Family Treasure

Wallpaper Description:

Every Camaro has a story, but some stories are just extra cool. A good example is the one of Brian Miller’s. As he wrote us, “When younger, I would hear my dad refer to his 1980 Z, and he always had a smile on his face. He would tell my little brother and I how much he loved that car and the ‘adventures’ him and my uncle had in it. From time to time he would even break out the old photo album and show us the few pictures he had of it from my parent’s wedding night. He eventually had to part with it when I was born, since it wasn’t the best family vehicle. One day I told myself ‘if I’m ever able to find one in my price range I would buy it and surprise my dad with it.’ After all, for everything he’s done for our family, he deserved it. As I was cruising through my usual car forums, I saw a thread titled ‘1980 Camaro for sale.’ I opened it up, and there it was; in primer, ready for paint, and ripe for the picking! Within two days, the car was delivered to our house, and fortunately my dad was out of town at the time. I moved the car to my friend’s shop, and by the end of the week had it painted in the same dark Claret Metallic my dad’s Camaro was painted. I then brought it home, parked it backwards in the driveway, and waited for my dad to arrive home from his trip. The expression on his face was not what I expected. It honestly took him about five minutes to completely understand that this was his car and not just a friend’s that I had brought by for him to look at. He was so excited. It was worth all the work. We spent the next few hours bonding and talking over all the possibilities for the car. It was awesome. From there, we pulled the old, tired 350/350 combo and begin planning the rest of the project.”

The plan was to build a driver, so the duo scored a defunct 5.3L LS engine and 4L60E trans to power the Z28. Using a trick we’ve done ourselves; they added 4.8L pistons to bump up the compression, and added ARP bolts for peace of mind. Worked-over LQ4 heads and an LS6 cam further upped the performance. The interior was reworked and upgraded with new gauges and a Vintage Air Gen IV climate system. Once the car hit the road, Brian, his dad, and his brother Andy have enjoyed driving the car to events near and far. They’ve learned a lot and made priceless memories. Once the suspension and brakes get reworked, they plan on hitting some autocross events and enjoying their new family treasure.