Blackout
 

It seems most of you guys have threads on your build ups, so I guess I better join in on the fun.:p
It's a long story going back to 1992 when I bought the car.. I guess that's where I'll start, and bring it up to speed over the next few weeks..

1992. This is the basket case I bought. The only 1969 Camaro I had been able to find and was in the Trading Post as an unfinished project. (7s & 8s were evrywhere it seemed, but I much prefer 9s even if the dash is a b!tch to convert.)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/258...mbly0488qm.jpg

The steering conversion was just plain wrong, the dash was a total mess, the firewall was a hack-job, the 454 dropped a valve after about 1000 miles, the th350 was scrapped within, and there was more filler in it that you could imagine.. I had no idea what I was about to get myself into. I paid a tad over $10K for it back then.:rolleyes:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/773...mbly0512sl.jpg

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/540...mbly0500dn.jpg

The huge amount of things wrong with this car is why I'm more the purist and not a fan of modifications. Rarely I see good ones.
So, my goal with the steering conversion on this car was naturally to make it look as though GM made this Camaro a factory RHD. But that's a long while later..

I was recently able to get in touch with the previous owner in California from details on the pink-slip. She told me she had "adopted" the Camaro after it had been stolen, and was found in a paddock with no transmission. She sent me a pic, circa 1983 after she got it running and was driving it for a couple of years. She had named it "Maybe". :D

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/335...fmaybe1983.jpg

Not the original green either. The original was Frost Green which is a lighter metallic green.
This is an example of the original Frost Green.
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/7...stgreen.th.jpg Yep, I prefer Tuxedo Black. ;)

Awsome Steve. I like to here the story behind the build, good luck.

Greg

G'day Steve
I never knew you actually bought that car that way, she certainly has got some history behind her & plenty more to come.
Mick.

Be nice to be able to pick one of these up for $10g's nowa days!!

Looking forward to reading the whole story Steve.

Mitch

Steve awesome story I love the history of these cars. We need a look at some latest and greatest pics of your car we haven't seen too many yet

WOW... that's cool that you tracked the owner down. :) we had to try and track down the previous owners of my one cos I needed to obtain a title for it and perform a lien sale :( ... Both previous owners were deceased.

Isnt There A Site In The Us That You Can Put Your Vin Into And You Can Trace The History Of The Car??????

Great Story By The Way Steve!!!

Tracking down Corina, who was the last US owner, was quite easy for me.. Like I said, I have all her name and address on the pink-slip.
However, because she doesn't live there anymore, I was lucky that her name and suburb came up in a Yahoo! internet search.
She has her own website dedicated to native Americans Indians (because she is partly Cherokee I think).
Anyway, she is great to talk to and was really flipped out to learn her old Camaro was being looked after here in Australia and under-going restoration.

"Maybe" was bought from Corina on the 4th of June 1989 for just US$1350 by Kosta Skliros of Wantirna here in Melbourne.. (Does that name ring a bell?)
Also, if any of you know Con Manzaris, (think Street Rod registration) he imported the car from California.

Thanks!

Only for Canadian-sold cars to the best of my knowledge..

Great story Steve,
was wondering when you where gonna put some pics up.. oh yeah cheers for the tip of just snipe on e-bay, worked a treat n got my mate a set of gonzo's for his torana:D

Plain Janes are kinda cool. If this was a genuine SS 396/L78 or something collectable and worth good money, I would have returned the car to LHD. In fact, it would have been much easier.
So, being a no-options car, I haven't felt worried about the modifications required to do the steering conversion.
On the other-hand, the idea of cutting for wheel tubs simply makes me cringe.

The trim tag shows that it was a V8 (327) (and floorpan shows it was a floorshift auto -with console) from the Van Nuys plant in Los Angeles.
Medium green standard interior, Frost Green paint (no vinyl roof) and built during the 3rd week of November 1968.
The "L492" is just a Fisher sequencing code or something and doesn't relate to any options on the car.(You may also note there are no "X codes" either. X-codes are only on Norwood, Ohio built Camaros built from Dec68.)

No other options can be confirmed except the car came with the larger 1-1/8" diamater drag link, which makes me feel it had power steering. Both big & small block cars are found with this diameter link.
Drum brakes for sure and I expect that they were manual.
It's also a pity the firewall was so cut up by the time I showed up, because they offer quite a few clues. See UPC0-A9 of your factory assembly manuals! ;)

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5...utstrimtag.jpg

Some bone-head (me:rolleyes:) ruined the trim tag in a careless attempt to drill out the rivets that held it in place. I decided that I didn't want to use this tag on my resto, and that I would do the unthinkable according to the purists of the hobby...

Have a new tag made.:eek:

...now with Tuxedo Black paint code and standard black interior.:cool:
http://img537.imageshack.us/img537/5394/BF0B20.jpg

What the hell. It's just a plain Jane and I'm obviously not hiding the fact that I did it by showing everyone on an internet forum. I'm just having some fun.:)

Neat huh? ..BUT IT'S A FAKE!! :p
http://img538.imageshack.us/img538/4863/DyPAdq.jpg

wheel tubs make me think 315 rubber, YES PLEASE!!

I don't see a problem with that, it's not like you're making it out to be something it isn't as you have the original damaged tags. Tell them to take a long walk off a short plank. :)

Love the new tag isn't that what restomod means....

There is a time and place for the purist view but it ain't here

I did change the paint and trim codes on the new tag..
I fully understand why the "purists" get pissed off about it, and I'm really on their side..
Because there are people selling fraudulant rare-optioned Camaros and getting away with it.. But in my case, I'm not frauding anything when I'm completely open and am telling everyone exactly what I've done.

Anyway. GM did such a sh!thouse job at documenting their cars back then. It's no wonder the frauds are everywhere. That pisses me off too.