Hello everyone!

I found a 1980 Camaro I'm interested in. I was browsing the pictures, then I found a picture in which it looked like part of the frame rail was cleanly chopped off.

Obviously that would be completely idiotic, why would anyone chip a frame rail?

So I emailed the guy, and he told me that 2nd gens (at least) use a "2 piece frame", which came like that from the factory, unlike the Olds, etc., of that era, which had "full frames".

Can you guys confirm? I never knew there was such a thing as a "2 piece frame". Why would such a thing be designed? Is that even safe, especially for a 355 engine (what he says is in the car)?

Any insight would be appreciated, and please try to not laugh too hard at me

 

1st and 2nd gens have a unibody, not a full frame (so do 3rd and 4th gens but they're different). This means from the firewall back, the frame structure is part of the body. The front frame forward of the firewall (subframe) is a separate piece that bolts to the body. Sounds like maybe you were looking at some progress pictures of the body where the front subframe was removed? This is how GM made it.