July Ride of the Month Gorn
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April 2011 ROTM
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 22,001
From: Tokeland, Washington
ROTM Winner's Club
July Ride of the Month Gorn
July was open to all year Camaro convertables. Lets hear it for our Winner Gorn. Well deserved win, Congratulations.
1967 RS/SS built October of 1966. (Not a clone) It is a 350 4-speed, from the factory is has the deluxe interior, power top, full gages. Power steering has been added. The only recent upgrades the car has is a Holley avenger carburetor and a petronic ignition kit. This gave the car much better street manners. At about 325 HP It is not a race car but it can be fun to drive. When I take people for rides they seem very surprised how it rides. I have been told it is like riding in a new car.
How I got the car:
I have always been a Camaro guy ever since my first 74 Z clone I bought when I was 15. On the day I was married I owned two Camaros(my 74 and a 84). In 1990 I sold off the Camaros to help with my first house purchase and to get more family friendly car. I started looking for a weekend cruiser in 1998. I really wanted a ragtop. Back then my wife was an internet guru, she could find anything. I had asked her to look for a 70-72 Buick Skylark or Olds Cutlass Rag top. She found some but on the third day I came home for work and she said “what about a Camaro convertible”. I half laughed because I was thinking of what I could get for the budget I had. She said come and see. The description was 67 Camaro Convertible Runs great, new inspection, Needs top $7500. Calll XXXXXXXX, I called the number . The owner told me he was in Johnstown PA and he would email me photos and his address. Still not too excited because I was still under the “too good to me true” impression and I have seen enough rusted out 1st gen to choke a river. The next day I got two fuzzy pictures and the address. When I check the address I found he lived on 100 yard from where I lived with my father in 1989. I told the wife I was willing to take her to see her parent this weekend. She laughed at me because she saw the email also.
I grabbed enough money to pay his asking price (just in case) and headed out the door. Car looked amazing as I walked up on it. Not a show car but a nice 20 footer. The only downside I could find with my inspection was when he said it needed a top he meant it. There was no top frame and no windows. The only thing above the top of the door was the windshield. On the plus side the underneath was very nice. I asked how that happens? He explained his wife worked at a bank, the car was a repo in a divorce case. They had to drag it out of the garage. When he got it there was no exhaust or carburetor. He got a friend to put those things on and fill it will oil. His friend believed it was a new engine that had never run and put it though the Cam break in cycle just in case (well done Sir). Of course he had no way to prove it and he was not sure IF it was a real RS/SS. I drove it and it drove really nice. Normally I haggle over a car for a while this negotiation lasted less than 30 seconds. I said look I know you said it needed a top but this is a lot more work then I was hoping for. Would you take 6k for it? He said how about $6,500, My hand was out before he finished the hundred.
It was a 4.5 hour drive home I stopped several times checking things. No issue with the car but I got the worst sunburn on the top of my head and my face. It was the first time in my life I was smiling with a nasty sunburn. To this day my wife reminds who found the car, to this day it brings a smile to my face.
I spent about $2500 getting the parts I needed to install the windows and the frame and have the top professionally installed. Most of the car is as I bought it. In fact it still has the same tires but it looks like they are done due to dry rot and will need to be replaced this season.
The below picture is my youngest (at that time) and oldest daughter. The oldest is now 25 and the youngest is 16.
This photo is this summer 15 years later
1967 RS/SS built October of 1966. (Not a clone) It is a 350 4-speed, from the factory is has the deluxe interior, power top, full gages. Power steering has been added. The only recent upgrades the car has is a Holley avenger carburetor and a petronic ignition kit. This gave the car much better street manners. At about 325 HP It is not a race car but it can be fun to drive. When I take people for rides they seem very surprised how it rides. I have been told it is like riding in a new car.
How I got the car:
I have always been a Camaro guy ever since my first 74 Z clone I bought when I was 15. On the day I was married I owned two Camaros(my 74 and a 84). In 1990 I sold off the Camaros to help with my first house purchase and to get more family friendly car. I started looking for a weekend cruiser in 1998. I really wanted a ragtop. Back then my wife was an internet guru, she could find anything. I had asked her to look for a 70-72 Buick Skylark or Olds Cutlass Rag top. She found some but on the third day I came home for work and she said “what about a Camaro convertible”. I half laughed because I was thinking of what I could get for the budget I had. She said come and see. The description was 67 Camaro Convertible Runs great, new inspection, Needs top $7500. Calll XXXXXXXX, I called the number . The owner told me he was in Johnstown PA and he would email me photos and his address. Still not too excited because I was still under the “too good to me true” impression and I have seen enough rusted out 1st gen to choke a river. The next day I got two fuzzy pictures and the address. When I check the address I found he lived on 100 yard from where I lived with my father in 1989. I told the wife I was willing to take her to see her parent this weekend. She laughed at me because she saw the email also.
I grabbed enough money to pay his asking price (just in case) and headed out the door. Car looked amazing as I walked up on it. Not a show car but a nice 20 footer. The only downside I could find with my inspection was when he said it needed a top he meant it. There was no top frame and no windows. The only thing above the top of the door was the windshield. On the plus side the underneath was very nice. I asked how that happens? He explained his wife worked at a bank, the car was a repo in a divorce case. They had to drag it out of the garage. When he got it there was no exhaust or carburetor. He got a friend to put those things on and fill it will oil. His friend believed it was a new engine that had never run and put it though the Cam break in cycle just in case (well done Sir). Of course he had no way to prove it and he was not sure IF it was a real RS/SS. I drove it and it drove really nice. Normally I haggle over a car for a while this negotiation lasted less than 30 seconds. I said look I know you said it needed a top but this is a lot more work then I was hoping for. Would you take 6k for it? He said how about $6,500, My hand was out before he finished the hundred.
It was a 4.5 hour drive home I stopped several times checking things. No issue with the car but I got the worst sunburn on the top of my head and my face. It was the first time in my life I was smiling with a nasty sunburn. To this day my wife reminds who found the car, to this day it brings a smile to my face.
I spent about $2500 getting the parts I needed to install the windows and the frame and have the top professionally installed. Most of the car is as I bought it. In fact it still has the same tires but it looks like they are done due to dry rot and will need to be replaced this season.
The below picture is my youngest (at that time) and oldest daughter. The oldest is now 25 and the youngest is 16.
This photo is this summer 15 years later
