As muscle cars go, few evoke the image of cruisin' California's
coastal highways like a 1968 Camaro Convertible. In the late 60's, few cars
were thought to be as cool. Forty-plus years later, there are few cars as
cool as Graham Weiss' Camaro. Some things never change.
If you are looking for major body mods, you won't find them
here. The clean lines of this chevy ragtop speak for themselves. Some will
be apparent though--like the Impalla door handles. Others include removing
most of the trim and shaving the fender parking lights.
While this Camaro is definitely a custom, much of it is stock
Chevrolet. Restoration suppliers for this project include Quality Chevrolet
in Escondido, Classic Industries, Year One, and Steele Rubber for all those
stock replacement items that are always so hard to find. Those headlights,
though came from Adjure.
PPG paint went into this special. At the Oakland Roadster
show this year (held in Pamona), the car won best paint. "Hot Dog"
Pete Finlan rendered the flames for us.
The Camaro made it's Debute in 1967 and had the honor of pacing
the Indy 500 that year. While it came stock with the 302, you could, for
a few extra dollars get yours with a 350, or even a big-block Turbo-Jet
396. In '68, over 235,147 Camaros were sold in the U.S. One thing that might
have accounted for it's popularity were the many options and combinations
of packages you could order. You could get with just about every engine
Chevy made, from a tame 6-cylinder to BB V-8; and a varietyof package option
like the SS and RS. You could also choose between hard-tops and convertibles.
Stainless Steel Brake Corp., "Force 10" disc brakes
help keep those Colorado Custom "Empire" wheels under control.
