'67 Camaro RS/SS - saved from the scrapman
Discussion
TL:DR - guy buys a completely stripped '67 Camaro to save it from going for scrap, stores it in a couple of garages for twenty years, the second one increasingly damp. Shocked into action when realises how bad it is becoming, gets finger out and starts a build thread.
The long version...
I first came across this '67 Camaro RS/SS in the late 1990's when it was purchased by the brother-in-law of a friend.
As purchased, it was a complete running car in slightly dog-eared condition but was good enough to pass an MOT with minor work. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from this time, but it looked very much like this - just nowhere near as tidy, with an incorrect cowl induction hood (they didn't become a production option until '69).
The then owner then decided to carry out a nut and bolt restoration, building himself a rotisserie and fully stripping the car down to the bare monocoque and mounting it up. The separate front chassis section and the entire underside of the bodyshell were sandblasted, the front floorpans replaced and the underside was painted.
It was around this time that his marriage failed, and he went of sailing around the world to escape from it all. I lost touch for a couple of years and then received a call from him out of the blue - his ex-wife had taken ownership of the house and given him a week to remove the Camaro and all its associated bits, or it would all be scrapped.
Did I want to take it on? The car would be free, just pay him for the approx. £1,500 of new parts that he had ordered from the US that would come with it...
What could I do? Well obviously, buy it! Despite having neither space, time or the money to fully restore it back then, a van and trailer were hired, and a very long day spent removing the shell from the rotisserie and bolting enough back onto it to make it roll. Plus attempting to corral all the boxes and loose bits that were spread throughout his house, garage and sheds.
The car was rolled into a hastily hired lockup near home, and the boxes, loose bits and tools were all dumped in there too for the evening and the hire trailer and van returned in a hurry, just before closing time.
The next day I returned to the lockup to find the doors ajar and half hanging off. It had been broken into overnight and my toolboxes had gone. Fortunately, the car hadn't been vandalised, but clearly my confidence in storing anything of value in the lockup was shattered.
After some discussions a kindly elderly neighbour offered her empty garage for my long-term use, and I gratefully accepted. The car was pushed (fortunately it rolled easily) the short distance to her house and stashed away.
At this point life sort of got in the way. Years passed and the Camaro was put on the back burner. Plans were made, a little work even carried out now and then when the guilt kicked in, but not very much.
After a nearly a decade the elderly neighbour moved house and the Camaro was moved to my parent's garage where it remained. During this time a few things changed. Firstly, values started rising significantly, making the expenditure needed more justifiable. Secondly, my disposable income also increased, putting me in a position to do the car justice and thirdly, unbeknown to me, the garage roof started to leak, not hugely, but enough to make the garage constantly damp.
I hadn't been checking on the car with any regularity, so when I finally did, I was horrified - rampant surface rust everywhere, even on surfaces that had previously been cleaned, treated and painted. Not good. I needed to rescue the car immediately, get my finger out and get working on it.
To that effect, I collected it a couple of weeks ago.
The plan is simple - my '66 El Camino is going to beshipped off to get the rest of the body prep and respray carried out professionally sold. This frees up a slot in the dehumidified garage for the Camaro where I can stabilise its condition and treat the rust before moving on to the mechanical side of things.
To give an idea of what I am up against...
Despite appearances, the car has very "good bones" and is rock solid underneath. The rear screen area will need a patch panel, and the upper scuttle and dash area will be replaced (I already have the large 1-piece section for that) due to rust in the scuttle and the dash having been badly hacked around previously.
The aim is to build a comfortable daily driver that can also be used for touring, using relatively modern running gear and upgrading the steering and suspension with the aftermarket improvements in setup and geometry that have been developed over the last 54 years.
Interior and exterior will remain largely faithful to the car's original appearance.
The long version...
I first came across this '67 Camaro RS/SS in the late 1990's when it was purchased by the brother-in-law of a friend.
As purchased, it was a complete running car in slightly dog-eared condition but was good enough to pass an MOT with minor work. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from this time, but it looked very much like this - just nowhere near as tidy, with an incorrect cowl induction hood (they didn't become a production option until '69).
The then owner then decided to carry out a nut and bolt restoration, building himself a rotisserie and fully stripping the car down to the bare monocoque and mounting it up. The separate front chassis section and the entire underside of the bodyshell were sandblasted, the front floorpans replaced and the underside was painted.
It was around this time that his marriage failed, and he went of sailing around the world to escape from it all. I lost touch for a couple of years and then received a call from him out of the blue - his ex-wife had taken ownership of the house and given him a week to remove the Camaro and all its associated bits, or it would all be scrapped.
Did I want to take it on? The car would be free, just pay him for the approx. £1,500 of new parts that he had ordered from the US that would come with it...
What could I do? Well obviously, buy it! Despite having neither space, time or the money to fully restore it back then, a van and trailer were hired, and a very long day spent removing the shell from the rotisserie and bolting enough back onto it to make it roll. Plus attempting to corral all the boxes and loose bits that were spread throughout his house, garage and sheds.
The car was rolled into a hastily hired lockup near home, and the boxes, loose bits and tools were all dumped in there too for the evening and the hire trailer and van returned in a hurry, just before closing time.
The next day I returned to the lockup to find the doors ajar and half hanging off. It had been broken into overnight and my toolboxes had gone. Fortunately, the car hadn't been vandalised, but clearly my confidence in storing anything of value in the lockup was shattered.
After some discussions a kindly elderly neighbour offered her empty garage for my long-term use, and I gratefully accepted. The car was pushed (fortunately it rolled easily) the short distance to her house and stashed away.
At this point life sort of got in the way. Years passed and the Camaro was put on the back burner. Plans were made, a little work even carried out now and then when the guilt kicked in, but not very much.
After a nearly a decade the elderly neighbour moved house and the Camaro was moved to my parent's garage where it remained. During this time a few things changed. Firstly, values started rising significantly, making the expenditure needed more justifiable. Secondly, my disposable income also increased, putting me in a position to do the car justice and thirdly, unbeknown to me, the garage roof started to leak, not hugely, but enough to make the garage constantly damp.
I hadn't been checking on the car with any regularity, so when I finally did, I was horrified - rampant surface rust everywhere, even on surfaces that had previously been cleaned, treated and painted. Not good. I needed to rescue the car immediately, get my finger out and get working on it.
To that effect, I collected it a couple of weeks ago.
The plan is simple - my '66 El Camino is going to be
To give an idea of what I am up against...
Despite appearances, the car has very "good bones" and is rock solid underneath. The rear screen area will need a patch panel, and the upper scuttle and dash area will be replaced (I already have the large 1-piece section for that) due to rust in the scuttle and the dash having been badly hacked around previously.
The aim is to build a comfortable daily driver that can also be used for touring, using relatively modern running gear and upgrading the steering and suspension with the aftermarket improvements in setup and geometry that have been developed over the last 54 years.
Interior and exterior will remain largely faithful to the car's original appearance.
Edited by 99t on Wednesday 20th September 21:13
Looks quite salvageable, lots of surface rust but you could get it media blasted to clean everything up and key the surface for etch priming. Would recommend that's done sooner as once it's got some etch primer, you can make the repairs and it'll not get any worse.
Look forwards to seeing regular progress.
Look forwards to seeing regular progress.
gregs656 said:
This one will be good.
I can see why the surface rust shocked you. Looks quite deep in places?
Some of it is quite deep, however a little bit of exploratory grinding at some of the worst looking bits has failed to produce any holes before getting back to clean metal - I suspect the thickness of the body panels may be what saves themI can see why the surface rust shocked you. Looks quite deep in places?
.
99t said:
TL:DR - guy buys a completely stripped '67 Camaro to save it from going for scrap, stores it in a couple of garages for twenty years, the second one increasingly damp. Shocked into action when realises how bad it is becoming, gets finger out and starts a build thread.
The long version...
I first came across this '67 Camaro RS/SS in the late 1990's when it was purchased by the brother-in-law of a friend.
As purchased, it was a complete running car in slightly dog-eared condition but was good enough to pass an MOT with minor work. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from this time, but it looked very much like this - just nowhere near as tidy, with an incorrect cowl induction hood (they didn't become a production option until '69).
The then owner then decided to carry out a nut and bolt restoration, building himself a rotisserie and fully stripping the car down to the bare monocoque and mounting it up. The separate front chassis section and the entire underside of the bodyshell were sandblasted, the front floorpans replaced and the underside was painted.
It was around this time that his marriage failed, and he went of sailing around the world to escape from it all. I lost touch for a couple of years and then received a call from him out of the blue - his ex-wife had taken ownership of the house and given him a week to remove the Camaro and all its associated bits, or it would all be scrapped.
Did I want to take it on? The car would be free, just pay him for the approx. £1,500 of new parts that he had ordered from the US that would come with it...
What could I do? Well obviously, buy it! Despite having neither space, time or the money to fully restore it back then, a van and trailer were hired, and a very long day spent removing the shell from the rotisserie and bolting enough back onto it to make it roll. Plus attempting to corral all the boxes and loose bits that were spread throughout his house, garage and sheds.
The car was rolled into a hastily hired lockup near home, and the boxes, loose bits and tools were all dumped in there too for the evening and the hire trailer and van returned in a hurry, just before closing time.
The next day I returned to the lockup to find the doors ajar and half hanging off. It had been broken into overnight and my toolboxes had gone. Fortunately, the car hadn't been vandalised, but clearly it my confidence in storing anything of value in the lockup was shattered.
After some discussions a kindly elderly neighbour offered her empty garage for my long-term use, and I gratefully accepted. The car was pushed (fortunately it rolled easily) the short distance to her house and stashed away.
At this point life sort of got in the way. Years passed and the Camaro was put on the back burner. Plans were made, a little work even carried out now and then when the guilt kicked in, but not very much.
After a nearly a decade the elderly neighbour moved house and the Camaro was moved to my parent's garage where it remained. During this time a few things changed. Firstly, values started rising significantly, making the expenditure needed more justifiable. Secondly, my disposable income also increased, putting me in a position to do the car justice and thirdly, unbeknown to me, the garage roof started to leak, not hugely, but enough to make the garage constantly damp.
I hadn't been checking on the car with any regularity, so when I finally did, I was horrified - rampant surface rust everywhere, even on surfaces that had previously been cleaned, treated and painted. Not good. I needed to rescue the car immediately, get my finger out and get working on it.
To that effect, I collected it a couple of weeks ago.
The plan is simple - my '66 El Camino is going to shipped off to get the rest of the body prep and respray carried out professionally. This frees up a slot in the dehumidified garage for the Camaro where I can stabilise its condition and treat the rust before moving on to the mechanical side of things.
To give an idea of what I am up against...
Despite appearances, the car has very "good bones" and is rock solid underneath. The rear screen area will need a patch panel, and the upper scuttle and dash area will be replaced (I already have the large 1-piece section for that) due to rust in the scuttle and the dash having been badly hacked around previously.
The aim is to build a comfortable daily driver that can also be used for touring, using relatively modern running gear and upgrading the steering and suspension with the aftermarket improvements in setup and geometry that have been developed over the last 54 years.
Interior and exterior will remain largely faithful to the car's original appearance.
Piece of cake for newsatten, a couple of weekends he'll have it as good as new. The long version...
I first came across this '67 Camaro RS/SS in the late 1990's when it was purchased by the brother-in-law of a friend.
As purchased, it was a complete running car in slightly dog-eared condition but was good enough to pass an MOT with minor work. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from this time, but it looked very much like this - just nowhere near as tidy, with an incorrect cowl induction hood (they didn't become a production option until '69).
The then owner then decided to carry out a nut and bolt restoration, building himself a rotisserie and fully stripping the car down to the bare monocoque and mounting it up. The separate front chassis section and the entire underside of the bodyshell were sandblasted, the front floorpans replaced and the underside was painted.
It was around this time that his marriage failed, and he went of sailing around the world to escape from it all. I lost touch for a couple of years and then received a call from him out of the blue - his ex-wife had taken ownership of the house and given him a week to remove the Camaro and all its associated bits, or it would all be scrapped.
Did I want to take it on? The car would be free, just pay him for the approx. £1,500 of new parts that he had ordered from the US that would come with it...
What could I do? Well obviously, buy it! Despite having neither space, time or the money to fully restore it back then, a van and trailer were hired, and a very long day spent removing the shell from the rotisserie and bolting enough back onto it to make it roll. Plus attempting to corral all the boxes and loose bits that were spread throughout his house, garage and sheds.
The car was rolled into a hastily hired lockup near home, and the boxes, loose bits and tools were all dumped in there too for the evening and the hire trailer and van returned in a hurry, just before closing time.
The next day I returned to the lockup to find the doors ajar and half hanging off. It had been broken into overnight and my toolboxes had gone. Fortunately, the car hadn't been vandalised, but clearly it my confidence in storing anything of value in the lockup was shattered.
After some discussions a kindly elderly neighbour offered her empty garage for my long-term use, and I gratefully accepted. The car was pushed (fortunately it rolled easily) the short distance to her house and stashed away.
At this point life sort of got in the way. Years passed and the Camaro was put on the back burner. Plans were made, a little work even carried out now and then when the guilt kicked in, but not very much.
After a nearly a decade the elderly neighbour moved house and the Camaro was moved to my parent's garage where it remained. During this time a few things changed. Firstly, values started rising significantly, making the expenditure needed more justifiable. Secondly, my disposable income also increased, putting me in a position to do the car justice and thirdly, unbeknown to me, the garage roof started to leak, not hugely, but enough to make the garage constantly damp.
I hadn't been checking on the car with any regularity, so when I finally did, I was horrified - rampant surface rust everywhere, even on surfaces that had previously been cleaned, treated and painted. Not good. I needed to rescue the car immediately, get my finger out and get working on it.
To that effect, I collected it a couple of weeks ago.
The plan is simple - my '66 El Camino is going to shipped off to get the rest of the body prep and respray carried out professionally. This frees up a slot in the dehumidified garage for the Camaro where I can stabilise its condition and treat the rust before moving on to the mechanical side of things.
To give an idea of what I am up against...
Despite appearances, the car has very "good bones" and is rock solid underneath. The rear screen area will need a patch panel, and the upper scuttle and dash area will be replaced (I already have the large 1-piece section for that) due to rust in the scuttle and the dash having been badly hacked around previously.
The aim is to build a comfortable daily driver that can also be used for touring, using relatively modern running gear and upgrading the steering and suspension with the aftermarket improvements in setup and geometry that have been developed over the last 54 years.
Interior and exterior will remain largely faithful to the car's original appearance.
Thanks for all the comments, will aim to update quite regularly.
I'll certainly need to purchase a different sump and oil pickup plus headers, modified fuel system, revised belt setup to raise the aircon compressor and alternator, hydraulic clutch pedal mod plus much, much more...
It's early days, let's hope it doesn't come to that!
Retro_Jim said:
Excellent work on firstly saving the Camaro, I think the plan is solid. Building something you can use is definitely the way to go, are you looking at an LS swap?
Yes, I have a complete running and driving Monaro CV8 that I am going to pull the running gear from. Plenty of LS swap kits available these days, however having looked at pictures of engine and gearbox mounts, I reckon they are within my fabrication abilities.I'll certainly need to purchase a different sump and oil pickup plus headers, modified fuel system, revised belt setup to raise the aircon compressor and alternator, hydraulic clutch pedal mod plus much, much more...
RC1807 said:
RRR's team have saved worse (from my view) in Dallas. How easy are these to get parts for - shipping usually needed from the US and A?
Yes a lot of stuff will come from the US - shipping costs will basically double the restoration cost, fortunately a lot of parts are quite reasonably priced and my time costs nothing so that sort of balances the costs out a bit!P5BNij said:
Fantastic, another one saved - this will definitely be one to watch and compare to Leigh W’s similar Camaro over in the yanks thread 
I wondered how I had missed that, but after going looking, his is the Pontiac Firebird variety F-Body so very similar but with some styling changes (love the front end treatment on a first gen Firebird, probably prefer it to the Camaro but nobody offered me a Firebird to save!!)RicksAlfas said:
I can recommend a fantastic media blaster near Halifax if that's any help to you.
He did my Alfa bodyshell last year.
Cheers, I do have a relation who is a media blaster as it happens, however I'm a bit reluctant to have the body blasted, seen it go wrong too many times but may well have the floors and boot and any bits too big for my blast cabinet done by him.He did my Alfa bodyshell last year.
Volvolover said:
Commenting purely to get updates but i must say I approve MASSIVELY of the towing vehicle here :-)
Thanks, it has its own little thread here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...steveo3002 said:
get your mrs to write to car sos and tell em you have some lurgy , get it done up in no time
It's early days, let's hope it doesn't come to that!
99t said:
I wondered how I had missed that, but after going looking, his is the Pontiac Firebird variety F-Body so very similar but with some styling changes (love the front end treatment on a first gen Firebird, probably prefer it to the Camaro but nobody offered me a Firebird to save!!)
Any excuse for a picture. 
I'm really interested in what suspension and brakes you're going for. I'm tempted to uprate my (terrible) suspension with Hotchkis stuff, but it's not cheap! Unassisted drums keep your mind focused as well.
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