I purchased this 1971 Camaro RS/SS over seven years ago now. It had a rebuilt Chevy 350 and a Muncie 4 speed in it. The interior was pretty much gutted and the body had rust in all of the common areas.

Backstory

I bought the car on eBay and drove a few hours to pick it up. The car was in worse shape than was described in the auction listing, but I decided to take the car anyway being that I made the trip.

1971 Camaro RS/SS
Image prior to tear down

I got the car home, looked it over, and began stripping it down. I spent a lot of time staring at the car, trying to decide what the best way to approach it was. Finally one afternoon I decided it was time to take action so I cut off the quarter panels. From there I cut the outer wheel houses off along with the inner and outer tail panels.

I began replacing the panels. To date I have replaced the inner and outer tail panels, both quarter panels, both outer wheel houses, the driver side rocker (because of a large dent), the roof skin, the cowl panel, and the front passenger floor pan.

Somewhere along the way, I decided to make the swap to an LS engine, so I sold the 350 and the 4 speed. Shortly after that, I purchased an LS1 out of a 98 Camaro SS and separately purchased a rebuilt T56 six speed transmission. I sold the engine computer and harness in favor of a 99+ setup with the VATs removed.

1998 LS1 engine installed in 1971 Camaro
1998 LS1 engine installed in 1971 Camaro

Current Day

That brings us to today where I now have the RestoCar website and YouTube channel. I plan on spending a lot more time working on the car using it to produce content to help others who are working on projects at home.

Current state of 1971 Camaro project
Current state

Getting back to the car, I recently removed the driver side door skin and repaired the door shell in preparation for the new door skin. I’m going to replace the front driver floor plan. I have some work to do on the subframe in order to get the LS1 to fit how I want it to. I also plan on going with a modern suspension system. I’m going to keep the original hood and upgrade the wheels and tires.

Stay up-to-date by subscribing to my YouTube channel. I’ll be posting How To content and progress updates weekly.

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