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Vintageracer
06-05-2013, 03:15 PM
About 2 months ago this 1983 L69 Camaro Z/28 came across the scale at a scrape yard near Grand Rapids Michigan. The car was almost totally complete and was brought there by the owner of almost 15 years. The Camaro had "GSS" graphics on the side of the car. A friend of mine got a call from the salvage yard about the car and could not believe that a Camaro this complete would come across the scale as junk. He was able to purchase the car complete from the Salvage yard.

Through his initial research he thought the car was a 1983 Dick Guldstrand GSS Camaro and I agreed. The car still retained the "By Berger" sticker on the back of the car. Research through Guldstrand and Dick personally yielded information that the Dick remembered selling one GSS Camaro to Berger Chevrolet. I thought this must be that car. We found a Hot Rod article about the GSS Camaro's from 1982 and a "Shootout" test with GSS Camaro, a Maire Racing Mustang, a Herb Adams Trans Am and the Quikor Suspension Capri. The Guldstrand GSS Camaro won the shootout! My friend who purchased the car from the salvage yard said he did not have time or money to restore the car and I ultimately purchased the car believing it to be a Guldstrand GSS Camaro.

After receiving the car I began to dig deeper into the history of the car. Working with Joe Freeman at Gulstrand, Dick Guldstrand and Dick Jacques at Berger Chevrolet I was able to determine the history and provenance of this 1983 Berger Built GSS Camaro. Dick Jacques showed the pictures of the car to Matt Berger of Berger Chevrolet who was able to tell me the "Rest Of The Story" behind this Camaro!

Yesterday I received this email from Matt Berger detailing the history of the car when new at Berger Chevrolet:

"Michael,

That car is the first vehicle I built for myself in the early 1980’s while my father was on vacation. I had found out through the grape vine that Chevy was building a new engine for the late 1983 model Z/28. The cross-fire looked cool but was very underpowered. The 5.0 Liter H.O. was a huge step up and we ordered a dozen in the spring of 1983. Sometime subsequent to receiving the cars we read that a Camaro had won the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges which was a showroom stock road race in Ohio. After doing a little research we uncovered that the chassis work on that vehicle was done by Dick Guldstrand. Dick was a former employee a famous muscle car dealer Dana Chevrolet in California (as was Dale Armstrong, Kenny Bernstein’s Crew Chief for his Budweiser King Funny Cars) and a nationally known Corvette professional road racer from the 1960’s. We wanted to replicate for the street what Dick was doing for the race cars. To that end the dealership installed lowering springs in the front, cut the rear springs, installed Bilstein dampers on all 4 corners, urethane bushings on front lower control arms, rear trailing arms, Dick’s trick panhard bar and some sway bar bushings. The finishing touch was a set of 245/60 x 15” Goodyear GT radials on BBS looking Epsilon wheels. We added the better speedo because if memory serves the stocker only went to 80 MPH. This was a pretty uncivilized package for a street car but great at the track. I remember as a young kid taking it out to the road course at Grattan, Mi. for my first road racing experience. The local Alfa and Porsche clubs were hosting a track day event and we thought we would give it a whirl. After technical inspection, I was approached by a few members who informed me my Camaro wouldn’t be competitive with the Stuttgart specials. They didn’t know what the car was but were soon to learn. It was a terrific day. It was faster than almost all of the vehicles in attendance. I totally killed a set of both tires and brake pads that afternoon but we were fast! We sold the car in the fall of that year but didn’t retain any of those records. I can tell by the color, trim and components that this is my old car. If you get it restored I would love to see the finished version. Good luck with your project.

Best Regards,
Matt Berger"

I especially like the part where Mr. Berger says the car was built while his dad was on vacation. Hard to believe that this Camaro came across the scale with those expensive and hard to find 3 piece Epsilon wheels still on the car! Below are pictures of the car at the salvage yard and dirty at my shop. I have since cleaned all the dirt off the car and will be adding additional pictures to the album later today when the rain stops.

Another "Berger Camaro" from a different era!

http://s263.photobucket.com/user/mjs-13/library/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013

mockingbird812
06-05-2013, 03:28 PM
Cool Camaro Mike. Nice score. Thanks for sharing!!

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/1983GSSCamaroJY8_zps9d1ad6af.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/1983GSSCamaroJY5_zps6a541756.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/TheAmericanFerrariCamaroGSS1_zps1d380838.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/TheAmericanFerrariCamaroGSS5_zps1ff8512d.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230405_zps84e8ae44.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Guldstrand%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230399_zps169a708f.jpg

PeteLeathersac
06-05-2013, 04:49 PM
I remember reading about the GSS cars when new, very cool Berger connection also great how it was saved from the crusher!
Even though the modifications were done after being shipped from the factory you may want to get the as built GM paperwork available from GM Canada Vintage Services, see info and link below.
They have most all '77 model year and newer Camaro info on file regardless of build plant or location of dealer originally shipped to new.
Looking forward to seeing more on this car!
<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif
~ Pete

================================================== ==

GM Canada Vintage Services

http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/shopping/parts/vintage

PH. 905-440-7689

[email protected]

================================================== ==

markinnaples
06-05-2013, 06:48 PM
Awesome. I remember that article/test when it came out.

I always liked the 3rd gens after they canned those Cross Fire engines, and the HO was icing on the cake.

markjohnson
06-05-2013, 08:39 PM
What a great story.. The L69 5.0 HO's were a semi-big deal back in 1983 when Chevrolet got tired of playing 2nd fiddle against Ford's 5.0.

Fast67VelleN2O
06-05-2013, 11:27 PM
Seriously..... who would scrap that car without at the very least trying Craigslist first?

Vintageracer
06-06-2013, 01:56 AM
Here is an update from Matt Berger concerning the car and his answer to several questions I had asked of him:

&quot;Mike,

The GSS decals came with some of the parts. We aren’t big sticker fans but they matched the factory stripes on the car and differentiated it slightly so we went with them. I didn’t do an engine swap. Dad would have been too PO’d so I drove it with the L69. The crate motor would have been a big upgrade compared to what it came with. The issues with that particular powertrain get a little dicey after about 300 ft. lbs. of torque. The weakest link was the rear end followed by 5th gear in the T5 transmission. I built a 91 1LE with one of John Lingenfelter’s stroker motors and a box plenum. It was about 420 HP and 460 TQ. It had the exact same powertrain and I had to replace the clutch, trans and rear-end ($10,000) to make it live. Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Matt Berger&quot;

More interesting information on this salvage yard survivor Berger Camaro!

Vintageracer
06-06-2013, 11:19 PM
Soap, Water &amp; A Pressure Washer!!!!

Here are pictures of the &quot;Berger GSS Camaro&quot; NOW after a couple of hours of pressure washing, cleaning and vacuuming. Quite a difference from the photo album I posted in my first post. Check em both out!

I have also acquired from the JY much of the missing A/C parts and other under-hood parts. The GS air cleaner is on the car to keep the water out of the engine. The spare tire has never been on the ground and the jack never removed from the car. The dash pad is perfect as is the console and console armrest. The seats are from another car. The door panels are super along with the armrests. The carpet ain't bad either. I tried a little polish on one of the Epsilon wheels and they will polish quite nicely thank you! Under the hood I was able to remove a lot of the silver paint someone had sprayed on the firewall and shock towers. Next up is to pull the engine/transmission. I expect to purchase a correct transmission and parts this weekend along with the correct air cleaner and other parts. While out check the engine, detail and more.

Pretty amazing how the car looks now considering that just 6 weeks ago rolled this car rolled across the scale at the scapper in Michigan!

Check out the pictures of how the car looks NOW!

http://s263.photobucket.com/user/mjs-13/library/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013

mockingbird812
06-06-2013, 11:52 PM
<span style="font-size: 14pt">Nice! What a transformation!</span>

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230490_zps1d0c25e1.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230492_zps648e5343.jpg http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230493_zps62b029b8.jpg http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230491_zps6224266f.jpg http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230498_zps76d2c0c8.jpg http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii145/mjs-13/1983%20Berger%20GSS%20Camaro%20June%202013/P1230463_zpsc72dbf28.jpg

markinnaples
06-07-2013, 02:36 AM
Why in the world would someone junk that?!?!?!?

Vintageracer
06-13-2013, 07:06 PM
I always heard that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

I'd say I found a treasure!

WMCC Gary
06-14-2013, 05:45 PM
It would be Great to see this car at the Berger Chevrolet &quot;ALL Chevy Show&quot; in August. I Could even arrange for some special Parking. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif

Vintageracer
06-18-2013, 04:15 PM
I'll check the schedule!

WMCC Gary
06-20-2013, 02:45 PM
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Vintageracer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'll check the schedule! </div></div>
Sounds good. Let me know.