Can today's ''G-Machines'' achieve true synergy between past and present? We take a ride to find out.
Perhaps one of the primary reasons that muscle car restoration presents such a challenge--beyond coping with rust--is that these cars were often the subjects of ongoing alterations. It was a process that often began nearly immediately, as celebrated with the emerging ''Day Two'' trend, where freshly restored cars are presented with just those few period modifications that new owners tended to make as soon as they got home.
Some of those efforts to personalize a new car may have halted after the first few additions, while others never stopped, sometimes winding up with track-dedicated racers that differed radically from the specs laid down by the manufacturers. To this type of owner, the factory's configuration was merely a starting point, one that need never be revisited. It's a dictum that stands even today, in the midst of widespread efforts to return these 40-year-old machines to their original forms; there are still those who are more interested in pursuing ever-improved levels of performance than in returning everything to factory-spec. For them, the interest in yesterday is purely aesthetic.
John Malouf wasn't around when the first muscle cars were being built--his first car was an '85 Mustang GT, and it was several years used when he picked it up as a teen. The timing was perfect to land John right at the cusp of the 5.0 movement, where modifications were the order of the day. Despite having a ''late-model'' subject, he found himself practicing a time-honored method of going faster: by picking choice bits from the junkyards around his southern California home.
''I built that car while I was in high school and college, and I did a lot of junkyard raiding,'' he told us, recounting that he eventually made it into the 11s using mostly salvaged parts--including a 351W--and lots of tweaking and tuning. ''It taught me a lot about working on cars, and really built my confidence,'' explained John, adding that he'd had another 5.0 later, this one with EFI and a centrifugal supercharger.
But the Fox Mustangs lacked one thing that John found himself drawn to: the aggressive lines of the muscle car era. ''I wanted something older,'' John said, adding that he'd always admired the lines of the first-generation F-body. So, as the Nineties were drawing to a close, he located a '68 Camaro coupe in nearby Van Nuys, just a few miles from the site where the car had originally been built. It was solid, and it even ran and drove...for a little while, anyway.
''I was driving the car home when the rear end seized up; when it did, it took out the transmission, too, which I believe was a Turbo 350. I was mad, but only because I thought I probably would have gotten the car cheaper if it had happened on the test drive. All I really wanted was a clean body,'' recounted John. Right from the outset, it had been his intention to use the Camaro as a blank canvas.
His goals, though, were actually aimed more at straight-line competition; he also intended to get there gradually, at least until the driveline grenaded.
''After it broke on the way home, I hastened my plans. First the engine came out, then the subframe, and then the suspension was falling apart in my hands, so I just decided this was going to be a ground-up restoration,'' said John, though his use of the term ''restoration'' really referred more to the car's body and interior--he still intended to go drag racing.
To that end, he set about straightening out the Camaro's flanks, replacing the rear quarter panels with NOS GM pieces to eliminate the accumulation of dents and the rust that was creeping along the lower edges--yes, even So-Cal cars can rust, given enough time. He was also fortifying the car's foundation by welding the subframe seams and adding gussets to the chassis along with subframe connectors.
At the same time, John was getting the new drivetrain together. The centerpiece was a 406-inch small-block, using parts sourced from Speed-O-Motive in Santa Fe Springs, California, topped with a conventional Holley carburetor and backed with a somewhat unconventional (at least at the time) Tremec five-speed.
''I'd been really happy with the Tremec in my '85 Mustang, so I wanted to see if it was possible to put one in the Camaro. There weren't kits for this the way there are now, but I talked to Mike Fortes of Fortes Parts Connection, where I used to get stuff for my Mustang, and he was working on a conversion kit to put the Tremec in a GM car,'' explained John, revealing that his efforts to enhance the Camaro's road manners had begun even before that was an established goal. ''It worked out really well, and was nearly a bolt-in.''
Once the car was moving under its own power, the stripped shell was taken to Studio Auto Body in Glendale, California, for final straightening and to lay down the Torch Red paint. When the car came back home, John handled the interior himself, including the painting and upholstery installation, leaving the Camaro with a restored factory Deluxe interior in black and using lots of factory trim pieces. By this point, the car was once again roadworthy and looking good. It seemed like everything was back on course to create a solid street/strip Camaro...until John went for a ride.
''I was still planning to go drag racing when I met a guy who lived about a quarter-mile from my house with a nearly identical-looking car. He'd just finished it and took me for a ride--I was really impressed with the handling. In fact, up to that point, I never thought an old car could handle like that.''
That one ride was all it took to change the course of John's Camaro project. ''I decided that's what I wanted to do with my car.''
John and the owner of the other Camaro became fast friends, and the two shared a desire to elevate all aspects of their respective Camaros' performance, though they didn't realize they were on the leading edge of an emerging trend. ''Nobody was using the term 'Pro-Touring' back then--we just wanted to make our cars handle and stop as well as, or better than, late-model performance cars.''
It turned out that John's new friend had worked as a machinist, and still had access to his former employer's shop, which allowed the two to create many of the parts they needed to achieve their goals. This included fabricating brackets and making other alterations to facilitate the mounting of C4 Corvette ZR1 brakes, using PBR aluminum calipers, to the Camaro's spindles; more fabricating and machining got the Corvette's rear brakes onto the Camaro's 12-bolt.
Actuating those brakes was yet another challenge, particularly since the Camaro's small-block was then running a lumpy cam that did away with most of the idle vacuum needed to power a brake booster. This conundrum prompted John to consult with a power brake specialist, though his suggestion was far less conventional than they'd anticipated. ''He asked if we knew what a hydro-boost system was, and then told us GM had used them with some trucks and on some of the diesel-powered cars to get around a lack of vacuum. I asked him if he could put one together for me; once we got it on the car, I couldn't believe how well it worked.''
In spite of the brake solution, the raucous small-block did become tiresome over time, and John felt there were a number of inefficiencies with the engine combination. The next step toward improving drivability was to add a programmable EFI system--Holley's Commander 950. ''I could hook it to my laptop, and then I'd have someone else drive while I worked on the programming,'' explained John, though he still felt there was room to make the Camaro better.
That feeling led to the development of a new engine package, which also provided the opportunity to get some weight off the Camaro's front end. A new small-block was built using a rotating assembly from SCAT in an aluminum Motown block from World Products. It still displaced 406 cubic inches, but this time, the cam was based on a 113-degree lobe separation, which smoothed out the idle considerably and brought back the vacuum--it would now sit at 800 RPM while pulling 16 to 17 inches of vacuum.
But making less power was definitely not the goal, so the new cherry on top became a centrifugal supercharger--a Paxton Novi unit. John had used a centrifugal blower on his second Mustang to great effect, and working in concert with the EFI, it seemed an excellent way to make big power numbers while maintaining streetability.
So this Camaro has experienced quite a metamorphosis since it first rolled from the Van Nuys plant over 40 years ago--and really, just since John took title. It makes for an impressive spec sheet, but the real question is simply, does it all work? Is it actually better than it was?
For a bit of impartial insight, our man out West, Jeff Koch, took the opportunity to drive the fruits of John's labor after handling the photo work. Though he's driven quite a few stock muscle cars over the years, Jeff has also been behind the wheel of numerous examples of the Pro-Touring approach to tweaking and tuning, providing a solid basis for commentary.
Before even twisting the key, Jeff experienced a genuine improvement: The stock seats had been lowered--an inch and a half, according to John--so that they looked stock but provided a noticeable gain in headroom, which, at 6-foot-2, Jeff could appreciate. ''Better headroom, okay legroom, but the wheel is still in your lap,'' was the first entry in his notes. ''Autometers are big and clear, but console gauges are not going to be useful when eyes are up, at speed,'' he continued. Then he turned the key.
''Idle settles at 700 to 900 RPM, with the blower whine drowning out much of the engine--an interesting blend.'' Easing the clutch out was eye-opening. ''Wow, this thing is not subtle. Clutch movement is short and heavy, engaging at the top of the travel; throttle is more of an on/off switch. Owner says he's considering swapping the 3.73s for 3.08s, and advises that he normally starts in second when cruising the neighborhood; when I try this, the power is still startling, but it's just right to avoid tire-spin.''
Even after getting more familiar, the Camaro kept Jeff on his toes, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. ''Shifter is quick and direct. Brake pedal is super-stiff; at low speeds the binders want to throw you out the window. There's blower whine up to 2,500 RPM, then the engine gets loud enough to take over, and by 4,000 RPM you're all in, with the engine making Super Stock noises.''
By the end of the trip, Jeff had minor criticisms, but even he was quick to dismiss them. ''The ride around town is rough-ish, but so what? Cornering is flat, and the steering is firm and quick--as close to perfect as I've felt, and there's no chassis flex at all, thanks to cage.''
The praise isn't all that surprising to John--he's spent years making changes and adjustments to get it just so, but is there anything lingering that he would have done differently? ''If I could do it again, I would have gone with the milder camshaft combination sooner; it makes the car so much more driveable.''
So is it done, then? ''I continue to make little adjustments--keeping a car like this finely tuned takes considerable time and effort.''
In the final analysis, it certainly seems that John's efforts have yielded quantifiable results, but his closing comments summed it up perhaps more aptly than could any black-and-white data: ''I've put approximately 5,000 miles on it this way, and every time I drive it, it puts a smile on my face.''
Sounds like a mission accomplished.
Perhaps one of the primary reasons that muscle car restoration presents such a challenge--beyond coping with rust--is that these cars were often the subjects of ongoing alterations. It was a process that often began nearly immediately, as celebrated with the emerging ''Day Two'' trend, where freshly restored cars are presented with just those few period modifications that new owners tended to make as soon as they got home.
Some of those efforts to personalize a new car may have halted after the first few additions, while others never stopped, sometimes winding up with track-dedicated racers that differed radically from the specs laid down by the manufacturers. To this type of owner, the factory's configuration was merely a starting point, one that need never be revisited. It's a dictum that stands even today, in the midst of widespread efforts to return these 40-year-old machines to their original forms; there are still those who are more interested in pursuing ever-improved levels of performance than in returning everything to factory-spec. For them, the interest in yesterday is purely aesthetic.
John Malouf wasn't around when the first muscle cars were being built--his first car was an '85 Mustang GT, and it was several years used when he picked it up as a teen. The timing was perfect to land John right at the cusp of the 5.0 movement, where modifications were the order of the day. Despite having a ''late-model'' subject, he found himself practicing a time-honored method of going faster: by picking choice bits from the junkyards around his southern California home.
''I built that car while I was in high school and college, and I did a lot of junkyard raiding,'' he told us, recounting that he eventually made it into the 11s using mostly salvaged parts--including a 351W--and lots of tweaking and tuning. ''It taught me a lot about working on cars, and really built my confidence,'' explained John, adding that he'd had another 5.0 later, this one with EFI and a centrifugal supercharger.
But the Fox Mustangs lacked one thing that John found himself drawn to: the aggressive lines of the muscle car era. ''I wanted something older,'' John said, adding that he'd always admired the lines of the first-generation F-body. So, as the Nineties were drawing to a close, he located a '68 Camaro coupe in nearby Van Nuys, just a few miles from the site where the car had originally been built. It was solid, and it even ran and drove...for a little while, anyway.
''I was driving the car home when the rear end seized up; when it did, it took out the transmission, too, which I believe was a Turbo 350. I was mad, but only because I thought I probably would have gotten the car cheaper if it had happened on the test drive. All I really wanted was a clean body,'' recounted John. Right from the outset, it had been his intention to use the Camaro as a blank canvas.
His goals, though, were actually aimed more at straight-line competition; he also intended to get there gradually, at least until the driveline grenaded.
''After it broke on the way home, I hastened my plans. First the engine came out, then the subframe, and then the suspension was falling apart in my hands, so I just decided this was going to be a ground-up restoration,'' said John, though his use of the term ''restoration'' really referred more to the car's body and interior--he still intended to go drag racing.
To that end, he set about straightening out the Camaro's flanks, replacing the rear quarter panels with NOS GM pieces to eliminate the accumulation of dents and the rust that was creeping along the lower edges--yes, even So-Cal cars can rust, given enough time. He was also fortifying the car's foundation by welding the subframe seams and adding gussets to the chassis along with subframe connectors.
At the same time, John was getting the new drivetrain together. The centerpiece was a 406-inch small-block, using parts sourced from Speed-O-Motive in Santa Fe Springs, California, topped with a conventional Holley carburetor and backed with a somewhat unconventional (at least at the time) Tremec five-speed.
''I'd been really happy with the Tremec in my '85 Mustang, so I wanted to see if it was possible to put one in the Camaro. There weren't kits for this the way there are now, but I talked to Mike Fortes of Fortes Parts Connection, where I used to get stuff for my Mustang, and he was working on a conversion kit to put the Tremec in a GM car,'' explained John, revealing that his efforts to enhance the Camaro's road manners had begun even before that was an established goal. ''It worked out really well, and was nearly a bolt-in.''
Once the car was moving under its own power, the stripped shell was taken to Studio Auto Body in Glendale, California, for final straightening and to lay down the Torch Red paint. When the car came back home, John handled the interior himself, including the painting and upholstery installation, leaving the Camaro with a restored factory Deluxe interior in black and using lots of factory trim pieces. By this point, the car was once again roadworthy and looking good. It seemed like everything was back on course to create a solid street/strip Camaro...until John went for a ride.
''I was still planning to go drag racing when I met a guy who lived about a quarter-mile from my house with a nearly identical-looking car. He'd just finished it and took me for a ride--I was really impressed with the handling. In fact, up to that point, I never thought an old car could handle like that.''
That one ride was all it took to change the course of John's Camaro project. ''I decided that's what I wanted to do with my car.''
John and the owner of the other Camaro became fast friends, and the two shared a desire to elevate all aspects of their respective Camaros' performance, though they didn't realize they were on the leading edge of an emerging trend. ''Nobody was using the term 'Pro-Touring' back then--we just wanted to make our cars handle and stop as well as, or better than, late-model performance cars.''
It turned out that John's new friend had worked as a machinist, and still had access to his former employer's shop, which allowed the two to create many of the parts they needed to achieve their goals. This included fabricating brackets and making other alterations to facilitate the mounting of C4 Corvette ZR1 brakes, using PBR aluminum calipers, to the Camaro's spindles; more fabricating and machining got the Corvette's rear brakes onto the Camaro's 12-bolt.
Actuating those brakes was yet another challenge, particularly since the Camaro's small-block was then running a lumpy cam that did away with most of the idle vacuum needed to power a brake booster. This conundrum prompted John to consult with a power brake specialist, though his suggestion was far less conventional than they'd anticipated. ''He asked if we knew what a hydro-boost system was, and then told us GM had used them with some trucks and on some of the diesel-powered cars to get around a lack of vacuum. I asked him if he could put one together for me; once we got it on the car, I couldn't believe how well it worked.''
In spite of the brake solution, the raucous small-block did become tiresome over time, and John felt there were a number of inefficiencies with the engine combination. The next step toward improving drivability was to add a programmable EFI system--Holley's Commander 950. ''I could hook it to my laptop, and then I'd have someone else drive while I worked on the programming,'' explained John, though he still felt there was room to make the Camaro better.
That feeling led to the development of a new engine package, which also provided the opportunity to get some weight off the Camaro's front end. A new small-block was built using a rotating assembly from SCAT in an aluminum Motown block from World Products. It still displaced 406 cubic inches, but this time, the cam was based on a 113-degree lobe separation, which smoothed out the idle considerably and brought back the vacuum--it would now sit at 800 RPM while pulling 16 to 17 inches of vacuum.
But making less power was definitely not the goal, so the new cherry on top became a centrifugal supercharger--a Paxton Novi unit. John had used a centrifugal blower on his second Mustang to great effect, and working in concert with the EFI, it seemed an excellent way to make big power numbers while maintaining streetability.
So this Camaro has experienced quite a metamorphosis since it first rolled from the Van Nuys plant over 40 years ago--and really, just since John took title. It makes for an impressive spec sheet, but the real question is simply, does it all work? Is it actually better than it was?
For a bit of impartial insight, our man out West, Jeff Koch, took the opportunity to drive the fruits of John's labor after handling the photo work. Though he's driven quite a few stock muscle cars over the years, Jeff has also been behind the wheel of numerous examples of the Pro-Touring approach to tweaking and tuning, providing a solid basis for commentary.
Before even twisting the key, Jeff experienced a genuine improvement: The stock seats had been lowered--an inch and a half, according to John--so that they looked stock but provided a noticeable gain in headroom, which, at 6-foot-2, Jeff could appreciate. ''Better headroom, okay legroom, but the wheel is still in your lap,'' was the first entry in his notes. ''Autometers are big and clear, but console gauges are not going to be useful when eyes are up, at speed,'' he continued. Then he turned the key.
''Idle settles at 700 to 900 RPM, with the blower whine drowning out much of the engine--an interesting blend.'' Easing the clutch out was eye-opening. ''Wow, this thing is not subtle. Clutch movement is short and heavy, engaging at the top of the travel; throttle is more of an on/off switch. Owner says he's considering swapping the 3.73s for 3.08s, and advises that he normally starts in second when cruising the neighborhood; when I try this, the power is still startling, but it's just right to avoid tire-spin.''
Even after getting more familiar, the Camaro kept Jeff on his toes, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. ''Shifter is quick and direct. Brake pedal is super-stiff; at low speeds the binders want to throw you out the window. There's blower whine up to 2,500 RPM, then the engine gets loud enough to take over, and by 4,000 RPM you're all in, with the engine making Super Stock noises.''
By the end of the trip, Jeff had minor criticisms, but even he was quick to dismiss them. ''The ride around town is rough-ish, but so what? Cornering is flat, and the steering is firm and quick--as close to perfect as I've felt, and there's no chassis flex at all, thanks to cage.''
The praise isn't all that surprising to John--he's spent years making changes and adjustments to get it just so, but is there anything lingering that he would have done differently? ''If I could do it again, I would have gone with the milder camshaft combination sooner; it makes the car so much more driveable.''
So is it done, then? ''I continue to make little adjustments--keeping a car like this finely tuned takes considerable time and effort.''
In the final analysis, it certainly seems that John's efforts have yielded quantifiable results, but his closing comments summed it up perhaps more aptly than could any black-and-white data: ''I've put approximately 5,000 miles on it this way, and every time I drive it, it puts a smile on my face.''
Sounds like a mission accomplished.
Feature Article from Hemmings Muscle Machines
September, 2010 - Terry McGean - Photography by Jeff Koch
Tags: camaro part, camaro parts, Camaro restoration parts, 69 camaro, 1969 camaro, aftermarket camero parts, chevrolet camaro, ss, z28, rs, chevrolet, restoration, 68 camaro, chevy, 67, 69, f-body, camaro, chevy camaro, chevrolet camaro, gm, z-28, 350, ls1, z/28, pace car, camaro ss, 69 camaro, first generation, copo, fbody, yenko, 67 camaro, 68 camaro, musclecar
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