[1973z-man]

Hello Everyone, I just began looking for Gen 5 information a few weeks ago and came across this site. Looks like a very good group with very little flaming and bickering. I guess the common love of the Camaro overrides that.

My name is Rick, I am 50 and live just outside Detroit. I was lucky to have a father that was a gear head. He owned gas/service stations in the late 60's/early 70's and was an amateur stock car racer. I grew up in the garage learning that with a little knowledge and the right tools you can do just about anything.

I bought a '57 Chevy in 1971 at the age of 14. It was my "project car". For two years with guidance from my father and help from a couple buddies, we built a Chevy 350 for the car and dropped it in with a few new (used) driveline components. We worked on the body and the interior and had a pretty neat car for a 15/16 year old. But, I wasn't satisfied with that so I began purchasing components from Total Performance to build a "T Bucket". I got it on the street about 2 years after I started on it. In the mean time I had purchased a '69 Z28, fell in love with the car. Hugger Orange, White Stripes, original 302. What a car, still kicking myself that I sold it, but in those days we (I) did not view them with the reverence we (I) do now, it was a car.

Around the same time I was cruising past a dealership in Wauseon Ohio when I saw a beautiful '67 Corvette. I had to stop and ask about the car. It was a 327 4-speed convertible with factory side exhaust and the sale price was $1775.00 (this is in 1975). I sold my T Bucket and bought the Vette.

My dad was not a fan of the Vette, he thought I was going to die in it. In retrospect my dad was a very smart man. He found a 1973 Z28 in Milan Michigan for sale. It was 2 years old, silver with black stripes, and of course I loved it. I sold the Vette and bought the Camaro (with urging from dad).

The Camaro was my daily summertime driver (it was kept in the garage from October until April) for about three years, to this day the 73 Z and the 69 Z were the best 2 cars I have ever owned. Then I met my wife, traded the Camaro to my brother for a 1972 Grand Prix (great car too) because there was a little one on the way and I needed a car that I could drive in the winter (wife would not ride in my winter car a 1962 Dodge Polara).

I bought a 1970 Corvette when the first baby was born but after trying unsuccessfully to teach the wife to drive a stick shift and a second baby on the way the Vette was sold too.

That was the end of my performance car ownership until now. I attended the NAIAS when the Camaro concept was shown. I did not know it was going to be there, the first sight of it blew me away!

A spark in me that had gone out a long time ago has been re-ignited. I cannot wait to buy one when they are released.