Saturday I went up to Camaro Heaven in NH to pick up a couple fenders for my 91 build and thought they would have what I wanted. I took the time to call days in advance and the day of the trip to make sure they would have my parts seeing as how I live almost 2 hours away and don't wanna make the trip more than once. Needless to say, I get there and no one knows what I am talking about. I figured the parts would be set asside, or at least looked for prior to my arival, but nope. The entire place is just a junkyard like anyother. There is a string camaro influence there, but anyways, I would not recomend them to anyone. I ended up getting an OK 91 Fender and a base model fender that is less than OK, that will need to have mounting holes cut in it. I would give the place a 3 out of 10. Look elsewhere for your camaro/firebird needs.

Maybe since it's a junkyard specializing in camaros, and you called and said "hey do you have any 3rd gen camaro fenders" they figured "yeah there has to be some out there.", which there was afterall right?

Besides, if you are looking for body parts that are perfect, I don't think that a junkyard is where you wanna start

If you check out their website and PDF files they do not come accross as a junkyard at all. That is my whole point. I called and was very specific. Don't try and interprit my orifional statment as something so ritorical. I asked for exactly what i wanted ans asked if it was going to be OFF the car, and all the little details about what I needed. It was told that everything would be ready and available. It wasn't. I will never do buisness with them again.

It all boils down to a company saysing "yes we do have ___" and a buyer going to them and they not having it. I highly recomend looking elsewhere.

When Chuck started the business he was over in Rochester and every part was inventoried in a huge warehouse. For some reason he is still under this impression when he speaks with his clients that he still operates this way. As you know he is far from that now.

They are good for some off the wall parts. If you want the same things that can be found in any other junkyard your better off going elsewhere. His prices are generally astronomically higher than everywhere else.

On your ride to Tilton, NH you passed a handful of junkyards that would have the parts you needed for a fraction of the cost. You might of even been able to buy new aftermarket for what he charges.

I went over there last fall to buy a front aero ground effect. He had a "decent" set of 91 - 92 Z28 rims. He wanted $500 for the unpainted, and $700 for the red painted ones that faded to pink.

He had a 91 - 92 Formula front bumper with the rebar. He wants $500 for that!!! I bet it is still sitting there unless he found a sucker along the way.

I agree with you though... go elsewhere whenever possible.

My GOD thank you. Just that one other response from GuitarJunki17 got on my nerves so much for some reason. If it was advertised as a junkyard, then I would have expected one! With that said. The place is good if you need a little thing here or there, that is only in OK shape. I had to drive pretty far and expected a nice documented place. I hope that my body guy doens't charge me a crap load for needing to fix up the panels I bought up there in NH.

Oh well, its too late now. Hope this thread saves some others the trouble.

In case you wanted to know what I paid... I got 2 fenders and 2 kicker panels. I had to litterally dig the kicker panels out of some dirt and one is red and the other is tan. I needed black. I will have to paint them. The fenders, one is good, the other is the wrong year and therefor has the wrong mounting holes for my GFX. I had to mod it. Not to mention the lower mounting bolt had to be ripped off the fender to get it off the car.

All this and he wanted $200. I said no way and managed to get him down to $175. I should have talked him down more, but it was late and my gf and me were tired. I am happy to say I got my *** out of the boonies and am never going there again.

Same thing hapened to me, looking for 2 front fenders. Called looking for primo fenders (for his primo prices). "Yeah, sure, we got plenty." Drove 90 minutes to find two fenders in worse shape then the two I was replacing. Bought 2 brand new GM ones after that.

Someone told me about this Camaro site a while back and I checked out their PDF catalog and it looked like this might be a good place to get parts from for my Firebird. I deleted the catalog and couldn't remember the site, and now I find this thread. I'll have to steer clear from this one. Thanks for the info.

glad I could help. The PDF sold me too. The place is 100% not like the PDF.

Wow. I remember when I used to go there. Shame it isn't as nice as it used to be.

If anyone knows of a better place than them, maybe that would make this thread even more useful.

We have the beware section down, now we just need some alternative recomendations.

if you want to come to canada, come to .:AVID T's AUTO CENTER::. although he is out to lunch on his prices!

Wow. I was just on their site and there prices are steep! Dont wory Hatch Struts are on sale now for $38 EACH and who knows how much for shipping. Go to pepboys and get a SET for 60 with a life time guarantee.

Kevin

Just curious, When you were so specific in asking for what you wanted did you happen to ask who you were talking to?

yes. I was told that I was talking to the owner... I can't remember what the lady who answered the phone said his name was. But she said, "hold on one sec, I will get ______ he takes the cars apart and knows exactly what we have." If it wasn't that verbatim, it was something extreamly close.

I also called 2 times before I went and the morning of.... All times talking to the same guys and all times with the same "Yeah we got all of those things, no problem. Swing by." He also said they had fenders off cars and on cars, and I said I need 2 OFF cars. and I got there and there had been nothing done.

This place is a joke. Just thinking back on that day pisses me off.

That really sucks... I hate when people lie to you just to get you to come to their place. I had something similar happen to me, at a place in Michigan, when I was looking for a door for my trans-am. I told the guy I was looking for a mint condition door, with the power windows and power locks. The guy said he had it. I tried to cover my bases by asking if it had rust on it, or dents or saggy hinges. He said, "trust me, this door is perfect". After my 2.5 hour drive out there, when they showed me the door it had a rust hole the size of my fist in the middle of the door. I said, what the hell is this piece of ****. He said, oh.. thats the door I told you about, and that it could be fixed.
Far worse that the door I was replacing. Made me want to put a hole the size of my fist in him. Just reported him to the BBB.
Again, sorry to hear you went through something similar.

wow, good idea on the roporting thing.... I would have never thought of that. I guess my experience is over, but if it ever happens again at a different place I will follow up like you did. ^^^

I guess next time you might want to call one of thirdgen.org's title sponsors, like Jim Hawkin's Hawks Camaro/Firebird Restoration.

I've done business with Camaro Heaven before too, mail order. I've had good luck and some bad luck, too. They always made right by it whenever I complained, though.
--drb

Reporting to the BBB is not that effective, but at least it gives you a feeling of doing something. Because honestly, how many of us have ever checked with the BBB before going somewhere to buy something. I would guess less than 5% of us. I feel that letting the people on here know your experience is far more effective in saving other people the trouble.

Actually the BBB and this site is a good tool. I would never do business with Camaro Heaven now, and anyone that reads this wouldnt. Would you let a friend buy from Camero heaven now? Proably not. So it does work. Now where is a good place that is reasonable and has good parts. I know of 3 such places in Richmond. By the way, I own a HVAC company, bad reporting with the BBB hurts business. Thankfully, I do not know this first hand!

I did contact Hawks and they said that they had a set of 91-92 fenders, but that they didn't know the condition that they were in until they took them off and they wouldn't take them off till I placed my order. That sketched me out and I didn't wanna deal with trying to get my $ back if the fenders sucked. Remember, at this time I still thought camaro heaven was gonna be an oaisis of nice camaro parts.

Kinda seems nuts that there is no place that has a good stockpile of fenders and such. There are allways so many of theses cars at yards. Camaro heavens so called stock pile was behind an old bus that all looked like a set to a texas chainsaw massacre (sp) movie. It smelled like dog s hit and was all grown over. I was left to sift through rusted 2nd gen panels as well. It SUCKED.

Times may have changed, but back in ?1995? I had a girl make a hard-right turn from the left lane, straight into my left fender. The cost of replacement for a new GM fender was something like $150. I kept my rust free but slightly dented fender for five years, then eventually threw it out. A used fender costs what, these days? It seems shipping costs would rapidly bring the cost of used fenders up to the point where it makes sense to simply buy a new one, unless you could pick one up locally.

People want about $200 for an OK set. Around there. Ballparking it.

A new GM fender is insane. Believe it or not, around $430 for ONE side.

You might want to check JC Whitney. They have "fender repair parts". Dont know what you need exactly. Plus free shipping for items over 75.00.

I bought a used T5 flywheel inspection cover from them off ebay, and it showed up with about a 1/2" of grease and dirt on it. After scraping all that off with a putty knife I found lots of surface rust on it too. After scraping it with the putty knife and a vigorous session on my bench grinder with the wire wheel, I finally got in decent enough condition to repaint and use it, but talk about rough shape! As far as recommendations for good places to buy from, I would highly recommend IrocZ Dave to anyone, and Thomas at House of Camaro is very decent to deal with also. They're both located in CA, which would mean having to pay shipping in your case, but they both sell top notch quality used parts, especially Dave.

I once visited Camaro Heaven's website and bought a GM IROC wonderbar from them over the phone and it arrived badly bent. Clearly they took one off a car that had been in a front end wreck and sold it to me. Jerks. Fair warning to all members on this site: avoid them like the plague.

I just bought a dual fan setup as well as a deck-lid motor for my 1988. Talking to them on the phone Chuck says "the deck-motor will work, I test them all when I remove them, I garantee it".

The deck motor was DEAD upon arrival - I emailed him and he hasn't responded yet.

The dual fan setup works so far...

I DO NOT RECOMMEND them for anything. Go Hawks.

Tyler

Thomas of House of Camaro is a straight shooter who has gone the extra mile for me in obtaining parts. Highly recomended.

ive phoned those guys a few times, they seem like real @sses, all stuck up like they know more about cars than carol chelby. places like that go straight to my blackbook and i never look back.

I've dealt with Chuck and Camaro heaven on and off for a while now. I have been to the Tilton location. It is in effect a big 'junkyard'. My experience has been positive (though not with out some troubles) and I would work with them again in the future. I plan on going to the location in the future to canvas for an upcoming project. I know what they are, and I know what to expect when I get there. I've talked to 'the woman' who answers the phone and emailed them as well. Yes, I've had to rattle a bit to get answers... but if their busy, then their busy! I'm not their only concern. The end game though is that Chuck supplied me with the correct parts and I'm happy with what I got. Yes... they're used parts. Yes, they're a bit rusty and dirty. Yes, they're from vehicles 23 years old! One thing to think about when comparing Camaro Heaven to Hawks or to Thomas' HOC is location. CH is in the North East and we have winter and salt and road dirt etc. I'm willing to give CH a bit of a break, as I will assume he doesn't necessarily have the luxury of California or Carolina weatherized vehicles available to him. I expect rust. I expect dirt. But, the parts I got recently, though dirty and somewhat rusty cleaned up very well and accepted paint and look almost like new. I do not order from CH with the expectation I'll get brand new sheet metal, expecially for the cheap prices I've paid. Shipping, I'll admit is a bit high, but imho, I have the required part and I'm willing to accept the cost.
Anyhow... I'm not banging the drum here to say CH is the bestest of places anywhere ever, and have never had troubles in their history. I'm saying, CH and their people have been fair with me and I would recommend them to others.

I dealt with Camaro Heaven when i was in a jam and needed a rear end quickly before going down to school, i called them and talked to the lady, but i eventually wound up just going up there and looking, like everyone else the pdf threw me off, i was expecting a warehouse, and i got a junkyard, however, the guys that worked there were very helpful and finding a rear end and i didnt pay tooo much money for one, my only issue with them is the lack of customer service over the phone, the rear end had a bent axle, and i asked him specifically if there was any warrenty, his exact reply was"we will warrenty it from any clunks and noises it could make from being broken when you buy it, and if we cant do that we willl work together on a solution". I called and talked to the lady when i realized this and she gave me chucks personal number, i left a message and didnt get a response, i didnt want anything free, i just wanted an axle with some sort of discount because it was sold with a bent axle, needless to say he never got back to me, BUT that would not stop me from dealing with them again, its a junkyard and i know what im gettin into, i wouldnt order any parts from the phone and have them shipped, ill just go myself, because when i was there i talked to chuck for quite sometime, and he does have some nice parts that i can get in jam, but they just need to work on customer service a little bit more.

Agreed on the customer service. I've had to chase them a couple times. In my line of work (network admin) fixing the computer is easy. Fixing the customer is the hard part.

I agree, he is good for stupid stuff, but I did get a VERY slightly used Flowmaster with tips for 40 bucks, other than that he is very expensive, and they do have real crappy customer service.

Got my '97 LT1 350 short block delivered from Chuck and he shipped it right to my business. Super fast shipping and no problems. Sorry to hear about all of your negative opinions though.

i hang with chuck and the boys nearly every weekend and at the swaps. definantly a awesome crew and they are definantly the place to go for any camaro firebird stuff. even really rare stuff, he has it!

Blackblazer... we need folks like Chuck and his business! As I said, he's been a good guy to deal with for me, but, if you are hanging with him PLEASE tell him about our customer service concerns. I called last week for a part and still haven't heard back from him. 5 days and still no word at all. In my case, I found a solution myslef. I'm not the kind of person to flame someone out of spite. Many people will just say 'f-it' and never go back. Others will read stories and not even try the business (as happened in some posts above). So... I agree with you. He has some great things going for him but his customer service when it comes to communication is terrible! PLEASE relate this to him. We want him to succeed. If he does then so do we. BUT he needs for sure to get the communication thing right. In the end, he's only harming his business if he doesn't. Here's a suggestion if it's a case of his being way too busy (and I'm sure he is). Have him tell his folks to TELL me that when I contact them. What I hear is "I'll talk to Chuck and he'll get back to you". That leaves me with an expectation that I'll be..... contacted! In every case so far I have had to go back to them to ask for more information. Every one. So, please... tell him. Have him look at this thread. We will buy from him, and Thomas' and Hawks. But it's important to really truly understand that his business IS the customer. Cars don't fix themselves. People do. Bad communication = frustrated customers (and threads like these) = bad reputation = less business = eventually out of business.
One last thing to mention. This thread was initially designed to wreak havock with Chuck's business and rep. See how many piled on the bandwagon and underscored the original posters message? One person then gets on to say (because I told Chuck I would) that the experience was good and he deserves the chance to shine, and people then get on and underscore that notion? It's easy to bring on the good stuff! So again, please tell him how we feel and ask him to read this thread. We need him. We want him to do well, but we will For sure get tired of having to chase him for information.

A few years ago I was looking for a set of gold Irocz emblems for the rockers and rear bumper.I called camaro heaven and the guy I talked to was a real jerk.I told him exactly what I was looking for and he says give me your name and number and someone will get back to you.Well no body ever got back with me.I would never even bother with them ever again.I ended up getting my parts from Thomas at house of camaro.Ive used him several times.He is a great guy to deal with and I would highly recommend him to anyone

people please stop using the bbb.what a joke.you do realize thier members pay them to be members for a reason.I didnt even think people complain to them anymore.also a bit of research goes a long way.Its the same complaints about the same companies(maybe diff. names)all the time.read then order.

I've started looking for a 93-95 Pontiac Roller. Do they have good looking cars without motors or when you say junkyard is it just a heap of rusted cars with a few good parts? Its an hour drive so its a bit hard for me to drive there and check it out then come back with a trailer. blackblazer717, would you mind PMing me where some of the swap meets you go in Mass/NH are? I think a meet might be the best place for me to look. All the good rolling chassis on the forums are in texas/florida/cali.

He usually pulls all the good motors before the cars go out back, there is alot of motors laying around but I would atleast give them a call.

Agreed on the fact that he usually takes the good motors out. Calling isnt a good idea, if your close by just show up and poke around. But for a roller i would expect his price would be pretty high. Depending on where you are located i would say look at other yards before looking there for a car. Most of his cars are in pretty good shape for parts, and a few have motors sitting in them still. I drove up from Windham NH and it took about an hour, hes got a few cars sitting outside for sale that run and a few of the rollers are there, but most of them are wrecked, and the 4th gens especially, most have been wrecked pretty bad and are good for parts only.

classic industries have fenders for reasonable prices and are in excellent condition....i have their book and have found some really nice stuff on there for pretty cheap and thir shipping is reasonable

Any of you ever deal with camaros plus in Manchester NH.He has a ton of camaro,firebird and f body stuff.Has a large junkyard full of camaros also buildings full of parts.I went over to buy a new exhaust system he had for my 85 Trans am.Seems like a decent guy.Heres his # if interested 603 627 6471.

When I needed a Z-Bar for my 82 4 speed Z, CH wanted $350 for it cause it's a (rare) part. Hawks sent me a brand new one still had the GM tag on it for $80, and they even threw in a hand full of the little nylon bushings for it

That guy is an ***. I would never call him. I called around to many different camaro stores in the NH area and everyone of them said that guy is no good to deal with. His prices are astronomical, not to mention he talked to me like i was a complete retard when i was inquiring about a rear end. I would go to camaro heaven, bad customer service and all without even thinking about that guy. He wanted close to 400$ for a 2.73 open drum brake rear end.

That's a very good point! Though you can found some good stuffs from the junk I think it's not worth the risk

Camaro Plus
97 Sheffield Rd Manchester, NH 03103
603-627-6471

I've been their and the place is great, Peter the owner is a real nice guy, watch your prices before you go just like anything the guy is in biz to make money. He will show you what you want or need and pay him and come back and pick it up when he has it off the car. I haven't had any problem, If you go tell hello from Rick from Brookline Good luck

Does Iroc Z dave have a website?

Like it has been stated above... Thomas at House of Camaro is a great guy to do business with.

Not exactly. http://members.cox.net/thirdgenusa/

JamesC

Do you know of any more New England parts places?