day 2 Driver. Tom

[Chuck_Burg]

Originally Posted by nova67

Sounds like it will be fun Chuck. I'm putting my Ca 69 back to Day 2 status. Too many missing original parts and not matching so why not have a fun Day 2 Driver. Tom

Nice! I have the plates for this car too. I'm not missing too many original parts but a 327/2 barrel with glide is less than thrilling.

[Chuck_Burg]

At home my buddy and I disassembled much of the car. Removed bumpers, grill, lights, lower valance, fender extensions, headlight buckets, interior, side glass, weatherstrip etc. Carefully photographed the way things were before taking them apart. All hardware in labeled bags. After removing the original carpet I thought it was especially unique to see the factory sound deadener in such good shape. Will definitely be putting it back in. Car is off to the shop on March 30th 2019. Let the real fun begin

[Chuck_Burg]

We left off with the car on the way to the shop. I work at Toyota dealer in the L.A. area and the car will be painted there. People often laugh when I tell them my cars get painted at a Toyota dealer... If you have connection in the paint business you may as well capitalize.

As you can see we removed almost everything in the engine compartment. The body work will be performed on the frame. After the car is painted we will remove the front end sheet metal and restore the frame. The undercarraige doesn't need to be repainted. There is a lot of original overspray on the underside which I intend to preserve. The floors just need a good cleaning.

I'm pretty sure these fenders have never been removed. Look how great the original Granada Gold looks on the body behind the passenger fender.

Unfortunately, the car was stored under a tarp for several years. This caused light rust to form under the paint on the horizontal surfaces of the car. This will force us to bring the car to bare metal, rather than just the original primer. You can see what I'm talking about in the picture of the roof. This car is mostly original paint, has had some spotting here and there... my guess is around 70%-75% original paint.