Thread: Old '72 Camaro

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that`s kinda how i bought my mustang .. a stripped out hull .. i`m sorry now i did that .. the better car you buy to begin with the easier it will be to put back together .. i`m looking for another stang now even if it costs 25 grand or so ..

A friend of mine said that too. I just want to get started on something with the kids and not break the bank all at once. I like the older Camaros, but anything nicer is a lot of cash. I already sold one of my rifles to buy it so the wife can't complain.

Originally Posted by Wayne Gilchrist

A friend of mine said that too. I just want to get started on something with the kids and not break the bank all at once.

Not sure you intentionally said this, but the corollary is ".....I want to break the bank over time...". You asked for advice, Hoss gave you the best piece of advice given your description, and then you rationalize it away. Not trying to bust your chops here, just pointing out what you're doing to yourself. I'd bet there's at least a couple dozen people on here who haven't posted that when they read what Hoss said mentally yelled "Oh yeah, true words!!". Most of them learned the hard way how true.............looks like you want to add yourself to that list.

EDIT: Now, if you said "there's $1000 worth of parts there", and you intend to part it out to help build your future car fund I'd be your biggest supporter.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Hoss gave you the best piece of advice given your description, and then you rationalize it away.

Not really, sorry if it seemed like that. I'm taking in all the information from the posts here. I haven't done this before so I like to get a lot of opinions. Some people may have had hard times, other may not. I'm looking for information.

Chops are still intact! Thanks for all the information. Like I said a friend of mine said the exact same thing and now I see more and more people are echoing that response.

I did. however, go to look at it - I had the appointment set up when I posted originally.

I'll post pictures later tonight. It seems to be in better condition than *I* expected. Hardly any rust on the frame and is straight. Most of the sheet metal may be salvageable but it will be a lot o work and money no doubt.

It sounds to me like you just want to work on something and don't have or don't want to spend a whole lot of money on it. I mean, if you had to sell a rifle to fund the deal, then you must really want to do it. I have been in your position and would rather purchase something....anything....to work on rather than twiddling my thumbs and not having any iron to cut or weld on.

The one thing I would caution you about is to measure diagonally under the car between front and rear points that you know are in the same position left to right. I might also spend the money to run a CarFax on the car to see if there has been any major body damage in the past. I don't particularly mind starting with a rag, but I don't want to start with a tweaked rag.

The car is a unibody construction, with front and rear subframes, so it really doesn't have a "frame" as we think about some of the older cars with full frames. All the more reason to make sure it isn't a rhomboid rather than a rectangle.

Building a car from a gutted body is really expensive.....think of it...if you need the chrome round head sheet metal screws that hold the trim part inside the car, you first have to figure out what screw it is....then, you gotta pay somebody $ for the screw....not cheap by any means. The ONLY time to buy a gutted body is when you are going to gut it anyway and put in a 100% different interior...like a sheet metal interior in a race car.

Buying a completed but rough car is far more cost effective...you have all the little parts to start with....even if you have to replace some.

If you gotta start a project, start the engine and trans while you are looking for the right car.

Mike in Tucson