The Camaro Club (UK)

Hi!

Thought I'd share with you fine people my 1970 Camaro RS restoration.

I've been hanging out a lot on Nasty Z28 where I've got a build thread, but when I found out about this place I thought it only fair to share my story over here too!

I'll post a few teasers here then the link for those who want more!

The day I had it dropped off, winter '09.



Back home at the start of the teardown spring '10.





It's a 1970 so one of the first Second Gens, tags say originally Citrus Green with White Vinyl Top, Sandlewood interior. As far as I can tell from what I've found on the car it appears to be an original Rally Sport.

I'd love to try and piece together some of the history, and wondered if any veterans on here can shed some light? It appears to have been in the UK for quite some time!

Ok so my project thread over at NastyZ28 is - http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190635

It's up to date at the minute and as I progress from here I'll post on both sites for all to follow.

Glad to be onboard!

Welcome to the forum, looks like you've got some work on there.

Hope you don't mind me saying this, but why not post up the stuff you have on Nasty Z28 on here, so that the guys can comment on it or ask questions on what's going on?? Post up a few pictures every few days, which in turn will generate interest in your car & make people log into your thread to look at any updates you have made/posted. That way we can interact with you on the build.

To be honest, I got as far as looking at page 3 on your link & gave up, as I felt I couldn't interact with you on there. Personally, I'm not interested in reading comments, from other forums/forum members I don't know. Just a thought

cheers....Nige

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Too much power...not enough hands!!

Hi and welcome!
Agreed i know it's more effort doing stuff on 2 forums but would be nice to get some of the UK guys that post on US forums into the UK as there really aren't many UK peeps on here yet, so would be nice, even if you pull across highlight pics and events just to help keep us informed

I did read through all of your pages though till 2am this morn
Bloody impressed and did sh*t a brick when you removed the whole back as that's usually a no-no for alignment, but you seemed to have managed well without reference points. Must say i'm very impressed with what you've done so far and look forward to more updates

PMSL at the sunroof, i've just been through the same thing with my 2nd gen too, only wish i could have got to that trans am rood before you lol.

Cheers and look forward to seeing more progress!

Ray

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Hi Guys, thanks for your comments!

I agree with you, there must be plenty of great projects out there which need to be shared here on the UK forums.

This is a fantastic site and I signed up so I could share my build so that others could learn from it, I've learnt a lot during my build and want to share it so others may benefit.

There was another reason though, and that was to support our UK Camaro scene!

Your comments have been taken on board and I have great pleasure in announcing I will start a thread from the beginning! I can't promise it will be quick, I'll try and post a few pics and a bit of text every few days so any questions can be asked etc. The project is still very much ongoing so I'll post up to where I am now then I'll post in real time as I progress through the rest.

There's still plenty for me to learn and I've got a good few questions which still need answering!

Thanks

OK so I found the car up North, back when I was working up there. It was a non runner and hasn't run in all the time I've owned it, I've never driven it!

I had it transported back home and started stripping it down straight away for a full restoration. I knew the car was bad and was braced for plenty of rot, the vinyl roof was hiding plenty!

First thing I did was strip the vinyl roof, I had to see just how bad things were...



The rear window frame was rotten right round but worse still was the front A frame pillars, I must have halved the structural integrity by removing the vinyl!



Better still was the sunroof I found lurking under the vinyl, at some point a sunroof had been fitted to the car, then at some other point someone must've taken it out to repair it, I'm guessing it leaked!



An ally plate had been riveted onto the roof and smoothed over with filler, the vinyl had cleverly hidden the evidence. It wasn't until I removed the headlining that I realised the full extent of the repair work...



Someone had shaped a piece of wood and then beaten it into place to stiffen up the roof where the repair was made! The headliner nicely covered that too, I had no idea when I bought the car!

You can probably see hints of the original citrus green under the vinyl, when these repairs were done the owner must have had the car sprayed red at the same time.

It was somewhat worse than I had perhaps anticipated but then these things always are, there was plenty more to come...

hi welcome to the forum looks a great project just out of intrest were up north did you get it thanks shaun

Hi Shaun, picked it up privately just outside Teesside whilst I was living and working in the area.

I was looking into getting one imported from the US and was 48hrs from flying out on holiday to secure one when I agreed to purchase this one!

Thanks.

After 30+ years of cars in my life, it never ceases to amase me what people do. A leak on a sun roof, instead of just fixing it or replacing it someone went to the trouble of putting in a patch panel, shaping and fitting a wooden buck, renewing the head liner and fitting a vinyl roof odd.

So what's the plan then bud? are you going back to green or another colour, and sun roof? Whatever you decide good luck and don't forget to keep posting the updates.
Russ.

Hey Russ, thanks for the comments, I couldn't believe it either!

I found plenty of other prize winning repairs as I stripped the car, all hinting towards one rotten Camaro!

Once I'd stripped the roof I got the bonnet pulled and started removing all the bolted panels.



The front clip is fully bolted and came off in one piece, the inner wings were long gone.





More hints of the original green paint and as for rust check out the pile on the floor after a few prods with a screwdriver...



Ok so I thought I'd finish up this post with one last photo...



Yes that's cardboard, filler and chicken wire. Amazing how well a panel will fix up with a Blue Peter Special!

As for the build plans, I eventually decided to go with the original GM Citrus Green, I have some photos which I'll get round to posting later. The sunroof will be long gone at the end of the build and as for vinyl, I somehow doubt I'll be replacing it although VIN plate said it left the factory with a white one.

More to follow...

hi great project the reason for me asking were you got it is because my dad went to go and have a look at a camaro at bradford and the pic looked very much like your car this is going back about 4 or 5 years now good look with her and keep the pic comeing and the wing on my 70 looked like that when i took it off there was even a crushed coke can mixed with cardbord and fibre glass its shocking what some people do thanks shaun