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Showing results for tags 'Relived 1981 in Camaro'.
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I have a neighbor who over the years has had a lot of fun cars like a 96 Impala SS, 66 Chevelle, SS Nova etc. Back in 1981 he ordered a new Camaro coupe with only options being V8, Posi, spoiler and AM FM radio. The car is a factory 4 speed. The Gunmetal Grey car has been pretty much sitting in the garage for 25 years. He suffered some medical issues like 3 strokes and several heart attacks including one where he was gone for a little while. H was able to recover to now have the onset of Alzhimers. I grew up in this neigborhood and just came back last year. In that time he has asked me to take the car out and run it as he is no longer able to drive. So at different times we have gone out for short runs in the local country side. We have not gone too far as this car has from what I can tell about 10,000 miles. He installed a 373 gear just after he bought the car so I suspect we have a couple thousand miles less than what is showing. [it shows 14,000]. I got the time to clean it up for him and dust off the cob webs. We then took it to a local Camaro show. During the drive it would show 75 MPH at what I would guess would be 40 MPH. This had been our longest trip and I took side roads as not to get too much heat in the 31 plus year old tires. I have noted some things about the car and here is my observations of a new 1981 Camaro in 2012. The car is as it was delievered to the dealer. While nostalgia was great the reality of how bad cars were in 1981 came through. The cars inteiror was mared by carpet that did not cover the entire floor there were open spots at the entry to the back seat that were there since delivered to the dealer. Yes he never had it fixed. The noise and clunks of a Camaro were standard from the factory. The car while tight and solid still has some of the toys in the trunck clunks. The interior made of that material that was left over from Ace Frehley's costume. It was that silver that would soon tarnish and crack and today is a rare sight. In fact at the car show many people thought I had put that interior in as they had never seen one. I can say it may be one of the only ones left in showroom condition as they were rare even in the 80's. The paint was orange peeled and had a good amound of dirt in the paint. I would look at the restored cars and be amazed how good they looked and how bad the original factory paint looked. I felt some may have thought I had Earl Scheib paint the car it was that bad. Body fit was amazingly poor. The leading edge of the one door has a ding in on the edge that looks like the door was dropped on the edge against a sharp edge. The doors so not have the normal sag of most 2nd Gens and they do not shut with a clang of a loose window etc. Infact this is one of the few 2nd gens at the show that had perfect non scratched windows. Driving was good the car drives as new and the posi is still tight. Steering feel has the feel of a boat a slow speed. No feel no feed back and little that connects the driver to the car. The brakes were good. Even with drums the pedal was solid and firm. The transmisison is improved with a Hurts Shifter I installed about 20 years ago. The tranny pulls and shift strong and the clutch is smooth as glass. The car down the road is amazing to watch the hood dance and shake. The ride is firm but not jarring. What I take away from this is like the 64 GTO I drove a couple weeks ago. The cars still retain some of the old things I enjoy of the old cars. The noise and the shifting of a heavy 4 speed and going through the gears is great. But there are so many things that todays cars have improved on more so than just quality. Cars like my HHR SS is tuned to the road and make me feel as part of the car vs like a rider on a horse. Sometimes I think all of us look back with better memories than it really was. Don't get me wrong I love these cars and enjoy any that I get to take out as many of my fiends have some nice restored rides that I get cut loose in from time to time. I also think we forget how good cars have become today. They put together so much better and are much easier to drive stupid fast. Cars today like the Vette and Camaro to me embody the best of both worlds and give us cars that are so much better but still have a little of that fun factor still in them. It is only a shame cars like the ZL1 convertible at the show was over $60,000. Note too I was not the lowest mile Camaro there. A local Dealer I know just found a few miles from my home a 1970 Z/28 split bumper. The car has only 7,000 miles. paint is 99% perfect in the while and black stripes. The interior is perfect. The trunk was just as the dealer left it. The engine could use a little refresh on the paint but other wise the car is amazing. I went over the car with the owner and he even showed me the many flaws on this too from the factory that you just never see on most restored cars. I think the fact we see so many over restored cars today that we often forget what they really were like. I wish more would restore them to like new condition just so many could really see how it really was. Anyways it was a fun trip back in time but I was glad to get back to 2012. I hope to get some photos but it was too dark by the time I came home. We plan on getting it out soon to get some shots of it with the proud owner. Note while he has not driven the car much he always has the keys in his pocket wanting to drive it. The keys are worn smooth from rubbing against each other. The moral is if you have a hobby car drive it as much as you can because there may be a day you wish you still could.
