Websters defines an obsession as �an irrational motive for performing repetitive actions against your will�. Nothing seems to describe my affinity for the F-body better than that. I guess I became afflicted with �O.C.D.� well before I could drive, influenced by my father, Nicholas Trush, and his stacks of car magazines from the 50�s and 60�s. Those early experiences help shape my interest in automobiles of all types, but I always had a soft spot for the Camaro.

Ever since I was 16 and learned to drive, I have always owned an F-body in some shape or form. The first was a 1978 Camaro, my parents bought new when I was 7, my brother beat into the ground until he bought a new car, and I ended up with when I was 16. That car served me well, for 1.5 years, until it literally started to fall apart. The second round of �O.C.D� came in the form of another 1978, but this was a Z28, with a healthy small block and a 4 speed, the car even had a NOS Powershot system, and was quite a well known car on Gratiot Avenue. I never had the nerve to use the nitrous, as I was afraid of blowing the engine apart, and being only 17 and in high school, the job I had scooping ice cream would hardly cover the cost of replacing the engine. My third bout with the �O.C.D.� came in the form of a 1967 RS/SS with a 396. This was the first true �restoration� that I accomplished, and was a nice driver, but I still considered it merely a placeholder. As I had always had my heart set on a 4-speed convertible �69. Little did I know, the object of my desire was about to fall into my lap, or rather dragged into a friend garage.

I still remember the day in 1990 my best friends father, Ray Hanson brought my current car home on a tow dolly. I was 19 and working 2 jobs, Jeff (my best friend) called me to come over and see what his Dad was bringing home. Once it was safely in the garage. Mr. Hanson proceeded to tell me had got it for a �deal� and figured he would finish bolting the sheet metal on it, get it running and turn it to make some money. The moment I saw the car, I HAD to have it, actually had is an understatement, I MUST have it, I was MEANT to have it was more like it. I immediately put �For Sale� signs on my �67 and every time I saw him I begged �Mr. Hanson� to sell me the car, and I am sure if you were to ask him today what the definition of persistence is, he would say my name! There was a problem in my grand plan though, unfortunately, not too many people were interested in buying my �67, which was necessary to purchase the convertible and I was watching my dream of topless motoring quickly dissipate with every potential buyer who came to see the �69. Enter my Father, again.

For the second significant time in my life, my Father intervened, first with stoking fire and passion of automobiles at an early age, and now, by deciding that he might enjoy having an old car again�and old car in the form of a 1967 Camaro, my 1967 Camaro. I never asked him if he really wanted that car, or whether he just couldn�t stand listening to me groaning day after day about how I was going to lose out on my �dream car�. To make an already long story short, I got the �69�over 14 years ago.

This is where the story get interesting, the car was a nice driver, and drive it I did. I ended up going way to college and I drove the hell out of it every summer I was home from school, putting around 4-5000 miles each summer, working on it when necessary, but always dreading putting it away for the long Michigan winter back at Central Michigan University. It remained a nice stock driver for many years, 9 years to be exact. Throughout the years (as anyone who has had a car for this long can tell you) many experiences, good and bad help to foster our love affair with these vehicles. While most people have great memories, such as meeting their soulmate in their car, or driving cross-country in their 32 roadster. I can tell you without a doubt, some of my memories are scarier than that latest M. Night Shyamalan movie. Memories like the time I took my car to the St. Ignace car show in the upper peninsula of Michigan, I had just arrived for the weekend festivities, and after driving for 5 hours with the top down and sun beating on my head, I decided that a nice cool dip in the pool was just what the doctor ordered. I parked the car, and 20 minutes later I am on my way to the pool, towel in hand�when I hear people start screaming �Stop! Stop!� as I begin to turn around, I see a gentlemen in a Model T, you know the one, with the � inch steel fenders. Well this guy was backing his �T�up, or rather his brothers Model T, and apparently, his sibling forgot to point out where the brake was, and I swear, I was caught in a slow motion effect better than anything Keanu Reeves could pull in the �Matrix� trilogy. �Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!� I shouted �Stoooooooooooop�, I screamed, to no avail�I had turned just in time to watch good ole� Henry�s Model T careen right back into my quarter panel��Bam!� as the car rocked back and forth. I can honestly attest to the quote �they don�t build �em like they used to� as my quarter was smashed, and he had chipped the paint on his fender. Model-T 1..Musclecar 0! Needless to say, my weekend was ruined. I know it took about 20 seconds for the whole incident, but it sure felt like an eternity, I do give credit to the anonymous brother though�He was flailing about so frantically trying to figure out how to stop, I thought he had some kind of medical condition! Yes, if I were a violent person, I probably would have given him a medical condition to worry about, but that wouldn�t fix the car (and he was bigger than me!) I would be remiss if I didn�t mention that the actual owner of the vehicle did make everything �right�. Note to readers�if someone hits you, it�s better if he is a millionaire with his own restoration shop! Sorry Allstate, you lose.

Yes, I have many warm, fuzzy memories, like when the threads pulled out of the nut on the lower balljoint, just as I pulled into my driveway and the car did a �Back to the Future II� Deloreon impersonation, you now, where the tire goes horizontal before take-off, and the car dropped on the frame and skidded about 2 ft., now the car is hanging halfway in my driveway, and halfway in the street�did I mention that the tire crunched the fender?�Ironically, that was the day after I returned from the St. Ignace car show, just 2 years later. Note to writer, stop going to that show!.

On a sidenote, I successfully fought the insurance company that the bad nut (no heat treat) caused the problem, not the balljoint, and had to pay a whopping .48C for the cost of the nut, while they paid for the other repairs. Sorry Allstate, you lose, again.

I guess the real point of all of my history with this car is that another, and actually the worst of all incidents resulted in the vehicle pictured here. To make a long story short, picture a 15-year-old girl with permit, Grandma in the passenger seat, smashed door and quarter panel (again), me doubled over crying all over my fender. You get the picture.

It seems ridiculous now, but when my wife came to the scene, she thought someone had been killed, as I was sobbing uncontrollably on the car, yes ON the car. She still reminds me to this day how ridiculous I am with the car, or is that obsessive..O.C.D. Remember?

Still distraught, I towed the car to a friend, Jim Bielecki, of JimTech Inc, in Clinton Twp. MI. We talked over the repairs, and he said, �if I paint that one area, the rest of the car will look really bad� So I decided to go ahead and have the entire car repainted. The lacquer that was on the car was checking, and it was really showing its age. I disassembled the entire car, and had it sent to Ace Stripping for media blasting, I will never forget Jim phone call to me when the car came back to his shop, it was like a scene from the television crime drama C.S.I. He said �Uh Jeff, you better come down here�.� To my horror, the 10 years of driving, and multiple previous owners, had done wonders to the structure of the car. It ended up needing new quarters, floorboards, toe boards, new trunk, fillers, and extensions, the area under the rear seat had to be completely fabricated, as it was pretty much rotted away, and replacement panels are not produced for that area. The car had to have the rockers repaired as well. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, Liquid Nails CAN be used effectively to plug massive holes of rust, (note sarcasm) as we had to remove about a gallon of Liquid Nails plugging holes in the shock towers, and the rear frame rails were barely hanging on�shocking to say the least. There was also some pretty impressive, �back-woods� welding done within the wheelwells with some scrap metal, and possibly what look to be an old license plate! We were wrong, recycling WAS important in the 70�s!.. I know that everyone in the world thinks they have �Solid Car�, but let me tell you from experience, everything is solid, until it meets the dreaded media blaster�That really separates the men from the boys...I distinctly remember thinking back to all the times I said �Oh yeah, solid body�, �perfect floors� I couldn�t have been more wrong.

Once all of the sheetmetal was repaired, the car was put on a rotisserie for the paint, I was originally going to restore the car back to stock specs, with a aftermarket crossram and some other nice pieces, but a visit to Kyle Tuckers shop Detroit Speed and Engineeering and I was hooked, I was bitten by the Pro-Touring bug, and decided to take the car in a different direction. This was still back in 2000/01. I wanted the paint to still resemble the original Dover White and Hugger Orange, but wanted it to �pop� when the sun hit it. I suggested the Orange Pearl, and Jim came up with his own formula for the Candy Stripes. It turned out better than I expected, as the car really changes when the sun hits it. The car is actually pearled top and bottom, also, the wipers were shaved for a cleaner look.

As far as the suspension goes, being a Project Engineer for GM Powertrain, and working at the Proving Grounds in Milford, I have become accustom to the handling and performance of newer sports cars. I wanted that same type of all around performance, but wrapped in the classic style of my 69. I opted to install a complete suspension set-up from Hotchkis Performance, including drop springs, drop leafs, front 1-1/8� hollow and .825" hollow rear sway bars, tubular upper control arms and solid tie-rod adjusters from Detroit Speed and Engineering, and a 12.7:1 quick ratio steering box from AGR Industries. The car absolutely corners like it is on rails. The original rally wheel were not going to cut it anymore, so I installed 18X8 and 18X9 Centerline Lazer wheels, with Toyo Proxes T1-S tires 235/40-18 and 245/45-18 respectively. This was possibly one of the longest, and most laboring decisions of the entire build. Wheels and tires make the car, period. The car now turned like a new Camaro, but I wanted it to stop like one as well, so I opted for the Baer Track brakes with the 2-piece Eradispeed+ rotors, 13.5� up front and 12� in the rear. I called on Paul Clark at Hydratech Braking to provide a Hydroboost system to supply the braking pressure I wanted due to the limited engine vacuum. Let me tell you, you had better have your seatbelt on, because stomping on the brakes in this car will send you on a one-way trip through the windshield! Now that the brakes and chassis were sorted out, I turned to Tyler Crockett Marine Engines, to build a powerful and capable SBC for the car. Tyler delivered with a 352� SBC that put out 470hp and 430lb/ft on his engine dyno, plenty off oomph to get around a new Camaro. I wanted the car to have a unique look to the engine compartment, I called on Kyle Tucker at Detroit Speed, to hammer out a new airbox, based upon my design and a used Winston Cup airbox I bought from Muscle Motorsports. Kyle delivered big time, with the unique induction you see here. The actual firewall was punched to allow cool air to come through the cowl vent, and into the carb. I tried to keep the engine compartment as clean as possible, hiding all of the wiring, and relocating all of the ignition components under the dash. I also brushed all of the exterior trim on the car, to give a more modern �high-tech� look to the exterior, that is probably the one area people comment on the most, the brushed chrome.

The interior also yielded to more modern styling cues, I install a custom Covans Dash filled with carbon fiber autometer gauges. I acquired a set of Viper GTS seats, and, believe it or not, had new covers made by a little old lady in mid- Michigan from scratch, I must say, that the work she does is outstanding, I delivered 2 stock Viper seats, and 2 rolls of material, 2 weeks later �Kay� calls me up and says �their done�. all for a whopping $50.00 apiece�Yes, $100.00 dollars total, I gave her $200.00. She is my little secret, so don�t call looking for her number you vultures!�The seats still retain the original look, with the houndstooth material, but are bolstered for those open track days, and are comfortable enough to drive across country. In order to drive cross-country though, 4 gears weren�t going to cut it, I needed an overdrive, or 2 to be exact. I called on Tyler Beauregard at American Touring Specialties in Las Vegas for a T56 installation kit .The transmission is a LT1 style Borg-Warner T56 6-speed, and bolted right in. I chose a Centerforce flywheel and a Mcleod clutch with a custom-made shifter from Detroit Speed, and the Carbon Fiber shift knob is from a European Escort Race Car There is nothing quite like blasting down the left lane on a freeway, in a 30 year old car at 75mph, turning 2000 RPM�s�It is truly a religious experience! The 13� steering wheel is from Grant. I also relocated the e-brake between the seats, much like a modern car would have, using Lokar E-Brake and cables. When it came time for the top, I called on Jerry at All American Auto Upholstery in Romulus, MI., who installed the new top perfectly.

It is hard to believe what started out as another quickie fix on a driver, snowballed into a 3-year complete nut and bolt restification, complete with equity loans and creative refinancing, anything to feed the obsession. O.C.D. indeed. Obviously, I have been to hell and back with this vehicle, and it is not going anywhere soon, I have touched, modified, painted or replaced literally every part on this car, and could not be prouder of the way it turned out. I realized my goal of having modern acceleration, handling, and braking, wrapped in the style and attitude of a 1969 RS\SS Camaro. I especially commend my wife for putting up with the long nights and literally 100�s of hours I spent in the garage, all while trying to build a house, having 2 kids along the way, and she has never been anything but supportive�well, most of the time! Love you honey! The memories, both good and bad (yes, there are more good ones) make these cars part of our family, part of our history, and part of Americana. I wouldn�t trade them or the car, for anything.

I still to this day ponder the question of whether my Dad bought the �67 for his benefit, or mine, I know deep down he did it for me, I only wish I still had the chance to ask, or even thank him again.. Sadly, my father suddenly passed away in Nov. of 2000, 2 years before the car was completed, and never got to see it finished. The license plate on my car reads �4YOUDAD�, my small tribute to my father, one of the most talented guys I have ever seen, who I miss dearly everyday. I like to think he is looking down, smiling, and proud.

Thanks, Dad.