Member: Glen Brooks
Car: 1972 El Camino
Car: 1972 El Camino
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The Sprint was purchased from a roofer who used it to haul roof shingles to the dump. The inside was a bit of a disaster and it had a well used small block motor that he had pulled from Pick Your Part salvage yard. To increase it’s load capacity he had installed Cadillac coil springs in the rear. The rest was all plain jane stock in sorted working condition.
I purchased this car for parts for my 72 El Camino and the Sprint sat at my acreage completely exposed to the elements for 2 years. Finally, with some cash in hand, I felt I had enough surplus funds to restore my 72 El Camino. I was planning on using the frame from the Sprint so into the city it came and up on blocks it went so I could clean it up to see what was really salvageable and remove the frame for my El Camino. After close inspection I discovered there was no rust underneath (saved by the natural flow of leaking oil and transmission fluid I suspect). Hmm…I crawled out from underneath and started to tap on the panels and kick the tires and decided this car would make a good cheap runner (a fun car to haul parts for my 72 El Camino I said), a daily driver.
Just need to throw on a couple of quarter panels and not much else should be needed Wrong! Got the panels installed, now what do I do? It’s a long winter here in Alberta, so maybe I could clean the underneath and do a ‘frame up” restoration. (that should not take long, right?). Wrong! About a year of working on my back the underneath was finally cleaned up, restored and looking mighty fine. What can I say I did a terrific job on the part of the car that nobody sees. (but it’s just a daily driver..)
Let’s have a look at that engine compartment. That grease covered, leaky Small Block had to go; I guess I could just drop in this Big Block 454, dyno-tuned, balanced and blue printed engine that was just lying around in my garage waiting for the 72 El Camino restoration. I suppose that Darryl Young rebuilt 400 transmission would just bolt right in as well. Actually it was a Darryl Young instruction video I used to rebuild it myself with his parts as per his tape. After all, it would be a good idea to break it in (or see if it works) before I install it in the 72 El Camino, right?
So, let’s stand back and take a look at what I have really have; a stripped down car with rear quarter panels in yellow primer, no front end, no fenders, no motor or tranny, and a clean newly painted differential and gas tank that nobody will ever see. What? Do I start from the outside in or from the inside out?
I forgot to mention, while I was doing all this ‘no brainer’ stuff like cleaning, and painting, I stumbled across a wrecked Monte Carlo with a dash that could become my SS dash complete with air conditioning. Probably could use the power door locks and the front bumper too. Wow, all the things the Sprint didn’t have, so it only stands to reason that I make use of all these extra parts…you know, make it just a daily driver with a few luxuries. While I am at it, might as well add some stopping power and steal the disc brakes from the Monte too. Bonus! After all, this is just bolt in stuff anyhow…right? Wrong again!.
It seems the hole in the firewall for the air conditioning needs to be moved just a little and oops, quite a few extra bucks for a few brake line adjustments, and it took a bit of doing to replace the Monte’s bumper mounted signal lights with some custom fog lights etc.etc. Oh well, just some small set backs but shouldn’t take too long and I can always work on it as I get the money. After all it is just going to be a daily driver!
I’ve got this air conditioning unit to install so now that I have made the adjustments to the firewall, I can complete it and finally check that off my list of things to do. At least no money is exchanging hands while I am in clean-up mode (what money?).
Time passes with lots more cleaning and lots of time to save money each pay day. Appears I need a few more items before I can clean up the mess of car pieces I was leaving everywhere. The wife is looking on and shaking her head.. ”When are you going to clean up the garage? I thought the parts were supposed to be on the car, not the floor?” “Tomorrow, I will start on it tomorrow”. It’s only a daily driver, no hurry. “Would you mind re-doing the upholstery on my bucket seats that I got from the 69 chevy in the Junk Yard I ask her? No hurry; its only going to be a daily driver!
Little by little I keep at it and the 454 is finally installed and removed and re-installed again (long story shortened). Almost looks like a real car now. I guess I should change the drive shaft to fit that 400 ‘tranny’ (add a little more get up and go), and I could throw in the 2 ½” Flow Master exhaust system (excellent fit by the way). Had to show off the new exhaust system to the wife and she casually comments that it just looks rusty to me. Hmm, good point, exhaust pipes always rust too fast. I think I will get it ceramic coated to protect it, so off it comes again (should have thought about that earlier) but had to add a resonator anyhow as the wife thinks it is too noisy. After 2 years of tying up the garage and making the wife park her NEW car outside for 2 winters, it is wise to listen and do as she says on some things. Well, another item well done that added to the list of things that nobody will ever see. (I did say this was just a daily driver, right?)
The undercarriage is looking mighty good now and I am thinking that I can finally call it done and move on to something that doesn’t require me to work on my back, when I get the brilliant idea that I might need a tow hitch. But they can be so ugly and ‘uncool’, so why not a hidden one. Just need to run the receiver through a flip down license plate. I saw that in a Hot Rod magazine that is long gone now, so will have to build it from scratch and from memory. Memory wasn’t so good so 3 months later I have this awesome hidden hitch that again nobody will ever see.
My Sprint is completely restored from the bottom up now including the engine compartment. Getting excited to complete it but realizing there is no turning back now so I might as well check in the box of my 72 El Camino and see what spare parts were stored in it that might be useful for the Sprint. Well “lookie” here; it seems we have power windows complete with wiring harness. How hard could that be to throw in? More stuff arriving in the garage and nothing going out yet.(but it’s just a daily driver)
I had to wait for some parts so thought I could tackle the interior. Just have to gut the inside …it’s only a bench seat and some old carpet after all (you just know where this is going don’t you). I discover none of the interior is fit to keep. It could have had something to do with the windows being left down while it sat in the open field for a couple of winters. It stinks, it is dirty and mouse ridden. Stuck my head under the dash and I see the mice built a nice new home in the firewall. Might as well just tear everything out and add fresh paint to the floors, then some new underlay and top it off with brand new carpet. That’s much better. Looking up I see the liner is torn and badly water stained so better replace it too. At least the carpet is softer to lie on than the bare metal when I work under the dash (this daily driver is a bit more work than I first thought). I soon discovered that upholstery work should be left to the pros but I was too deep into it now so the wife finally broke down and helped me with the new springs, new foam and new upholstery for my bucket seats; two like new bucket seats divided by a newly installed floor console added the finishing touches. Of course that means I had to replace the old column with a console steering column (the tilt column can wait…after all this is just a daily driver).
Now we will get at that SS dash (well actually Monte Carlo dash) as I don’t want the stock ‘idiot’ lights; got to have real gauges! Think I will make a trip to Pick Your Part and see what I can find there. I managed to pick up some gauges and I stumbled on automatic load levelers from a 84 Buick Station Wagon for $19.00 while I was wandering around looking for those gauges. Great! more parts and time under the car installing more things that nobody will ever see.
Finally all the gauges are in and the mods complete on the dash and it all goes together rather nicely (must be getting the hang of this repair stuff). Looked at my pile of left over stuff so just had to add the power windows and door locks and cruise control, a new stereo, a modified ignition system and of course the working cowl induction hood. You know, all the little touches to make my daily driver just right.
The garage is starting to self clean now as I add parts. All the hard stuff seems to be done and now just need to spruce up the paint job and we are on the road. My brother-in-law, a life time body man, (of course one of the best there is) was kind enough to do all the body work for me for the price of a 71 Chevelle that I had in storage for the past 15 years (it was supposed to be another story….oh well…) The Chevelle needed everything so it was the perfect fit for him. In time I am sure I will get over the loss.
As in any body work, it all looks not too bad until you put a grinder to it and apparently the old paint job was hiding gallons of bondo. It seemed he had to repair just about every panel and major adjustments were required on the hood and doors. He told me later that the first bump I would have hit on the road the bondo would have cracked like a broken mirror….I guess that’s not a good thing. He fixed and adjusted things that I didn’t even know were out, but a few months later I had a perfectly straight grey primer Sprint.
A great body man knows great painters and one of his best friends was a well known painter in the Hot Rod Show Car circuit. I never dreamt that he would even consider doing my car especially since it was just a daily driver! As luck would have it he just happened to have a delay in a car he was working on (waiting for parts) so he agreed to fit my Sprint in. The only way, however, he would paint my car was to strip it down again, doors off, hood off, fenders off etc. etc. as he paints each piece individually (after all it’s just a daily driver). The only serious problem I had with the whole paint job was the wife. She simply refused to allow me to put on the standard white racing stripes on the hood. So Gord (the painter) and I came up with the idea of using a flip flop paint that would make the stripes basically invisible under low light but under direct sunlight deep burgundy red stripes would practically jump off the hood at you. She was happy and so was I, after all it was just a daily driver so a touch of uniqueness was ok. I dropped in one day about a week later to see how things were going and it appeared to me that it was done and ready to go. He laughed and simply said it was no where near ready, still needed to sand it, put on clear, sand again, put on clear, sand again, and put on more clear coat and sand again and buff it (So I am wondering…isn’t that how they make mirrors?).
Two weeks later I pick up my freshly painted black Sprint and looked around to make sure that I was really the owner. The once badly faded pale yellow Sprint with it’s leaky, Small Block and an interior that even the mice no longer wanted was suddenly transformed like a butterfly into this incredible mirror black, sleek, mean looking muscle car glistening with new chrome and emblems that vibrated slowly under the force of the 450 hp 454 with that unmistakable throaty guttural sound coming from the 2 1/2” dual exhaust system. I think I died and went to heaven!
Now that’s what I call a DAILY DRIVER!
“Honey it’s done.” “Nice car, it took what….just 4 years? Should be able to pass everything but a gas station and a car wash. So when are you taking me to A&W?”
Can’t thank Gerald Armey (my brother-in-law/body man) and Gord McKay (Mr. Perfection of the paint world) enough for all of their help and their extra ordinary standards of perfection that made my daily driver come to life.