It’s not very often that we get to see a great looking car form our Northern-bordering friends from Canada. Michel Filiatrault is one of those, and a seasoned car enthusiast from the Quebec Province. He tells us he bought this second-gen ’72 Z28 Camaro in 1983, and put a lot of work into it. “I bought my car in 1983 from a friend, and I am the fourth owner,” he quipped. He knew about the car long before he was actually able to call it his, as he told us he first learned about the car in 1976. Unfortunately, Michel was not able to gain possession of the car at that time.
When he was finally able to call it his, he spent that first summer driving it around and just enjoying his newly-acquired ride. “I drove it during the summer of ’83, and then I put it in storage until I started the complete restoration it in 2007,” he said. During that time, Michel did anything he could to get the parts needed, and map out a plan for the restoration of his Z28.
It took him 3 1/2 years to complete the rebuild, and what’s more, he and a friend did the task in Michel’s home garage, which is actually the basement of his house. “I changed the quarter-panels and the tail panel with parts from OPGI, and the new front fenders are from Classic industries. I also patched the driver’s side floor, stripped and painted the car, and powdercoated most of the black parts,” he informed us.
The gleaming white and black interior could easily be mistaken as factory fresh, but rather, features a lot of new parts from Classic Industries. What wasn’t replaced was re-dyed to freshen it up with SEM dye.
The engine is original to the car, and was rebuilt very close to original specs. “The engine was built 20 years ago, and everything is stock,” Mike told us. You’ll even find the factory installed crankshaft and “Pink” connecting rods. Michel did, however, include a new LT1 replacement camshaft and lifters from Comp Cams. The original heads, Holley 780 cfm carburetor, and the LT1 intake top it off. The exhaust is a dual 2 1/2-inch set up from Pypes, and Hooker headers, and Magnaflow mufflers finish it off.
Behind that LT1 is a 700R4 transmission rebuilt by a local shop, and it incorporates a 2,800-rpm stall converter. Finally, the 10-bolt rearend that was filled with 4.10 gears from the factory has been rebuilt and put back in service.
“This is a really rare 1972 Z28. In my province, there are only two, real Z28s left. In 1972, because of the strike, GM only built only 2,575 Z28s,” he said.
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