I received my dad's car today from the shipping company. They picked it up at Willie's house, in Tucson, on Saturday afternoon. Not a bad delivery time to Orlando being delivered on Tuesday! BTW, the frame seen on the bottom is a new Tesla frame. This guy was transporting three of these frames, a '57 Chevy and a Bentley.



The car is not what I remember as far as condition. I haven't seen the car in 14 years and the desert air and my father's cleaning ability has left its mark. The interior vinyl, rubber and plastic appears to have been just wiped down and not really cleaned or conditioned. There is a dent in the passenger door on the body line, nasty looking mudflaps, the rear window louvers are faded, the passenger fender bows out, the driver ttop rattles, the window guide strips are cracked and the plastics are just overall dry. The shifter is horrible and sloppy, and the steering feels manual, not power.

So, I decided to start working on the car to get it where I need it to be. I removed the louvers since they aren't supposed to be on this car. I removed the mud flaps and threw them out!! I removed the dent on the passenger door, re-adjusted the front fender to be flush with the door, adjusted the ttop latch to stop the rattle, cleaned and conditioned the interior and started detailing the door jambs. Lots more to do.

 

Subscribed :-)

 

Glad it arrived safely.

 

One of the best looking color combos ever of any car...Especially Camaros!

 

Glad its home Scott! . . let the OCD begin!

 

It'll look great in no time. I can't believe you done all that you done in just a few hours!!
Congrats!

 

I love it Scott! I kick myself for selling mine back in the late 90s every time I see one. Im glad you got it back!

 

I got up early this morning and washed the car. It's been garage kept in Tucson, but Willie had to pick the car up on one of the only days that the desert gets rain!! Not sure how much rain they get, but I thought it was karma with all of the other issues I've experienced in getting this car home. I also removed the USA-1 license plate on the front of the car that was on all of the parade cars. I installed a black plate that has a blue Bowtie on it. I'll try to get pics posted today.

I do need to do some mechanical work, too. It runs very rough, and will die, when cold so the carburetor may need some work. The gear selector is so bad, you can't tell the difference between reverse and 1st. First is hard to find, and with the clutch all the way in, the gears will grind when putting it into gear. Not sure if that's a clutch issue or shifter yet. If anybody has experience, let me know what you think and I'll start digging.

 

Scott
My wife's 85 TA, 5speed back in the day had a sloppy shifter. I ended up replacing a bushing at the shift fork. It took the slop out...might be similar.

 

Ok, I'm in, where's the popcorn!

 

Please update us on your progress. I'm especially interested in your methods for maintaining your plastics, vinyl, rubbers and weather-stripping over time. Great looking car!

 

 

The plastics aren't all dried out, but the paint finish has faded on the rear plastics. It was faded when he got the car 15 years ago, and had an upholstery shop repaint them. I may need to remove all interior plastics, clean 'em up and repaint them again. As for the maintaining process, I use Mother's Reflections Leather conditioner. I use it on all leather, vinyl and plastic to keep it soft and supple.



This product does a nice job, doesn't leave a greasy finish and is low gloss, so the dash and plastics look normal, not shiny. I couldn't find any product that worked the way I wanted to and Mother's gave me a bottle while on the Power Tour. I fell in love with this stuff. I use it very regularly to keep moisture in the dash and vinyl, and keeps the leather and weatherstripping soft.

 

Thanks for the info, I just ordered a bottle from Amazon. Slightly off topic but I wonder what you use on your wheels. I'm looking for a spray cleaner that is safe (for our wheels) and that I can use regularly after a drive to clean the brake dust off my wheels.

 

Im going to order me some too Scott. Some products look great and shiny when they go on but I hate something so greasy every bit of dust and dirt sticks to it.

 

When we get rain it's A LOT. And the haboobs are insane.

Nice car.

 

I just use car wash soap and water to clean the wheels. The tires, I use Simple Green and a brush. I usually don't apply any dressings to the tires at all. The Simple Green will remove the brake dust and road grime that gets on the tires, but needs to be rinsed off as it will also remove any protection on the painted wheels.

Some after washing photos.

 

And here's a shot of the Interior after I did some detailing. It needs a lot more, but this is a start. You can see that the Mother's doesn't leave the vinyl and plastics looking shiny and greasy.

 

Westley's Bleche-Wite used to be awesome for cleaning tires and rubber in general. It was a white wall cleaner with nasty powerful chemicals that would leach all kinds of brown mess out of a black wall tire without any serious scrubbing. It was great if you wanted a clean BLACK tire without the gloss of a treatment. Unfortunately it's no longer Westley's but Black Magic, and the current formula apparently doesn't work as well as it used to.

The Indy looks great Scott. I'd go so far as to say it's the best looking 82 Z Pace Car I've seen. I'm sure you'll bring it up to your standards in no time at all.

 

Drew, I used Westley's Bleche-Wite back in the 80's and it did a great job cleaning my Eagle GT's. Unfortunately I think the overspray took the finish off my Z28's wheels-turned them black. This is why I've avoided buying any type of spray wheel cleaner for this car.

 

I am confident that Scott will have this car looking spectacular in no time.

 

Looks like a COTM to me

 

I noticed the driver's side door has some rattles in it and the handle doesn't seem as tight as it should. So, I removed the door panel, adjusted the window guide, tightened the outside handle and fixed the upper door molding that was loose. The door closes nice and tight now with no rattles.

I do have one issue though. The top screw that holds the interior handle to the door screws into a piece of plastic that is stripped. I tried inserting a plastic wall anchor into the hole and drilling it out some to tighten the hole up, but that didn't work. Anybody know where to get that female plastic piece?

 

Absolutely stunning car. Thanks for the Mothers hint. I have been looking for something for the interior also.

Louis

 

Louis H?????

 

Louis B

 

Still amazes me looking at it. I went to Indy 82 and bought up
anything they had at the museum store. I wish we would have made those at Norwood. Probably would have not bought my 82 Red Z28.

 

The car looks great. You have got a lot done quickly. Hope the rest go's just as fast. I think your dad would be proud and happy it ended up in your garage!

 

Today I was going through some documentation and found all kinds of good stuff. My dad kept all service records in a binder, with the label associated with parts, so I have all service history, part numbers and part labels. I also found the original window sticker, owner's manual, build sheet and invoice! He has information documented on who to contact and what part numbers are needed for seat fabric, paint, etc.

I was concerned that the trans is hard to locate the gear and was thinking maybe it needs a fluid flush. Looking at the receipts, that was done in 2015. It's also running a bit rough so I was thinking carb rebuild. Found that was also done in 2015, with a list of parts and part numbers documented. I also see where all the belts and hoses have been replaced, fuel filter recently done, and front end alignment was done. I need to check to see when the plugs and wires were last done as a basic tuneup may be needed to smooth out the idle.

I can't believe how well he has everything documented. Four binders worth. One binder is the 1982 assembly manual! I also have the 1982 shop manual. Lots to go through here.

 

It's a really pretty car with a great history for you, congratulations.

 

If you get a chance, put some of the documentation up. Would love to see the window sticker etc.

 

Adams VRT is great for tires; it gives them a factory look as opposed to that always-wet look some of the sprays get. It's a gel that you apply with a rag or foam block, so you can't really overspray it. As for the wheels, you can actually apply sealant after cleaning and claying to help brake dust removal.

 

Really cool addition; at first I was unsure, but it looks great on the car. Thanks for the Mother's recommendation, and great work on the car!

 

I need to locate my black front plate that has the CAMARO font in silver, just like my IROC-Z. I'm thinking of putting that on instead of using the blue bowtie. I also have a black "Heartbeat of America" plate that I may use, but I think simple is better, so the silver CAMARO may be the way to go. What say you guys?

 

The vintage "Heartbeat of America" plate would good, but my vote goes to the Silver "CAMARO" plate for sure!

 

I knew I saw this car somewhere before, so I went into the (virtual) attic to look around. Sure enough, I found an old poster of this exact car. It has some wear, but still a fun find:

 

Not sure where that photo was taken, but t might be a coincidence. My father's car has been in Arizona for 14 years and has had the rear window louvers on it the entire time. He did take it to shows, but I think the farthest one away was in Phoenix. You never know.

 

Guess I should have been a little more clear! It's your car plus photoshop, I just made it.

Cut out the house in this one and put in the grandstand from Indy, added colored text to match the car's paint scheme, and made it look old.

 

Sneaky, sneaky! That photoshop job looked totally legit!

 

My vote is for the silver 'Camaro' plate as well. Might be a little nostalgia on my part…used to have the same plate on the front of my 1984 Z28.

 

I thought the angle was too perfect. I didn't even look close enough at the raised whites to see if they were in the same orientation. I just took it for what it was. Isn't Photoshop a great tool?

 

I was going to say that even the tires are positioned the same...... But then I read on and thought..... that sneaky little.... lol

Nice ride by the way.

 

Didn't mean to hijack, I just really liked the car and wondered what it would look like in a period correct 80's poster that had some wear!

 

Did some more work on the car today. The driver side TTop still rattled a bit when I would just sit in the car. I found out that my previous adjustment left the hook at an angle and was allowing for it to rattle. Fixed! The seats also creaked a lot when I moved, so I looked into that. All of the plastic covers were loose and so were the seat bolts. Fixed! The passenger door didn't sound solid, so I took the door panel apart, tightened up the top plastic piece, and noticed that the window guide was no where near the window. Adjusted that, checked all other door hardware and put it back together. Fixed!

The radio doesn't have much volume, so I think it's toast. I checked the speakers and found the rear are Kenwood speakers that are dry rotted and falling apart. I need to replace those, so I might as well replace the front also. Anybody know where I can get this radio repaired or does anyone have one in great shape to replace mine?

The radio I have is below.

 

My vote is for the silver "CAMARO" front plate .. If you find a good source let me know as mine likes to curve out on the sides all the time now and it's annoying



~DaVe

 

Spent a lot more time with the car today. It looked good after I washed it, but I knew it needed more. Today, I clay barred the car and waxed it. All I can is, "WOW!" It looks so much better now.





Here's the window sticker. My dad had it redone using window-sticker.com.


The original buildsheet found under the passenger seat back in 2002.


I found three more dents that I need to remove. They are very light, but I know they're there, so tomorrow, I'll take them out.

 

You have really got it looking great in a short time. When you finish, it would be nice to see some photos done outside with the sun on it. These were my favorites of the early versions of the Camaro 3rd gens.

I love seeing the Quarts Analog Clock listed on the window sticker. Firmly in the digital world now, you would never see that listed as a desirable option on today's cars. Of coarse we 3rd Gen lovers have a different opinion on whats desirable.

 

Great work Scott!

Very happy you ended up with the car. Having lost both of my parents in the last 5 years I understand what can go on when estates get broken up.

 

[QUOTE Having lost both of my parents in the last 5 years I understand what can go on when estates get broken up. QUOTE]

Same here. My fathers death tore my family apart. At the funeral, our parting comment was "It will be the last time the 5 of us will be in one room together". So far, this has remained true!

 

I just noticed something on the window sticker. The factory invoice states the vehicle cost of $14,155.26, but the window sticker shows a higher cost. I decided to investigate and I see that window-sticker.com put the Deluxe Luggage Compartment Trim at $164 on the right side, but has it listed as No Charge on the left side. The other difference is the cost of cruise control. The invoice has it at $165, but the window-sticker has it at $155. Now I need to get it redone again!!!

I also noticed that the original window sticker had a light blue Chevrolet banner at the top, not dark blue and the red box at the bottom needs to be just black.

I also called the second owner of the car today. He lives in North Dakota and owned the car from 1984-1990. He was friends with the original owner, also from ND. He gave me some history on the car and it's condition when he sold it to a Ford dealer in either Bismarck or Dickinson, ND. I didn't hear the name of the dealer, but the next owner was from Mandan, ND, right outside Bismarck, so I'm assuming it was sold there.