This is the story of my first car..

[tunes]

Great story and pictures. It reminds me of good times I had years ago with my first car. It wasn't as "cool" as yours though.

[427TJ]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: cook_dw</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
</div></div>

You wanted a '69 Camaro pretty bad!!! Amazing transformation, well done.

[cook_dw]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 427TJ</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
You wanted a '69 Camaro pretty bad!!! Amazing transformation, well done. </div></div>


<span style="font-style: italic">You wanted a <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 11pt">1st GEN</span></span> Camaro pretty bad!!!</span>

And yes I did.. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]



Thanks guys and more coming soon.. Still have to cover the <span style="font-weight: bold">&quot;More Powwahhh!!!&quot;</span> section of the story.

[m22mike]

Cool Darrell... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[JBALL]

Great story Darrell!

[Billohio]

Looked good Darrell

[cook_dw]

<span style="font-weight: bold">Time for More Powahhh.!!. </span>
Now at the age of 17 and being young dumb and full of…. Well you get the idea.. I wanted and needed more horsepower.. I was quickly becoming a junkie of power and speed. After spending the summer of ’94 &amp; ‘95 working my butt off saving and buying parts and when off work; and of course when I got the blessing from the old man I would get his black 68 SS/RS L34 Camaro out for a night of “cruising”.. This wasn’t a numbers car as the original engine was long gone and dad had built a fair strong L78 that was in it. I cut my teeth sorta speak with that car and street racing.. Although it didn’t last but one summer as he ended up selling it; not on purpose might I add, when he shot off that he’d sell it for X amount of money and the guy showed up the next weekend with trailer in tow and cash in hand; the car went to Alabama.. To say that I was crushed was an understatement.. Ok back on track now.. So where was I.. Oh yeah, bustin’ anus and savin’ mucho dinero.. By this time I had found my niche of work in the auto parts world at Advance Auto Parts.. I would use my parts knowledge by buying rebuilt master cylinders that just so happen to have 309 &amp; 346 castings with the bleeder screws and stampings of WT &amp; US.. Yeah those GM guys go nuts for stuff like that.. I was able to flip them for a decent price and at the same time use my employee discount on performance parts like my camshaft and my super badass roller tip Comp Cams rockers!!.. Hey don’t laugh.. It took me 2 pay checks of summer work (almost 40hrs a week) to pay for those bad boys.. As I continue to source parts and collect everything I need I am able with the help of “pops” score a sweet M20 trans, 12 bolt and 3.55 posi, 010 standard bore block, a set of 186 heads; which the local machine shop screwed me on by charging me $300 labor for doing the work but that’s another story.. That winter was spent building the engine.. It was awesome!! 10.5 to 1 pistons, 280 hyd Comp cam, Edelbrock Performer intake and a Holley 600 carb.. Also went through the trans with dads help as this was the first for me.. As winter began to slowly become spring in the early part of ’96, the first thing we done was swap out the limp pecker of a 3rd member that was under the car which was a 10 bolt with 2.73 gears.. Yeah it was a turd.. So much so that it wouldn’t even turn the tires over unless it was wet.. Trust me, I tried!! It was amazing what a gear change would do to that tired ole 307 &amp; powerglide.. It went from not being able to pull a greasy string out of a cat’s ass to a tire smoking, rubber layin’ mouse motor.. Ok maybe it wasn’t that great but considering I was now able to do a burnout I was excited.. After about a month of this it was well into spring and it was time to break out the surgical gloves and get to work.. As the engine was lifted out of its compartment for the first time in its life I had a lot of pressure washing and scrubbing that needed to be done.. As many people of that era spray paint satin or semi-gloss black was your best friend and that was how you’d dress up a tired engine compartment when you were installing a fresh-n-shiny engine between the fenders..


<span style="font-weight: bold">This was the black (actually originally Ash Gold) L34 car. M21 &amp; BU coded 12 bolt</span>







<span style="font-weight: bold">The 350 in all its glory! I know what you are thinking.. That kid was straight ballin' with those sweet Comp roller tip rockers! Yeah at least I thought I was at the time..</span>







<span style="font-weight: bold">Behold the mighty 307 and its tire smoking, pavement shreddin' strenufff.. With just a little help from the newly installed 12 bolt and 3.55 posi.</span>

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

I can't wait for the next chapter!!!

Ryan

[Pusher_Man]

very, very cool, to say the very least. guys, ive read the whole story, and the best is yet to come!

i would kill to have such a cool story to share about my first car...or any car! money can be made, things can be bought, but memories like this are priceless and are never forgotten...count yourself rich, my friend!

let'er rip, tater chip!

[cook_dw]

Thanks guys.. Next installment.

<span style="font-weight: bold">The Maiden Voyage</span>
After a long week and week of the install; mainly due to the shitty Hooker Comp headers I had bought at our closest Super Shops in Donelson.. Hey everybody remembers Super Shops!! The place you went to get your performance parts.. I mean I went all out on those headers too.. I stripped them down to bare metal and bought the high dollar VHT and sprayed them down and like many they were rusted in a month.. So the headers are on, the engine has fresh oil and the coolant has been filled.. Im in the driver’s seat with dad working the distributor and timing light.. Now this was a work night; Tuesday night as a matter of fact, and it’s about 8:30-9:00pm at night. I reach up with my hand, start pumping the loud pedal with my foot and turn the ignition.. Suddenly I have a quick flashback of the first time I had done this several years before but all of a sudden I am jolted back into reality when this little mouse motor ignites those gases in the chambers and this thing with its open headers roars to life and Im getting chills!!! I hop out and watch and learn as dad sets the timing at 35° of total timing.. I reach in and hit the kill switch and stand back as smoke and steam are rolling off the headers from the oils from our hands of the install and the smells of that shiny fresh paint start to bake in.. We hurry and throw the hood on it and as we tighten up the 4 bolts and check to make sure its aligned we close the hood.. It’s around 9:30 or so by this time and I look at pops and say; “let’s try it out..” He smiles and says “I know that’s right!” As he starts walking to the passenger’s side I say where you going.. He looks at me a little confused and I say, “You’re driving!” We get in and he hits the key and all I hear is the vibration in my head from the open exhaust. We back out of the driveway and as we stop for that few seconds as he goes from reverse to first; I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life btw, he says to me; “Its either gonna go!! Or its gonna blow!!.. Before I could fully process what he was saying that engine rev’d up to what seemed like 9K and he side stepped the clutch it was like I was kicked in the ass and on a rocket! As we blasted off down the road with the tires begging and screaming for mercy all I could see down that dark night road was the headlights dancing as he was bangin’ gears laughin’ and ah grinin’ the whole way..


<span style="font-weight: bold">Shortly after the removal and during the cleanup.</span>





<span style="font-weight: bold">The old heart after serving its host for over 110K miles.</span>





<span style="font-weight: bold">This shot was over at a high school buddies house not long after the engine swap.</span>