For the-Cyborg: Skeletons In My Closet

[fowler]

cant say i feel sorry for u

i hate people that street race and generally hoon

impressive car collection non the less

i do like the building 1 camaro out of 2

 

[osso12]

cant say i feel sorry for u

i hate people that street race and generally hoon

impressive car collection non the less

i do like the building 1 camaro out of 2

No don't feel sorry for me..
Im not rich but prosperous.
I was a kid when I street raced. anywhere from 18-22 years old.
That was 25 years ago. What is generally hoon?

 

[osso12]

ok where were we?
Oh, the white 68.
Ok... I called the guy as soon as the auction started.
All I had was the green ta. My line of thought was he might
do a trade? worse he could do is say no right?
He was in arkansas, and im in texas.. so I phoned him up at like 12 am in the morning. ( i worked late nights) He said he was interested and to send him pics of the 97 ta. Did that.
Then he said he was still interested. So I got off work, left the house around 1:45 in the am and got to arkansas four hours later.
So its early in the am he was at work. There he sat.
I looked him over, no rust and he was all original.
327, original AC, power steering. The car came from the LA plant so there was no danger of any salt road rust anywhere.
Turbo 350. I looked it over, he took me around the block and asked him if he wanted to trade. He looked at my green TA and said "you wanna trade that for this?"
and Im thinking maybe I insulted him or something?
Anyway he said yea sure. So I drove the white car all the way home on 7 cylinders. He was smoking like a freight train.
Got him home. All it was it needed new timing chain, timing gears and a new distributor. I put a cam in him, carb, intake,
timing gears and distributor.
In the meantime I take him to the paint shop:
Here are photos of the transformation:

 

[osso12]

ok, all the body work was performed by my buddy Bobby Fuentes.
Bobby owns B&B paint and body in mesquite where I live.
I am also bobbys first customer, we go way back.
If you remember the blue 68 camaro I had?
Well bobby painted that car before he went in business for himself in his garage!
Yup..he started his own body shop right after he painted my blue one.
He is still in business and does very well mind you, today.
I knew he was the man to do it.
Here are some after shots of the day when I picked him back up:

 

[osso12]

Ok, when I got the car home my step daughter at the time said..
"I dont like it"
Im like wtf kid??? She goes.."Nope I don't like it...Its ugly."
So I bowed my head in shame right? I mean if your kids dont like it then who will? Anyway, I was sitting there with my head hung low and she goes...." I don't like it..... It looks like a skunk!"





Hehe...and thats how Pepe Le Pew was born!

Yup. Named the car Pepe after the cartoon character..
Here are some more photos of Pepe

 

[osso12]

Ok.. Got pepe at this point fixed up like I want him.
Even installed $1200 vintage AC so I would have AC,
I drove pepe about 2 years...as a daily driver..
My only car at the time to drive when the unthinkable happens...

 

[osso12]

was driving downtown one day on the super highway when all of a sudden...BOOM.....engine stops....nothing...
like it farted and ran out of gas or something at 60 mph...
Got to the side...motor turns over but no fire..wtf now??
Anyway pulled it up to a local and they said the engine was gone.
im like ok...fine..but Ill take it from here.
So I took pepe home and started to tear into the original 327..
Here is what I discovered...
Ill find the photos..cant find em atm..
Anyway...the cam I put in from a years prior? I had used too much orange sylicone to seal the intake manifold. I have used the orange for years.. All I can figure is I got it too think on the manifold.. Long of the short...the orange silicone broke down.
I guess from getting hot cold hot cold...
The sylicone got on all the pistons, rings, crank, etc.
It was an ugly mess. Anyway it brought the tired little 327 to a halt. So I did what I did 20 years ago and start tearing into the car all by myself. I had no help 20 years ago, and no help now as usual. No step for a stepper right?

I pulled the 327 broke it down and took it to my shed in the rear. Saved up $5500 and in goes a 468 Big Block with solid lift!
Always wanted a BB 68 camaro...
I had to try it.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[osso12]

I drove pepe for about 5 years...
He was my 7th first gen 1968 camaro..
I also had a project or two I did not show as they were never finished and were rust buckets...
After driving Pepe awhile I started to get that "bored" feeling we all get.. I wanted another Harley...
Sold pepe for $15,500
and bought this:

Got tired of the bike after I paid $6,400 for him, did about $1,200 on upgrades and sold the sportster for $7,300.
And bought this........Guess what???
LOL!

 

[osso12]

I wanted to learn how to do paint and body work myself
so after selling the bike I had $7k burning a hole in my pocket..
I bought me a 68 camaro body on ebay for $4300....

and started doing my own body work in my driveway!

 

[osso12]

my amateur paint and body skills

 

[osso12]

 

[osso12]

and I decided to give her the name "Mystic Angel"
after her GM color "Mystic Teal Poly Metallic"

 

[osso12]

 

[osso12]

Well I got her all painted up..
City and neighbors were complaining about me doing work in my driveway right?
The rules have changed in the past 24 years some I found out..
No longer can I tear camaros down at my own house anymore.
Same house I have lived in since 1978...
City threatened to fine me, neighbors threatened to sue me..
So... The funds did not come to finish Mystic Angel quick enough. I was doing all the funding and work myself and it was simply too much to do with little to no time left, and also having to do it against all odds in the elements as I have no garage. I put mystic angel up on the internet and got an email to see If I wanted to trade her for......
another toy......
stay tuned!

 

[devino246]

another toy......[/I]
stay tuned!

Grandfather clause?

 

[osso12]

Grandfather clause?

Well not really nothing to grad father in.
We thought about it though...
We even thought about fences, etc.
It just ended up being more hassle than it was worth..
With the city in the end I actually won. Being it was a classic vehicle, and I actually went down and got a license tag for it there was not really squat they could do.
There was really nothing they could do about the painting either.
Per EPA rules you can paint outside as long as its not blowing up a "cloud" so to speak and your not doing it for commercial reasons.
They have to warn you before they can fine you.
I was never warned. City threatened me all the time and neighbors complained. I was bull headed enough and truthfully won the argument but I seen that it was going to be a hassle without having a garage so I gave it up for another toy...
a fast toy...one that I could drive.....

 

[machinist@large]

Man!! Some people have all the luck!!


My first real accident (not counting the 9 deer I've bagged along the way) and I'm still not back to work; and that was the first week in April!! I'm going to miss that truck.....:angelsad2:

Now, for the question (and maybe a poll of the others on here); is it really true that you single handedly ran up the market for first gens with your actions?!? Inquiring minds want to know....

 

[osso12]

Now, for the question (and maybe a poll of the others on here); is it really true that you single handedly ran up the market for first gens with your actions?!? Inquiring minds want to know....

No. It would appear that way. Keep in mind I had to scout myself for almost 2 years before I came across PePe..
Towards the end of this thread will be a future project for me..
Another 68 camaro...only a convertible this time. I dread looking for it because I know I am going to have to spend $15k and up on the car itself just to start the project.. No matter the condition...
And by the time I actually get to the point of actually trying to locate the car even more....maybe even $20k or higher just to start..
To be able to do this, you have to be able to dream...
and not give up on that dream until it comes to pass...
It will....but something inside of you has to burn you want it so bad... Know what Im saying?
Im just glad I like camaros....Try looking up a 60's cuda...

 

[osso12]

ok.. I got the urge to finish this post regardless if anyone reads it. I can use it myself to reflect back if anything else not that it matters any. Once I am done I am going to take a nap.
Once I got the camaro body painted up I needed something to drive. I knew I was about to be layed off and the new black 2006 Jetta TDI you see in the back ground was my daily driver at the time. I knew I was about to be laid off from work, and the new car would have to be sold as I would not be able to finish new car payments. I put the blue camaro for sale on a camaro sites classifieds...
Got a email. Guy wanted to know if I wanted another "toy"
I said well send me what you have.
He sent me these pics:

He wanted to trade for this SS.
Im like cool!
But he wanted to trade for my camaro and me take up payments. Could not afford to do that.
While I was talking to the guy on the phone he mentioned he wanted my camaro bad and in the middle I picked up on something. He said he had a "mustang" and a "bike" for sale on the internet he was trying to sell along with the SS to buy my 68.

 

[osso12]

So I asked him to send me pics of the mustang as you never know right? The bike I needed like a hole in my head. I thought maybe the mustang might be a 65 so I was interested.
Here is what he sent me pics of:

Im like..COOL. I always wanted a Mustang LX.
Its a 88 Mustang LX with 351 Windsor, and a TKO 600 tranny with scatter shield.
So I like what I see in the photos.
I told him if he put the tranny back in the mustang, hook up a tach, get the car inspected, put some tires on the back, hook up the AC, I would trade dead even. He wanted $6k for the Mustang, I wanted 6K for the camaro.
We traded title for title: