67 Butternut Build

[sjaroslo]

Fast forward to 2010, and the hunt is on for a nice 67 to rebuild. I knew that I wanted to go Pro Touring, so I didn't really want to start with anything TOO nice or too original or too important, but I knew that it needed to be an RS, that an RS/SS350 would be a bonus, and that a convertible was definitely in the running, although not likely to happen. Thank you Craigslist, and a nice little 67 RS/SS350 with a NOM, partial interior redo and the need for a complete paintjob was located. I definitely paid too much, but in the end it turned out to be a nice California car, garaged since 1980, with absolutely no rust repair needed anywhere. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think that there was an unharmed panel anywhere on the beast, but she was definitely not rusty! Since I knew that I was going to radically re-make the car, I wasn't too worried about the current drivetrain, so I knew that it ran but I didn't even test drive it before the purchase, but I hadn't thought about getting it from it's current home in Belmont to my house in Santa Clara. For a variety of reasons, my wife drove me over to pick it up on one of the hottest days of the year, in the late afternoon (i.e. during rush hour), and I hadn't realized how high up the rev range was on the 327 that was in there--in addition to it not being able to stay in 1st or 3rd gear! (later figured out that the shifter was hitting the console and therefore couldn't fully engage). That was a STRESSFUL drive home, with one eye on the temp gauge, trying to figure out how to not fry the clutch while riding in stop-and-go traffic, and having lost sight of my chase vehicle! But there was no actual drama, only imagined, and I was finally the owner of my SECOND 67 Camaro.

This is how she looked in the seller's garage:

The next chapter introduces our story's hero, Frank at Prodigy Customs. More to come!