Came upon this forum while searching for technical info and decided to join.

Here's a bit of background info (apologies for the long winded read)

The car is a '96 RS and it was my dad's car, so it of course is extremely special to me. It was purchased by my dad in early 2008 after he decided that since he no longer needed a gas saver small truck (he'd parted with the '91 S10 2wd Tahoe 5 spd/Iron Duke with 319k on the clock) that he'd go after a "cool car" again. We are originally from just outside of Detroit, so when Woodward was in it's prime in the muscle car era, dad was in the mix of it with one of his cars at any given time (he had an Impala which became a big block 4 speed car, a handful of early F-Body's, Nova, Skylark and a Monza). Of course as most of the time happens the cool stuff gave way for more economic vehicles (insert the 1980 Sunbird for mom and eventually a sprinkling of S-Series trucks for dad). In 2001 he was offered to take his work and work from home, so we loaded his office essentially into a borrowed work van and he setup residence in the basement at their house. Dad found the car at Kidd Chrysler in Lawrenceburg, IN. After a test drive and looking it over, it was his. He'd developed a laundry list of "fixes" and a list of improvements. Redo the tint, repaint the front and rear bumpers, etc. Eventually wheels and tires of some sort, brakes, and some odds and ends with the thought of one day stuffing LSx power under the hood, but keeping the auto, he'd had his fill of shifting after 20 something odd years of manuals, driving in traffic and such. He and I cleaned the car up to our standards, detailed it, i buffed it and started tracking down what to do about the window tint, although that never was completed yet as dad became the caretaker for mom, pretty much 24/7 around 2009. Between '09 and '12 mom was in the hospital, with the last visit being the worst go around where she came home with a trache still in her throat. She'd been listed as critical and neither dad nor I were fully sure if she'd leave the hospital, nor go to a rehab facility (to regain mobility) or even come back home. This was in early 2012. In July '12 she had left the hospital and gone to Cardinal Hill in Lexington, KY, and from there was released, with home care scheduled to come home and continue rehab and bettering herself with more mobility. Sad to say that 2 weeks after coming home, on July 29th, she had a heart attack at home and passed away. Dad's and mine worlds were turned upside down in an instant. Never thinking at the age of 29 I'd be dealing with the loss of my mom, i remembered that Dad lost his mom, at age 29 as well, we forged ahead in the most difficult time of his life and what was to be 1 of 2 of the most difficult times of mine.

And then, what no one saw coming, happened. On April 22nd 2013, I had tried calling dad at home (I'm married to my soulmate with a wonderful 4 1/2 year old daughter) on the way to the office that morning. Not getting an answer wasn't unusual by an means. If he had an appointment for his blood thinner to be checked (had to keep it between a certain number.) he'd probably be working 2-11 (he was a supervisor for a service company that works on satellites) that day with the appt. being in the morning and probably an errand or two before going home to eat some lunch and get logged in for work. So more than likely he was still asleep if that was the case (it was about 6:45 am). I went through the day at work (I work in IT Security as an architect/engineer/analyst/JackOfAllTrades) and had a meeting from about 1:00 to 3:30.). I packed up and left for the day after meeting. While running to the post office i tried calling a few times, and wasnt getting a response, left the PO and started calling his work cell, and began to pretty much panic. I went backroads to their house, arriving at the house, it was as normal. Unfortunatly I discovered dad, he'd had a heart attack and passed away around what was determined 11:30 the night before to 2 or 3 that morning. My world again, rocked and turned farther upside down. Neighbors were in disbelief, he was healthy as could be, had mowed the yard saturday and such. I knew how much he missed mom (and in typical fashion of the men in our family, he didnt let on more than he wanted to, to me because he knew how much i was missing her).

If someone had told me that at the age of 30, both my parents would be gone from this earth, I'd have scoffed at the notion. What i was left with is of course all their property, belongings vehicles, Dad's 96, Mom's 78k mint '93 Lumina Euro (seriously could put it in a showroom in '93 and it'd be the same just about). I drove the Camaro for Dad's funeral service and procession with my wife by my side. Somehow that was tougher because I didn't have to be stronger for someone (IE when mom passed, being that rock for Dad that he always said I was for both of them).

Fast forward to now, and we've uncovered so many family memories and such, many of which i've never even seen myself. The outpouring from friends, family and such has been amazing to say the least. I made the decision that the Camaro was to stay. So if your still reading, here's the gist of the car details, and thank you for taking the time to read it all


'96 RS w/90k

Already replaced the faulty water pump, added slotted and drilled rotors with powerstop pads. Have the clear marker bumper lights on it with red LED's in the back (we are tech nerds so lighting technology is fun for us lol).
Yesterday I received the wheels and tires for the car and had them mounted and balanced and put them on as soon as I was off work.

18x9 and 18x10 Boyd Coddington Shysters w/ 275/35/18's. Next up is to tackle the suspension all around and get it closer to the earth with upgrades and such.







As I said I'm a gear head as well and have a wide variety of interests. My show truck is a 2001 Sonoma that will be going under the knife for a stock floor body drop and a built 5.3 swap. As well as the daily hauler / tow rig the 2003 Sierra.

Sonoma in it's current state (hence my user name lownoma)


Sierra:

 

Welcome to Camaro Forums, lownoma. Sorry to hear about your parents passing. I lost my dad 4 years ago, so I know losing one is bad enough.
Can't imagine what it's like to lose both in such a short amount of time though.
Nice rides btw.

 

Yeah, i have no words to even remotely describe it :\

I do have an amazing wife and daughter as well as a ton of friends that have been immense in helping me in so many ways. (IE readying a house for sale, painting, yard work etc, just general help as it is).

Thank ya for the good words, i appreciate it. The sonoma was intended to be a full built truck and thankfully has forged ahead since getting it stock in 2003 and building from there. The Sierra was never intended though to have cool wheels, nor billet grill, nor suspension lift nor body lift lol. I have a sickness that I can't leave anything alone! lol