Original Story

April/'99

I had lost my '96 Goldwing due to reasons unavoidable. I needed transportation. Kinda wanted another motorcycle, but couldnt find any in my price range. Was lookin to spend about 500$. Was lookin in the Recycler and came accross a "Chevy Stationwagon, nice rims/tires, built 350 - $600". The city was Duarte - bradbury which is only about 10 minutes away. Called my ex-girlfriend and we jumped on the freeway to go check it out.

On the way to the guys house from the 210 freeway we drove by a red Camaro with a For Sale sign on it that i barely caught in the corner of my eye. We arrived at the house with the "chevy stationwagon", ...it turned out to be a Pontiac, with stupid-ass looking rims, all jacked-up in the rear and an over all P.O.S., ...i told the guy we'd have to think about it and we left.

We drove back the same way we came to check out the Camaro. We pulled up and saw a 1984 Chevy Camaro Berlinetta. Red paint, pretty faded on hood and roof. Had a huge tire smear on the drivers side, but No body damage at all besides a couple very small parking lot dings in the doors. Looking inside the car revealed damn near perfect interior except for the headliner that was sagging about 6". No tears, rips or stains.

The owner walked over and said he was selling for 900$. I immediatly replied with, "i'll take it". My girlfreind (whom makes all of our fianancial decisions, because money burns a hole in MY pockets) told me to hold on and started asking a whole bunch of questions. The story he tells us goes as follows: A drunk was coming down Royal oaks drive and hit the Camaro tire-to-tire, bending the rearend. The insurance company junked the car and gave him a huge check. He got to keep the car, and put the money down on a new mini-van (the wife is expecting) and he is selling the Camaro for the balance needed to pick up the mini-van.

According to him, he is the second owner and put about 50k miles on it. Original owner only put 25k miles on it when he sold it to this guy.

The Camaro was still drivable (he gave me a ride around the block). It has a 2.8L V-6, full everything...air, power drivers seat, digital dash...etc. The girlfriend and i had to drive back to our house in Chino (about 20-25 miles) to pick up some more cash. When we returned with the $900 somebody else was looking at it, but they didnt have the money on them...and he sold it to us.

I drove the Camaro to my dads in Azusa (about 9 miles), it was dog-legging a bit, and made horrible noise when i applied the breaks. I got it up on jack stands and pulled out the axle. The rear-end wasn't visibly bent, so i was hoping it might only be the axle. The trailing arm was also very tweaked. Went down to the salvage yard and got another axle and trailing arm for 50$ i think. Got back and tried putting in the axle, but the rearend was ever so slightly bent enough that a good straight one wouldn't go in. Back to the salvage yard and picked up an entire rearend for 150$ (minus the axle i already got). Removed and replaced the rearend and trailing arm.

The very next thing i did was (carefully) ripped out the worthless "external" am/fm cassette player and have to set a am/fm CD player in the hole after i removed the smaller cover where the cruise control switch is mounted. to properly install a "in-dash" am/fm CD player, i have to tear out almost the entire Berlinetta dash, and replace with a stock, IROC, or other dash....thanks Chevrolet.

After driving it a few days, discovered the rear trans motor mount was also broke. Got a new one ($30) from the Chevy dealer in Covina.

After a few more months, replaced the butt-ugly rims (14") that came with it. I went down to Tucker Tire on Azusa Ave. in Covina and picked up some chrome rally rims, 15x8 front, 15x10 rear.

The hood and rear hatch shocks were all shot, got the rears from Pep Boys for $35 a piece. Waiting to get the fronts 'til after i get a fibergalss hood.

Replaced the passenger-side window molding...$35 bucks! Pain in the ass to change also.

Sometime during the winter months, my shifting cable snapped at my place of employment. (Earthlink parking lot, Pasadena) Another $35 from the Chevy dealer.

Also in December, ....my overdrive gave up on me, but not entirely. From a dead stop i have to be in drive, once up over 40mph i can slip the shifter up into overdrive and take my foot off the throttle, the tranny then slips into overdrive and i can gently accelerate, if the trans trys to downshift into drive for a hill or passing somebody, it slips into nuetral, and i have to pull the shifter back into drive, or let off the throttle and it'll slip back into overdrive. Since im planning a motor change, and a severe jump in horsepower, i'm just gonna have a B&M super shift-kit ($280) installed in my TH700 R4. This is the same kit B&M puts in the race trannie's they sell.