1967 Camaro RS - "Recycler"

[James OLC]

Well after almost 5 years it's time to get after my wife's car - a 1967 Camaro RS that we've decided to call "Recycler". I bought the car about midway through the OneLapCamaro build with the (silly) idea of maybe building it at the same time (didn't happen) and it's been sitting in the garage ever since. I've gone back and forth with what to do with the car since I got it and although it is a highly optioned (RS, deluxe interior, power windows, 8-track, fold down seat, remote mirror, tilt column, etc) number matching (327 4bbl glide) car in an unusual color (royal plum) stock just doesn't do anything for me (us) anymore.

Why "Recycler"? Three reasons actually... First reason goes back to when my wife and I were dating shortly after we graduated from high school - I had a '67 Camaro that I was bracket racing and she had a '68 that was her daily driver (turbothrift 250 with a glide and a bench seat). Well she would come to the track on the weekends and more often then not I found myself "borrowing" this or that to get through the weekend... plug wires, coils, brake drums, etc. Her car became my first sponsor :) Second reason... fast forward to the first year I had this car - which I got as a project for her. I bought the car out of Ketchikan, Alaska and when I got it it had a complete NOS front clip that was about 10 years old and still unpainted. Anyways, long story short, I couldn't find any decent reproduction sheetmetal for the OLC so I kind of "borrowed" the clip off this one too. Third (and most obvious) reason is that I have so many bits and pieces left over from the OLC that I can pretty much build another car anyways. The fact that we're both fans of ZZ Top might have had some influence as well.

Anyways, I finally got the car loaded up and on it's way to Heighton Restoration to get a start on the bodywork. The car itself is really solid but the drivers side door was folded on to itelf when the previous owner "backed out of the garage with the door open" and the passenger side quarter is a typical 80's fix - a full quarter welded on top of a rusty quarter. The drivers quarter has some rust that needs to be addressed and the rear tail light panel is "dented". The front sheet metal is some of the original pieces that came on the OLC as well as some test panels that we weren't happy with at the time.

Here are some shots of it getting loaded up yesterday:

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%201.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%202.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%203.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%204.jpg

[James OLC]

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%208.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%209.jpg

So what's the plan?

Carl Cassanova's car has always been a big inspiration for me and this one is going to follow in the footsteps of his car - 275's on all four corners, I have a spare Chicane subframe kit (less control arms) that we'll use, and I have the 5.3 that Steve Rupp built for his Track Rat project. It'll need some brakes and some wheels and a little bit of this and that but I think that when we're done it should be a lot of fun!

Deb and Eve were both on hand for the departure...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Deb%20and%20Eve%20-%20Camaro%20leaving.jpg

...and both will patiently wait for it's return. In the mean time the ladies are heading to the Goodguys show in Del Mar to put together what I am sure will be a short list of ideas....

[BritishGreen68]

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%208.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/Recycler%20Mar%2011%209.jpg




Camaros always look cool dont they lol...

[waynieZ]

James she's a doll. Do you think she was smiling because she knows the next one after this is hers.lol It looks like a nice project.

[Ron in SoCal]

That's what, four now with two in production? :thumbsup:

Hope you have enough garage space. Maybe you can start your own Canadian Camaro Museum :lol:

[radrambler]

JAMES
Great story ..
I BET SHE WILL LOVE THAT CAR..

Tom

[Blake Foster]

IS THAT SNOW!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


Sorry i had to

[James OLC]

Yeah... it's been snowing for the last 5 days... it's hovering just below freezing so it's not like it's cold - just cold enough for it to pile up. The good news is that it's supposed to be 70ish on Wednesday or Thursday.

[coolwelder62]

Cool project Jame's.:thumbsup:

[Vegas69]

Camaro looks like a turd, that is one cute kid!:unibrow: :cheers:

[awr68]

It's about time! j/k...I just know how long Deb's been waiting!
so a little body work, primer and a full wrap...or going all out and painting it?

[KPC67]

Yeah... it's been snowing for the last 5 days... it's hovering just below freezing so it's not like it's cold - just cold enough for it to pile up. The good news is that it's supposed to be 70ish on Wednesday or Thursday.

70ish hey... dont you mean 21???
Jokes aside, I am really starting to envy your car collection James.
Maybe you want to finish mine after this one :unibrow:

[James OLC]

It's about time! j/k...I just know how long Deb's been waiting!
so a little body work, primer and a full wrap...or going all out and painting it?

Yeah... she's due for her bit of fun. This one will get painted and will be set up for the car seat in the back - gotta get the little one around in style :)

I'm fortunate - not only does Deb "tolerate" my hobby she actually got me in to cars when we were in high school. I just have to keep her time with Mary down to short spurts so she doesn't get too carried away.

[James OLC]

70ish hey... dont you mean 21???
Jokes aside, I am really starting to envy your car collection James.
Maybe you want to finish mine after this one :unibrow:

I don't know if I'd envy it... one finished car... one beat up race car... two projects that are starting as rolling shells... I don't know. (In all fairness, Recycler does still have it's stock 327 and glide in the big hole but I don't know why). I've toyed with getting back to building cars for other people but in all honesty I don't think I could do it again... I kind of like being able to do it the way I want to. :)

[KPC67]

Maybe so, but at least you have one finished!
Anyway great start to a fun project. I am excited to follow this thread.

[James OLC]

Well it’s been a while since I updated our progress on Deb’s “Recycler” 67 project and since I have some down time while travelling for work I thought I would try to update our progress – even through it’s less than current (these pics are from last July). My good friend Chris Heighton – who did the OLC - started work on the car early last year and by summer had started on the metalwork…

We knew that the passenger side was going to be an issue… the car had obviously been hit at some point in it’s life (hard enough to leave a crease in the inner piece below the sail panel) and when we started to pull the old quarter off we were disappointed to find the old quarter panel still in place… I know that there was a time when this was common but still. We pulled the panel off, fixed the tweak, and installed a new inner wheel well…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/1%20july%2011%20pass%20side.jpg

There were a couple of missing braces at the back but we’re replacing them as we go…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/2%20july%2011%20pass%20quarter.jpg

I hate the way these things look when they’re half naked… thankfully on this one it was only the passenger side…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/3%20july%2011%20quarter%20detail.jpg

Even though the trunk pan looked good it was pretty thin and we made the decision to replace it, plus it gave us a chance to verify that the frame rails were ok…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/4%20july%2011%20%20spots.jpg

[James OLC]

It is nice to have a perfect trunk pan…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/5%20july%2011%20trunk.jpg

And the trunk pan needed replacing from where the car had backed into a post…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/6%20july%2011%20trunk.jpg

I was lucky and an NOS panel had come with the car – so no messing around trying to make it fit…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/7%20july%2011%20drvs%20tail.jpg

The passenger side door needed a skin and at the end of the day it was easier to replace the whole thing (especially since the quality seems to have improved recently)…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/8%20july%2011%20door.jpg

[James OLC]

We need to clean up some fenders and dig up some sheetmetal for the front…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/9%20july%2011%20pass%20over.jpg

Since the NOS front clip that came with the car when I bought it was used on another project “without consent” so to speak….

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/10%20july%2011%20%20drvs%20over.jpg

Eve’s enthusiastically following the restoration… maybe a little to enthusiastically…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/11%20july%2011%20eve.jpg

[James OLC]

Fast forward a bit to August of last year and the hard work is mostly done, the metalwork is nearly done, and it’s starting to look like a car again…

Deb’s decided to go with an SS hood so a call to Eddie is in the near future…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20drivers%20side%201.jpg

And with a fender and a quarter in place it actually looks like it’s coming together…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20pass%20side%202a.jpg

The front header panel is an NOS panel that I had in the garage… we used it for color experimentation for the OLC – trying to find a grey color and finish that went with the red…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20front%203.jpg

Rear filler panel and trunk are fitting together nicely…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20trunk%204.jpg

And the gaps on the (second) drivers door are much better. The first door was… an issue… but this new one fits like a charm…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20drv%20door%205.jpg

[James OLC]

Everything seems to fit well…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20drv%20door%20fr%206.jpg

including the new quarter panel. Chris will finish the transition to the roof in lead once we’re happy with everything else…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20pass%20quarter%207.jpg

It’s nice to see it looking like a car again…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20pass%20over%208.jpg

Next step is to get it in primer (I know – that shouldn’t be the next step) and then work on collecting some parts to get the initial fit done…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20drivers%20side%20over%209.jpg

Did I mention that Eve’s really having fun watching the car come together…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/Recycler/aug%2011%20eve%2010.jpg

As I said earlier, the next step was to put the car in primer. That wasn’t the plan but the reality of real life took president and we put work on the car on hold while we focused on selling our house and finding a new one.

As you can probably guess, the build is (hopefully) getting back on track now. Chris is trying to get a ’68 ‘vert done for the World of Wheels later in February and if I can collect some parts between now and then we’ll shoot to get the body done. Once that gets cleaned up I’ll bring it home and figure out what to do with the suspension and make (finally) make arrangements to bring Track Rat’s (old) engine up here and get if fitted up… then the challenge becomes finding an auto to put behind it…

[KPC67]

Looks like the panels on recycler fit very well. Where did you get the second driver door from?

[coolwelder62]

Jame's It Look's like Eve is coming along(growing) faster than the camaro.:thumbsup:

[Sieg]

Jame's It Look's like Eve is coming along(growing) faster than the camaro.:thumbsup:

Life happens! :thumbsup:

[James OLC]

Well it's been a year (!) and the Recycler project has slowly progressed to the point that it's time to come home. The family and I took one last trip to Heighton Restorations yesterday to look over the bodywork and I'll drag it home later this week to start prepping it for the suspension, engine, and transmission. Until that happens...

The NOS tail light panel fit like a glove (as did "almost" all of the new sheet metal)
http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Trunk.jpg

Eve went exploring in the trunk...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Eve%20Trunk.jpg

...and was happy with what she found...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Trunk%20Pan.jpg

trunk pan is in and everything is solid...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Drivers%20Minitub.jpg

DES mini tubs look right at home as always...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Passenger%20Minitub.jpg

[James OLC]

Bodywork wise we're really close to being done... everything has been fitted once (except the hood vents that I still haven't picked up) and it's beed given it's first boarding...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Drivers%20Front.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Drivers%20Rear.jpg

Eve is happy with the gaps and fit on the passenger side...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Eve%20Inspecting.jpg

but frustratingly the new door hinges on the drivers side have already worn out... I mean really? Plastic bushings on hinges that wear out before the car is even in service? We've replaced them with home made brass bushings and we should be good to go once we get everything realigned.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Drivers%20Door.jpg

Starting to look like a real car again...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Passenger%20Front.jpg

[James OLC]

Old engine and transmission will get pulled this week and go to it's new home in one of Chris's many possible projects...

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20Recycler/Feb%208%20Old%20Engin.jpg

...and I have to get on arranging shipping for the Track Rat aluminum 5.3 that should motivate the car nicely... especially backed by a paddle shifted, overdriven, Bowler built 4L80-E... which I also need to arrange shipping on...

[WSSix]

I think it's cool to see the progression of the car and to see your daughter growing up as well. Those pictures are worth keeping forever. Glad the car is moving along nicely.

[KPC67]

So the guys at Heighton Restorations get this thing spic n span
and you are going to turn it over to JCG?
How dare you! :poke:
Your wife is going to have a sweet ride!

[James OLC]

Nope... First time this car goes to California will be for testing, driving instruction, and some fun at Goodguys...

It should be a lot of fun for the two of them (three of us) once it gets done... Which will a whole lot sooner if I can sell the '68...

[KPC67]

I guess I shouldn't make assumptions..
either way this car is awesome, looks like the guys did a hell of a good job on the body.
what 68 do you have for sale?

[James OLC]

Mary's "old" driver '68...

http://s1093.beta.photobucket.com/user/onelapcamaro/library/1968%20Camaro%20SS%20for%20sale

Cool car - FAST EZ EFI, Hotchkis, Hellwig, Bilstein, Baer, all the good stuff. Reliable as heck and a great driver but I just don't have room for it with the '67 coming home...

[fleetus macmullitz]

Great pics of your daughter. :thumbsup:

'Recycler' is lookin' very healthy now after a stay at the Heighton Clinic. :D

[michaelh440]

Great looking 68! And I really like the rehab as well. Helps keep me inspired on mine.