In The Beginning

[ZiggyL78]

Originally Posted by Jonesy

Great story!! I noticed in the pic that the front fender stripe is solid and the 350 emblems are gone. Did you remove those?

I don't know. I can't remember. lol

I think I had a minor fender bender and told the paint shop to fill them in.

[Z282NV]

Great story!

I would have gladly taken a kick in the butt if my Dad would have helped me get my first Camaro!

[markinnaples]

Thank you for a great story about your Camaro, and prayers for your health.

[ZiggyL78]

So later that day my dad went to see a movie. I went to pick up one of my buddies to go for a cruise. We came up behind a 67 Firebird 326 HO. Of course when I pulled up beside this guy it turned out to be 2 of my buddies. They asked me where I stole the car from. We all went for a cruise and had a couple of runs from a roll. I figured since I didn't know what a 326 Pontiac was that it would be NP. It was surprisingly quick and it was a toss up on who got ahead. After all the jokes and corny excuses we decided to go outside the city to make a full pass. We went to Altona road which was a famous Toronto street racing spot. I still remember how dead silent it was at night.

So as I drove home that night I looked in the rear view mirror and a cop car with it's lights on was behind me. Oh. I guess he just wants to make sure that I get home safelyEmoji. He finally hit the siren to pull me over right in front of my house. It's a 70 degree August night and half the neighborhood is on the porch relaxing. Of course most of them got up to call the rest of the family to come and see Kenny's new car before the police tow it awayEmoji.

So here we go. License ownership and insurance. Is there a problem officer? You know what the problem is. When you left that last intersection you left 40' of rubber and squawked the tires in every gear. Oh. I'm sorry. I just bought this car and I'm not very good with a 4 spd. Silence. He gave me that "Give Me A Break" look and went back to his car. I need to get the car off the road before the old man comes home. 10 minutes later he gives me a ticket for unnecessary noise and says. You are lucky I didn't get a reading on you. You'd be on a hook right now heading for the the pound. Thank you officerEmoji.

I go to start the car and nothing. Oh come on! Is anything else going to happen tonight! We screw around with it for about 10 minutes and guess who comes home?

Hi Dad. What the hell are you doing? It won't start. He jumps in the car and it starts right up. No one told me you have to push the clutch in to start the car. Doh.

2 years later I sold it to a Chevy dealer. They called back 2 days later and said the rear end was cracked and there was no spare or jack. I said. Well. The car is still under warrantee.


So after I sold the SS I went looking for a new ride When I was in high school I would always see this guy in a black 68 Nova waiting to pick up his girl friend. It was a black on black bench with a 4SPD. It had tinted glass, dog dish hub caps and the optional chrome package. But no SS option. It had a serious idle and I thought it had a built motor. Turns out the car was dead stock except he had pulled off the resonators added dumps and a Hurst shifter. Compared to the Camaro it sounded amazing! I asked the owner if it was for sale? He said he had just setup a For Sale Ad for the weekend. ALL RIGHT!!! I bought the car for $1800. Some of my buddies said I paid too much until they went for a ride! I would wait for for a passenger to start talking and then hit it. If they kept talking I guess they weren't impressed. Most people didn't keep talking in this car. They usually pushed back into the seat and said HOLLY ****. I'd power second & third and that really woke them up. Don't forget it was early 70s and a lot of guys had never been in something fast. Most of them thought that there Dad's 283 Impala was a rocket. "Ya man.It spins THE TIRE in the rain."EmojiEmoji

[Bill Pritchard]

That's some stance on that Nova! Great stories, keep 'em comin'.

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Did it have the L79 327 by any chance??

[gtomike1967]

Great stories. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming! :-)

[ZiggyL78]

Originally Posted by Mr.Nickey Nova

Did it have the L79 327 by any chance??

Yes. It was an original L79. I can't believe I left that out.

It had a cast iron intake with a Quadrajet. I am surprised on how quick it was. I can't remember for sure what gear it had. I'm thinking a 3:55 or 3:73 with a Muncie wide trans.
I do remember that it had no problems on the highway. Well at least till I started screwing with it . When I took it to the spring shop the guy asked me how high I wanted the car to sit. Now don't forget I was a squirrely young kid just starting out. I told him as high as possible. I wanted to put a big tire on it and I knew the Novas couldn't take much of a tire with the stock wheel well. 2 days later I go to pick the car up. Not high enough. Spring guy says they can't make it any higher with stock springs. OK. New springs. 1 day later he calls me. The car is too high! I can't get the driveshaft back in! Awww. Sounds perfect to me. Turns out a driveshaft from a 55 Chevy goes right in. Every abandoned 55, 56, and 57 Chevy lost a driveshaft that summer. Next I pull the stock motor and off to the machine shop. Cam, headers and some head work with an intake & carb. 4:56 gears were next. Right at that time the car was no longer fun to drive. I had a box of universals and caps in the trunk. The car would drop a universal or the driveshaft every time if I powered a gear. I got pretty good at changing universals on the shoulder. Easy install as I didn't need a jack! lol. We never figured out the problem and I sold the car. Obviously the pinion angle was off a mile after the new springs.

[CamaroNOS]

Man those are some wicked skinny but tall bias ply skins on the rear.

Paul

[RonZ11]

Originally Posted by ZiggyL78

Close. Warden and Rossford. Near Ellesmere.

That brings back memories! I went to trade school at
Centennial college on Warden near Eglinton in 74/75/76. Wish I would have looked around Golden Mile / Gorries/Belmont back then. Thanks and lets hear some more!