Before I begin, I'd like to say sorry if this is in the wrong board, it seemed appropriate for this thread.

I bought my 1988 Camaro Sport Coupe on March 3rd 2008 less than a month after my 16th birthday, my Dad, Brother and me went to look at it on the first of March. I can honestly tell you that after being around Camaros, Firebirds, and Trans Ams all my life, that I fell in love with this car at first sight. It had everything that I have always wanted in a car, 5 Speed stick shift, V8(even if it was just a wimpy 305 TBI), a nice stereo system already installed, working A/C(never use it though haha), and a straight body with no rust or damage!
OH! and besides a cracked dashpad, MINT interior!

After looking at and test driving the car, I began drooling... however my dad and brother told me "we can find something better" and we went home. I guess they had seen how upset I was about that considering I told them I didn't want to look at cars anymore.
So to my surprise, my dad picked me up from work as usual and I talked to him about that Camaro and how bad I wanted it, he seemed unusually quiet. To my amazement that pretty little red Camaro was sitting in my driveway!



That's a picture of her on the first day in its new home.
Now lets pick up the pace a bit.

After throwing a few parts on and a few mods, the "restoration" process had begun!



A few months later.

Progress got put on hold for a long time, as I had to go under the knife for two spine surgeries in June 08' to put rods in my back to correct scoliosis after losing almost all feeling in my body from my stomache down.
Finally with full feeling back in September I was back driving my car, and doing light duty work on it.

Nothing serious got done to it for a long while, just didn't have the money.

Then, with three days left of my Junior year of high school, this happened...



Some Genious 18 year old blonde girl in her 93 Mercury Tracer Wagon decided it was a good idea to have her young, untrained dog in the passenger seat while stopping by to pick up her cap and gown for graduation. Well as the story goes, she was on her way out and her dog got a bug up its *** and lodged itself in her steering wheel causing her POS to hit my PARKED car.

So as of right now, the check from her insurrance company for $1100 is being sent out tomorrow. Plus since I plan on doing the work in my garage, that money is going to go alot farther rather than a body shop could stretch it.

My plans are going to be below.
New door(obviously)
CORRECT rear bumper cover
IROC hood in the junkyard
Chin spoiler
Fill in and hide the antenna under the fender or elsewhere

To top it off my neighbor told me we could do all of the body work, prep, and paint for under $500(for the WHOLE car)
and yes he does have experience painting.

So all in all at this point, this is my goal, besides the IROC-Z on the doors, black headlight buckets, and the IROC rims.




Any comments or suggestions are more than welcome!

 

Nice car and good luck with it. I got a set of gold iroc wheels for sale on ebay right now (shameless self promotion).

 

Good for you...Hey Thirdgenranch gave me some really good deals on some parts...Contact them you need some hard to find parts

 

Thats where I was planning on getting everything besides the door and maybe even an IROC hood (local junkyard)

Parts/paint/tools are going to start piling up this week.

$1080 in hand to do this, plus part of next weeks paycheck since I'm getting a good week in.

As far as paint goes, I think I'm going to stick with stock shade of red, but am going to be looking at other similar shades.

 

Time for an update!
I have all the parts, plus more that I just couldn't pass up.
Door was $50
Picked up a set of grid taillights for $40 that look almost brand new
Rear bumper cover was $50
Picked up an IROC hood for $100(louvers and all)
Then got my chin spoiler from Cam91rs locally for $50


The new door after painting the jamb




The temporary Bumble Bee hood, the louvers are getting shot with semi-gloss black today.



Can't forget about my new bumper cover/taillights


The door is going to get bolted on in the next day or two.
Already started picking up paint supplies too, paint should start next week.

 

Lookin good so far. Always nice to see them fixed up better than when you bought it. Good luck with everything. Cant wait to see more of it painted.

 

Well, its been going a little slower the last few days. But there is some progress!

The other day I took off the louvers and scuffed/shot with a can of black.
I'll let the pictures do the talking.


Now, body work on the door is beginning. I started to sand down the face after ripping off that fugly piece of crap in the middle of the door(the bump guard thing)

Found alot more high/low spots than I was expecting...



Just to put it out there also, I was using an "X" motion, the swirls are from a wet cloth I used to clean it up to put it in the house(help against rust forming overnight)


I picked up most of the paint supplies for about $350(DA sander, HVLP gun, and all paint stuff)
Hoping that next weekend yeilds time to knock it out of the park!

 

No interest at all?
Any opinions?

 

Paint is finished!
will post pictures in the morning, and later after I finish assembling the rest of the car.
For a ~$300 paint job, it came out excellent.

 

Great! Now just take out that slow motor

 

looks great

 

I know what you mean...I am having a hard time keep the motor stock or go all out LS1/T56...big decision

 

It was a hard decision for me at first but now my heart is set on a 5.3LSX


Until I hunt down batteries for the camera, this is all I have.






http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMAG0127.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMAG0125.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMAG0129.jpg
Not done yet.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMAG0130.jpg

 

Very cool car and awesome story. I love to follow home restorations done by real car guys!

 

yup, very nice ! you never put up the finish product let see it!

 

Lookin good from what i can see and for 300 bucks you cant complain really. Are you doing the headlight buckets semi-gloss black as well to continue the iroc look?

 

Looks great - nice car, you're doing some terrific work, there.

 

Car looks awesome man, good luck with the rest of the restoration

 

car looks nice. i had a red and silver '85 t/a in high school, and then a '91 rs in college. it's nice to see young kids interested in these cars.

 

looks good. I like.

 

Let's see some daylight pics!

 

Sorry fellers, I just now got the update thing for this thread in my profile.

Due to switching from part time to full time jobs, I haven't had much time to do any more work. But I have my eyes on a 350, and a Holley 4bbl sitting in front of me.


I haven't and wont be painting the headlight buckets, it just looks too good as is. My only planned exterior upgrade is the black and silver stripes that go above the ground effects.



Most recent picture:


Thank you for all the interest!

 

Looks good, except it would look a lot better with black headlight buckets IMO.