Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Now for something completely different



Chevrolet will be reintroducing the Camaro in the beginning of next year. This is a good thing for those that love muscle cars and Camaro's in general. I have owned two Camaro's, a 1983 and a 1984. The 1984 was a stock 2.8l v-6 with 5 speed manual. I bought it from one of my brother -in-laws, Joe, and I only had it for several months. I ended up giving it to our baby sitter. I bought the 1983 Camaro in 1991. I saw it in front of someone's house: worn out silver paint, and a 2.8l v-6 with a rod knock. I had a 1977 Monte Carlo with a 305, so I transplanted the engine and transmission into the Camaro. I then had the car painted white at Maaco. I took the rally wheels from the Monte Carlo, referbed them and put some 3rd generation BF Goodrich Comp T/A's on the wheels. They were 255/50/zr15s, and they helped the car handle like a slot car. The 305 developed a rod knock, probably from high mileage and a heavy foot. One of my nieces had a Caprice with a 400 small block in it. She was junking the car, so I took the engine and rebuilt it. .040 over, 9.9:1 compression pistons, a 214/224/442/465 cam, recurved distributor, Weiand dual plane intake, rebuilt Rochester QuadraJet, true roller timing chain, headers and true dual exhausts with flowmaster mufflers. I even fabricated a cold air induction. I never took it to a track, but quarter mile speeds were around 105, with top speeds around 130-135. It didn't have overdrive. Yes it was very quick, loud, and didn't get better than 12 mpg. It was fun as hell too. I miss that car at times. I drive a VW Jetta now, which gets 2.5x the gas mileage, but doesn't have the personality and soul the Camaro did. I don't think I will be buying the new Camaro, as they will probably cost well in excess of 30K and with 5 kids, I can hardly justify it, but I might just get a project car sometime. A man has to dream, otherwise he is already dead.

Thank you for reading this blog.

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