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Here is a little more background on my 1988 Sport Coupe that was "saved from the grave"
This 1988 Camaro Sport Couple was my first car I bought brand new when I finished my sophomore year of college at the age of 20 in the spring of 1988. I had been saving up all my summer jobs, etc money for years at this point with the purposeful intent to by a third gen. I originally wanted to buy a 5.0 liter with a 5 speed but my father wisely insisted I first call about insurance and in the end there was no way I could afford the insurance at that point on a new V8. However, this was a wonderful experience and even with only a 2.8 V6 I had an amazing time over the next two years with this Camaro even driving it to Baltimore during my engineering co-op assignment for a semester at Lockheed-Martin.
Long story short when I graduated from college in spring of 1990 with good paying engineering job in hand, I was determined to get my V8 5 speed Z28... I ordered from the factory a brand new 1991 Dark Red Metallic Convertible Z28 5.0 5 Speed which arrived in August of 1990. As part of the deal I traded in my 1988 Sport Coupe and that was the last I saw of it for the next 22 years.
Over the next 22 years as with most people, life is full of changes and as I got married and had children I drove my 1991 Z28 very little for several years. However I always wondered what happened to my first third gen and day dreamed sometimes about getting it back. The interesting thing is I had the VIN number memorized in my mind and it became a running joke with my wife and friends that some day I would just walk up to a Camaro and insist that it was mine. As my children began to grow up we started enjoying my Z28 and by 2008 I was determined to get a second third gen to drive daily in the summer (my Z28 vert only had about 5000 miles on it). At this point I was actively looking for my original 1988 for the last several years doing Carfax searches etc but nothing ever came up with any recent clues... we would drive around the small towns in the area listed on the Carfax during the summer hoping to spot it, what a crazy guy my wife and children thought! However I did start acquiring third gens and doing swaps, etc... once that bug ware re-ignited look out!
Long story short is I kept searching and finally on labor day weekend 2012, Carfax showed that my 1988 had a salvage title just issued against it at a new nearby town. Knowing that there was a salvage yard near that town I drove over the day after labor day. The guy at the desk who was real nice didn't seem too encouraging when I asked if they had recently gotten in any red third gen camaros. He said they hadn't got a third gen in the yard for the past 5 years or so and in fact didn't have any red ones, the only thing close was one that was maroon that had been there since 2006. My expression immediately went to well my Camaro was actually maroon and could I just go double check even though this one had been sitting in the yard for a long time. When we went out to the yard as soon as I saw it from 100 yards away I knew it had to be mine, and sure enough when I looked at the VIN on the door (the vin under the windshield was already rusted away) it was clearly mine, I knew my full 17 digit VIN by memory! I had found the treasure at the end of the rainbow!
It was in rough condition, but I was ever the optimist telling my friend I don't think it really is that bad! The rebuild with my son would take a couple years including needing to fully cut the car in half, but it was quite a fun and rewarding project!
Hi,
My car is one that I bought new in August 1988. After I got hooked into running the SCCA TrackNight in America program with my youngest son back in 2015. ( If fact as I type this I'm out at the SCCA National Convention I left my thumb drive with the photos at home so I'm linking the ones in my profile page). I have been slowing adding items like LS1 brakes. Then the next year saw the motor come out for heads and cam plus some suspension upgrades. In 2017 I bought some really sticky tires & wheels to run on the track. However in the last session of the day I got a bit over exuberant and spun out in turn 6 at GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, MI. Needless to say the car did not turn or stop worth a d*m in the grass. I hit an embankment with the left front corner at about 20-25 mph. It bent the right frame horn in front of the radiator support and the left side got bent up and buckled all the way back to behind the steering gear box. Bottom line is I have learned what not to do when trying to pass someone between turns 6 & 7...
I took the fenders, Motor & Trans and front bumper off it take it to a local body shop that has a good reputation around my area. When they gave me an estimate of $2,500 to fix it. That was more than I was willing to pay. ( I have insurance on the car but since it was on a race track and the policy I had for the car excluded coverage if the car was on a track the repairs were going to have to be paid out of pocket). Since I have owned the car from new I just did not have the heart to scrap it and get a roller to switch the running gear to. I decided to make a frame rack out of my garage floor by putting anchors in the concrete for some really heavy duty eye bolts.
Since the car was apart I decided to upgrade to a T-56, Add some better cooling, paint and clear coat the engine bay. I also replaced the old 3:42 gears with 4:10's as the T-56 has a 50% overdrive. After straightening out the frame hons and the left side rail. I welded in a 1" square tube brace in front of the radiator support to help the wonderbar. I also welded a 3/32" steel plate to the outside of the left frame rail from the frame horn back past the steering box area to the spring pocket area to ensure that it does not have a weak sport.
This has been a expensive learning experience. But aside from putting on the Edelbrock TPI base and the Arizona Speed & Marine runners I have gotten for the car to put on this spring I'm now ready for the next TrackNight event to come up in 2020.
Can't wait the car is a blast to drive I only got a few miles on it after the repairs before the snow hit last fall.
Thank You for considering my car!
Dave https://www.thirdgen.org/g/album/16433642
I will say that I built his car with my bare hands and had no outside help with any of the fabrication,electrical, paint or mechanical. And I did all this from my TENT (yup no garage) in these cold snowy NJ winters. That means on my back with a car on stands lol... no lifts or insulated walls... hell even a level surface lol!
Now on to the good stuff.
Car was an original 1987 formula 350 TPI that I purchased for $500 and it didn't run and had a shattered pass window and that was like 20 years ago. Got the car running and did the basic bolt ons and had fun for a few years but wanted more power of course. Saved up and acquired parts for a few years and built my own 383 HSR with aluminum heads etc and I also built my 700r4 to handle the power. I started tuning myself and didn't have the car on the road for more than 3 months before it was stolen and gutted. Nothing was more painful than waiting for them to find the car... if it ever turned up. Almost a week later I get a call saying they found my car and I was to pick it up for the tow yard. They said in the report that nothing was taken besides the radio etc. I showed up and the yard guy said they really did a number on the car... I said the cops said nothing was really taken. One look at the car it was fitting 8” high in the front wheel well and the hood was unlatched. I lost over 10 grand as they hacked the car and stole everything from the engine bay (cooling system everything!), headlights computer, trans, driveshaft, whole sound system and just hacked up the harness As they tore through the car. Rear bumper had holes punched in it and front bumper was stress cracked, steering column broke when they tried to start it but I had a kill switch so they said they put the rear of the car in a 2 wheel tow dolly quickly and just took it. It was a rough 2 weeks just staring at it and since I got no money from insurance it was going to be even harder to get back into it. But I decided that I wasn't going to let someone else ruin this for me and that this car meant more to me than the money and time, blood, sweat & tears I had already put into it. So began the search for a new powertrain and setup. I decided to make the motor so big and difficult to put in that the next person who tries to steal it won't be able to lol. And they would dace to cut the car in half to get it out. So I decided to be the first person EVER to put a 521 Big Block Ford into a 3rd gen. It fit and was like a puzzle to get it in and out lol. That thing turned a lot of heads and no one hated it, first was shock and then confusion... most thought it was a pontiac or olds block. I had a fun couple of years with that setup but decided it was time to get something more street worthy and comfortable to drive and at the time (last year) I had my first born son on the way. I ended up getting a 5.3LS from a wrecked 99 Silverado and slapped a torqstorm supercharger on it and at 12psi it was making 550hp and great streetability. But boost is addicting so since I was maxing out that blower I decided to go turbo! The car now easily makes 650hp at 14psi and has the same if not better streetability than the centri supercharger. The car is a true sleeper with a 3” Borla exhaust and makes lots of power, of course all bets are off with the electric cutout open and power is even more abundant. I hope you guys like the car as it’s my pride and joy. I could never get rid of it given all we’ve been through and the car is the same year as my wife’s birth year.
Hey, daferris, I'm not sure if you knew how to place photos directly in your post, so I took the liberty to add some of the photos to your post from the album you linked. I hope that's okay?
Hey, daferris, I'm not sure if you knew how to place photos directly in your post, so I took the liberty to add some of the photos to your post from the album you linked. I hope that's okay?
Thanks all for the nomination. I wasn't expecting that at all.
My wife has been wanting a GTA 5.7 of her own. She has several of mine that she can drive, but wanted this one to be hers.
We found it in a pretty rough shape; a 1988 5.7 GTA, Black Cloth Interior, 95k miles, Arizona car, and NO RUST! We looked it over and she said to me we ought to get it and...In HER words...."Put a couple of grand in it and drive it!" Boy that snowballed.
The car never left the place that we bought it from. My paint and body eventually caved and said he would take on the task of disassembling it and doing it up right.
We bought the new Fiberglass Aero Wing from Hawks and it was worked over prepping for paint. All in all, it formed and fit really well
While I was collecting, buying, and finding all the pieces, Bill worked the car over....and over....and over. I helped when and where I could, mostly assembling the car once painted with BASF Glasurit 2 Stage Flame Red Metallic paint. A new complete set of weatherstripping kit, new door glass for both doors including motors were also installed.
It was then hauled to our home for another couple of months for completion.
The interior was removed and sent to my upholster for a complete make over.
I installed the new 17" GTA Cross Lace Rims from Hawks along with Firestone Indy 500 275/40/17 Tires
Sound deadening was installed throughout the interior except the roof.
New carpet, headliner, visors, door panels, console lid, and other switches and things the needed replaced due to wear.
Alpine 148BT CD Reciever, Amps,10"Subs, and speakers for tunes!
Engine detail and minor repairs were made.
UMI suspension, shocks/struts and Wonder Bar were installed.
Washer Tank and Radiator Overflow Tanks are new from Classic Industries.
Clips and Fasteners,com LOVE me and I replaced all of them.
And way to many other things to mention!!!
16 months later and it is finally complete. Still have some odds and ends I would like to do when I have the time
A very special Thank You goes out to firebirddude142, AKA Brett, for supplying me with everything I ever asked for. I actually help fund his wedding last year!!!! You ever need parts, Brett is your go to guy.
With out further ado...Meet Reba!
Last edited by Bob88GTA; Jan 22, 2020 at 06:28 AM.
Oh, my gosh, you really did!
That's a crazy good saved from the grave story!!!
yes if it wasn't my first car I wouldn't have done it as it was really rough, all the rust repair, but it was worth it. just building the 3 piece frame jig to allow the car to be cut in half and then accurately realigned was a good project in and of itself
here is a couple more of all the metal work involved beyond the back half in getting the rust cancer out and the body restored... we had to redo pretty much the inner and outer rockers, the back half of the front subframe, front floor and part of the firewall. we had used over a spool of 15 lbs of MIG wire with all the welding... and of course all the metal pieces had to be reclaimed from other salvage cars that had good bodies that were being cut up. we did a lot of spot weld removals on this project!
Alan, that build is incredible! That car looked rough underneath! The new color is amazing!
Bob88GTA that car is gorgeous!
customblackbird crazy story and that car sound totally bad a$$!
Thanks 88IROCvertZ. Yeah, all of them are pretty awesome. As for Alans, I think I'll just go home now!! What a project...turned out fantastic! Kudos to you sir.
Thanks 88IROCvertZ. Yeah, all of them are pretty awesome. As for Alans, I think I'll just go home now!! What a project...turned out fantastic! Kudos to you sir.
these are all great projects... i think they all look great and have different characteristics to the build... and i also love your Flame Red GTA, i really love that color
Okay, I did something stupid. I voted for the car that I didn't intend to vote for. I was going to vote for Alan's Camaro. I accidentally voted for Bob's GTA. Bob, your car looks perfect. All four cars here are pretty amazing and are great reclamations. But the work that Alan did on his Camaro is just incredible. I think a lot of people would have left that car for dead. That has to be one of the best reclamation projects and stories ever.
So, could you possibly record my vote for Alan instead of Bob. And again Bob, I do apologize.
Okay, I did something stupid. I voted for the car that I didn't intend to vote for. I was going to vote for Alan's Camaro. I accidentally voted for Bob's GTA. Bob, your car looks perfect. All four cars here are pretty amazing and are great reclamations. But the work that Alan did on his Camaro is just incredible. I think a lot of people would have left that car for dead. That has to be one of the best reclamation projects and stories ever.
So, could you possibly record my vote for Alan instead of Bob. And again Bob, I do apologize.
ksr, No hard feelings from me. Alan's car is amazing. He done a ton of work. I'm sure QwkTrip can fix the vote. No worries there.
That pic should forever debunk the Joe Dirt stereotype these cars have. He’s an engineer building a Camaro in penny loafers! This has to be the epitome of saving a car from the grave.
That is a sweet car. Love the night time picture he posted too.
Of the four cars this month, this is my favorite (looking like mine kind of helps). But they're all awesome. I voted for Alan (or at least want my voted changed to him after my screwup) because of the superhuman reclamation effort..
Bob's GTA gives me a boner... such a gorgeous car! Those 17s makes these cars look SOOOOOO much better! I had an '88 Flame Red GTA with Beechwood tan leather interior. I miss that car and would love to get an identical one to park next to my '91 GTA. Bob's car definitely gets my vote.
i appreciate all the comments and the reality was having my son be part of it was really the best part and kept me really going. when he realized that yes we can really cut this in half and rebuild it to better than new it really opened his eyes to you can do a lot of things if you put your best effort in it.
also all these cars in this thread are great, as are all the COTM threads... Bob's Flame Red is actually my favorite color (and love those 17's), but my son loves orange so i said lets find a nice shade and we would do that
i appreciate all the comments and the reality was having my son be part of it was really the best part and kept me really going. when he realized that yes we can really cut this in half and rebuild it to better than new it really opened his eyes to you can do a lot of things if you put your best effort in it.
also all these cars in this thread are great, as are all the COTM threads... Bob's Flame Red is actually my favorite color (and love those 17's), but my son loves orange so i said lets find a nice shade and we would do that
All else being equal, Bob's car is actually my favorite of the bunch. I'm partial to Firebirds, and his GTA is an improved version of my own.
But, I want you to win because I thought that the theme of this month's vote was "graveyard reclamation." And I don't think there's a better example of that than what you and your son accomplished. And you made a great color choice.
Well, to be 100% truthful to all.....I would like to pull out of this after reading Alan's thread from back in 2012. Totally unreal save. Alan literally "pulled his own car" from the grave!! I was telling my Wife the story about it and she was in awe. Alan and your Son....I commend you and your great effort. We'll see how it goes. Truly amazing!!
So, could you possibly record my vote for Alan instead of Bob. And again Bob, I do apologize.
Originally Posted by Bob88GTA
ksr, No hard feelings from me. Alan's car is amazing. He done a ton of work. I'm sure QwkTrip can fix the vote. No worries there.
Fixed. I took 1 vote away from Bob88GTA, and added 1 to alan91z28.
Just to be clear, I have no way to verify who voted for who because it's a closed poll. We're on the honor system with a change like this. We all know ksr is a standup guy, and the effected party, Bob88GTA, is onboard too. This fix was for an accidental voting mistake and not a change of mind.
I see somebody else also voted probably within a minute of the change so that's why alan's numbers bumped by +2. Just covering my *** with the eagle eyes.
I am loving the category this month. Turning out to be an awesome event!!! We are definitely doing this again!
The next category-based "self nomination" thread will be in 2 months for very low miles cars. There are special categories planned every 2 months but probably no more self-nomination threads for the rest of the year.
I am loving the category this month. Turning out to be an awesome event!!! We are definitely doing this again!
The next category-based "self nomination" thread will be in 2 months for very low miles cars. There are special categories planned every 2 months but probably no more self-nomination threads for the rest of the year.
Well, to be 100% truthful to all.....I would like to pull out of this after reading Alan's thread from back in 2012. Totally unreal save. Alan literally "pulled his own car" from the grave!! I was telling my Wife the story about it and she was in awe. Alan and your Son....I commend you and your great effort. We'll see how it goes. Truly amazing!!
i really appreciate your thought, but i wouldn't want you to do that. this is all for fun and i am just glad we have such a wonderful place to show off our 3rd gens and the ability to support each other on our projects. I have benefited so much from the knowledge on this forum and i look forward to the "Renaissance" we are starting to experience with 3rd gens... of course we always knew they were the best!
besides mine may not really be saved from the grave, but instead dug back up and robbed from the grave!
i appreciate all the comments and the reality was having my son be part of it was really the best part and kept me really going. when he realized that yes we can really cut this in half and rebuild it to better than new it really opened his eyes to you can do a lot of things if you put your best effort in it.
also all these cars in this thread are great, as are all the COTM threads... Bob's Flame Red is actually my favorite color (and love those 17's), but my son loves orange so i said lets find a nice shade and we would do that
Love it! Qwk Trip maybe a father of the year category? 😬
I am loving the category this month. Turning out to be an awesome event!!! We are definitely doing this again!
The next category-based "self nomination" thread will be in 2 months for very low miles cars. There are special categories planned every 2 months but probably no more self-nomination threads for the rest of the year.
Its very cool, and I think for the themed categories self nomination works because there might be awesome cars out there to fit a category and YOU know who YOU are, but we don’t know who you are. I do think it brings more people out of the woodwork from time to time to participate.
These are all nice cars but I’d have to go with alan91z28. The work put into that thing is crazy. I tried to vote but it says it’s expired for some reason.
I tried to vote but it says it’s expired for some reason.
Yes, I saw it too from my phone earlier today. And now it's open again. I didn't touch it and can't explain that. Looking into it. In the meantime please keep voting.
I voted early, bobs88 was irresistible, but all of you blackbird and deferris fans, don't look at these results so far and avoid voting bc you think it's over already. If you like a car, VOTE!
I tried to vote but it says it’s expired for some reason.
Originally Posted by QwkTrip
Yes, I saw it too from my phone earlier today. And now it's open again.
Quick follow up. Go ahead and try to vote again. Should work okay.
The poll was probably open the whole time (not "closed"). An "Expired" message could have been security token issue between user and server. If you're using a proxy and/or wait too long between actions, you may get an expired token error. Also, the records show I am the only person that has edited the poll so nothing unusual there.
Quick follow up. Go ahead and try to vote again. Should work okay.
The poll was probably open the whole time (not "closed"). An "Expired" message could have been security token issue between user and server. If you're using a proxy and/or wait too long between actions, you may get an expired token error. Also, the records show I am the only person that has edited the poll so nothing unusual there.
It worked this time. I think it was because I was on the WiFi at work. I’ve had problems with that before.
