LS1/T56 1st gen....long time member.....

[Kokamo]

Well, I figured it's been about time my lurking had gone on plenty long enough, so I'll do a little intro.

My name is Joe. I'm from Central Texas (North of Austin). I am pretty much your average gearhead. If it comes to cars, I can do it. I built many motors, trannys, suspensions, a few race cars, and recently completed my looong awaited, 69 Camaro that I have been dreaming of since I was old enough to turn a wrench.

The car has a pretty bizarre history from a nice rust free project to a burned down pile of nothing after it was in a housefire (I have pix)....then into what it is today. It hosts a 450hp 2000 Camaro LS1 and a T56. 3.73 Richmond gears with a clutch style Eaton posi. AR 17" wheels all around stopped by a full 4 corner disk brake setup. Hotchkis springs all around with KYB's to dampen it all. It also has a custom built dash built by me, along with a custom built 6 point roll bar. A 4th gen steering column and Team Motorsport 6 bolster seats finish out the interior.

All body work, paint and anything you see is done by yours truely. I never paid anyone to do any work on this car. Had a few friends help with the glass install, hood install, alignment, and tint, but other than that, it's done by me.

I could prolly go on and on with how it met it's demise and how it came to be, but I'll spare that for later (tell me where to post that). For now, here are some recent pics......(mods, if these pics are too large, please let me know)

~Joe

[brianswimmer23]

wow you have been here awhile! i really want to see these pics of when it had hard times, especially when it was in the house fire. by the way glad to have you on the sight and she is a looker!!

[FANTA-Z]

Beautiful car!!!!

[dc2250]

good looking car you built, check out the "texas bowties" from San Antonio and surrounding areas, real good group of guys with nothing but 1st gens....

[UKRob]

Stunning!!! - Clearly a labour of love.

[Blackstreak]

That is definitly an awesome '69 Camaro! You have some major talent from the looks of it.

[greg_74]

Nice 69 man. I'd love to have the ability, time, and know how to be able to restore a first gen like you did. Feel free to become more of a poster instead of just a lurker.

[Z/YA]

Love It!
One day I will have mine, and I love the pro touring trend!

[AtalantaAsh]

Wow!!!! that's all I can say

[Bowtie_Racer]

Sweet ride!

[Kokamo]

Hey thanks guy! I appreciate it! Its been a long time coming for my 69, but its well worth the effort. It gets attention everywhere it goes and has a very unique story to go with it. I learned something from this project....if you want something bad enough, but you dont have the extra cash to just hand out to random people to "do it for you", get online, do a search, do lots of research, and most importantly....take your time. Ive done about 75% of the work on this car before, but the paint and body were two things I never tackled before. Id say ,y first paint job turned out ok, but now that I know how to do it, I have plans to go back a different color. Most likely it will be next summer when I get to that point.

Brian, I have some pix for you man, but be forewarned....they are not easy to look at. The house burned down around it, not leaving much to work with. The car was nearly a show car as seen HERE, but the garage burned down around it and it ended up like the following.......are you ready???

[AtalantaAsh]

that poor car, that fire showed no mercy

[Z/YA]

Wow! that is crazy! I am sure your were sick when you seen it, I know I would have been

[UKRob]

OMG!!!! What a sad sight. So she literally is like the Phoenix risen from the ashes.

[z28addiction]

wow...... you definately do have talent from the way it looked after the fire. welcome to the site