Twenty-Three Year Project: 1967 RS/SS Camaro Convertible

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Growing up with parents from the musclecar generation, it’s not uncommon to have an old car tucked into the back corner of the garage. Sometimes it could be a rusty thing under a cover with deflated tires and a small hint of chrome poking out from under the dusty fabric cover. For a childhood friend of mine, it was his grandmother’s 1953 Chevy she had purchased brand new, for my cousin it was his dad’s 1968 Chevrolet Caprice with boxes stacked around it, but for me it was always my dad’s 1967 Camaro convertible.

The car as it looked on the day my dad brought it home.

I remember sitting in the front seat at a young age when dad wasn’t home and trying to start the car. I would turn the key and pretend that I was actually driving it. That car sat unchanging in the garage for most of my life. It wasn’t until several summers ago that I convinced my dad to pull it out and start working on it again.

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My dad, Robert, bought the Camaro in 1992 after finding a card with a phone number on it under the back seat of his Buick. He was checking under the seats before selling the car, and remembered writing the number on that piece of paper two years prior. He had seen the Camaro at a junkyard he frequented for parts, and offered to buy it. Unfortunately, the owner said “no,” and explained that he was never going to sell it. He did however offer to call my dad and give him first chance if he ever changed his mind. 

Just for fun, dad called the number and asked if the Camaro was still there, the owner told him that he had just sold it, but it hadn’t been paid for or picked up yet. He also told Robert that if he could come that night with $2,000, the car would be his. So that night, he went and bought the car.

I took pictures of it on the side with no damage and felt like I had a perfect convertible Camaro. It was pretty cool. -Robert

The car had significant damage to one side from an accident, and it had been sitting outside (uncovered), in the wet Pacific Northwest for a little over two years. It was by no means perfect, but to dad, it was something special. The car actually ran well, but it needed more than just a little bondo. 

My dad was a true wheeler-dealer, and would often go through two or more cars in a month: trading a Corvette for an Olds convertible, and that for something else and so on. That being the case, why did it take so long to do this project? “It took so long, simply because priorities change.” dad says, “I started a family, and it was put on the back burner while we did other things like camping and boating. We had children’s sports to work with and between that and working, it was just not the first thing on my to-do list.”

Realistically, the car was in good enough shape when he bought it to justify replacing the damaged panels, clean up the interior, and drive it until something else came along. It wouldn’t have been perfect, but it would have been decent. At one time dad even thought about doing just that, but now that he started the project, and it is so close to completion, he says that he is glad that he decided to do a coplete restoration. Now when the car is done it will be as close to perfect as he can make it.

Left and center, the parts car the floor came from. Right, the rusted through floor on the convertible.

A lot has already been put into the car. Not one, but two entire parts cars have been used, both of which were wrecked on the same side, so a door from a third car had to be acquired. The floor was cut out and replaced, all of the electrical has been redone, and both rear quarters have been cut out and replaced.

As with any restoration, the work goes beyond what you can see at a glance. This Camaro originally had a 327ci engine and a Powerglide transmission. When my dad got it, the original engine was already long gone. Now it has a small block 350 cubic-inch engine with a mild camshaft, and a Turbo 350 transmission behind it. 

The Camaro put together and driving under it's own power. This is before dad took the front sheetmetal and doors off for more body work.

After having so many other Camaros with performance parts, why build this one stock? According to dad, “I guess at this point in my life I want to have it the same way that it would have been when I was buying them. I wanted to relive getting the car the way that it came.”

At this point, there is only about 40 hours of work left to do before the car is painted and ready to be put back together. With all of the parts he has accumulated over the years, this is the part he is looking forward to the most: installing the factory NOS clock, unwrapping the NOS wheel well chrome, and putting on the brand new factory emblems.

See it running here.

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About the author

Kyler Lacey

A 2015 Graduate from Whitworth University, Kyler has always loved cars. He grew up with his dad's '67 Camaro in the garage and started turning wrenches at a young age. At seventeen, he bought his first classic, a '57 Chevy Bel Air four-door, and has since added a '66 Plymouth Valiant and '97 Cadillac Deville to his collection. When he isn't writing for Power Automedia, he's out shooting pictures at car shows, hiking in the forests of the beautiful Pacific Northwest, or working on something in the garage.
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