A Georgia car enthusiast has bought his old high school dream car again, but this Camaro needs serious work.
Some cars are worth more to their owners than their condition or market value might suggest. For Sherwood Cooke Jr., a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro represents a trip back to his high school years. It isn't particularly attractive, it's far from road-ready, and its owner even jokes that it has the "worst air cleaner on the face of the planet Earth." Still, he couldn't resist buying one just like the car he once owned.
Cooke, who runs a family-owned auto repair shop in St. Marys and Kingsland, Georgia, has wanted another 1976 Camaro ever since selling his original car. He bought that first example in the mid-1980s, when he was still in high school, and used it as his daily driver.
It wasn't exactly comfortable. “It would melt your shoe on the floorboard because the headers ran right underneath the driver's side where your foot was,” he recalls.
The original Camaro had already suffered engine damage when Cooke bought it. Its previous owner had used water instead of antifreeze during a freezing winter, causing the engine block to crack. Rather than repair it, the owner decided to sell the car. Cooke still remembers the circumstances, although he can no longer recall exactly what he paid for it. Every paycheck afterward seemed to go toward making the Camaro his own.
The new purchase brought back those memories, although negotiating the deal wasn't exactly straightforward. Cooke paid $12,500 for the 1976 Camaro, despite the seller initially asking $10,000. At one point, the asking price suddenly jumped to $25,000. After some negotiation, Cooke managed to reach an agreement and hauled the car back to his shop.
He would have preferred to drive it home, since the engine runs and the car moves under its own power. There was just one major problem: it has no brakes.
His former boss and longtime mentor, Neal, is expected to help sort out the braking system and tackle the other mechanical problems. Parts are already being ordered, and Cooke has had an opportunity to drive the Camaro around a little. He says it feels good on the road, suggesting that the engine and transmission may have been rebuilt relatively recently.
Under the hood sits a 350-cubic-inch Small-Block V8 paired with a two-barrel carburetor. Chevrolet originally rated this engine at 165 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque.
By modern standards, those numbers are modest. The Camaro needed nearly 10 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph and had a top speed of 121 mph. It wasn't exactly a performance machine, but that isn't what Cooke is buying it for.
Before the car can safely return to the road, the braking system needs attention. A new master cylinder and possibly a brake booster are on the list. Neal knows what needs to be done and has advised Cooke not to start making unnecessary changes to the engine.
Cooke is considering installing electric cooling fans, though the car already has a new electric fuel pump.
There are also a few cosmetic decisions to make. The Camaro still wears its factory steel bumper, a feature that wasn't particularly popular with enthusiasts. Cooke is thinking about painting it to match the body.
The current paint is an orange-tinged red, but he doesn't plan to keep that color.
"It definitely won't be pink," he decides.
Peeling paint near the bottom of the windshield reveals a darker shade of red underneath. That may be the original factory color from 1976, and the car appears to have had a matching interior when it left the assembly line.
His high school Camaro looked quite different. It was black, featured an L88-style fiberglass hood inspired by the late-1960s Corvette L88, and had the appearance of a race car that happened to be street-driven.
For the new project, Cooke wants to find a set of Cragar wheels, just like the ones fitted to his first Camaro. Recreating that earlier look is clearly a major part of the appeal.
Getting inside the new car is another challenge. Both doors are stuck shut, so Neal climbs through an open window to start the engine and rev it before unloading the Camaro from the trailer. The car is secured to a winch during the process because, with no working brakes, there isn't much else they can rely on to stop it.
That might not have bothered Cooke much when he was a teenager, but this time around, the braking system needs to be fixed before the Camaro goes anywhere.
Inside, most things appear to work, with one notable exception: the horn seems to have a mind of its own. There are also loose wires hanging from the upper dashboard, suggesting that some components are missing.
The original radio is absent from its usual location, although Cooke eventually finds it wrapped in bubble wrap in the trunk.
The interior is another area scheduled for attention. His old Camaro had gray upholstery, while this example originally came with black vinyl seats. The driver's seat now shows the expected wear from years of use.
Cooke also wants to install a different shifter and aftermarket gauges that provide more information than the original instruments. As with the exterior, his goal is to make the car resemble the one he remembers from his teenage years.
Air conditioning isn't part of the package, either. Just like his first Camaro, this one has no AC. It does, however, come with the unusual air cleaner that Cooke describes as "quite possibly the worst air cleaner on the face of the planet Earth."
It's an odd combination of complaints and affection, but that's precisely what makes this project personal. The questionable air cleaner, missing brakes, stuck doors, and worn interior haven't changed his mind about buying it.
Once the mechanical work is finished, Cooke plans to send the Camaro to a body shop for a fresh paint job and repairs to its dents and dings.
After that, his 1980s Camaro memories will become a reality all over again.