If you need assistance with installing parts purchased from Classic Industries, our Technical Support Department is available to help answer your installation-related questions.

Just imagine the great luck that accompanies stumbling onto/discovering the 1968 Ford Mustang GT390 Bullitt movie stunt car that the King of Cool, actor Steve McQueen drove as San Francisco Police Department Detective Frank Bullitt. There's also a mountain of work that ensues once such a figurative pot of gold is found at the end of the rainbow, in terms of renovating a historically and painstakingly accurate, 100-point ground up restoration. 

Let's imagine that you found out about Classic Industries by searching online for parts for your 1967 Ford Mustang GT hi-po fastback that's in dire need of some interior items, some engine parts, and possibly also some new wheels and radial tires. You're amazed to find everything you need for your car in stock and at reasonable prices. Your only gotcha is that you need to create an account. So here you go...

In this final segment of the Camaro restoration, you will at last see the fruits of your labor. For the most part, the reassembly process is a bolt-together operation, especially if most of the parts are either new or already refinished. Hopefully, by this time the majority of exterior replacement parts have arrived and the engine is rebuilt and awaiting reinstallation. If that's the case, the reassembly should move smoothly and quickly.

After completing the body and paint work (or at least the majority of it - you can save final color sand­ing and buffing until the sheetmetal is reassembled), the Camaro's interior can be reinstalled into the car.

Our project Z/28's interior was a mess. When we pur­chased the car, the interior looked like a remnant from one of those movie cars that has had its in­sides blown out by a terrorist bomb. In reality, our 1969 Camaro interior was a terror: the seat covers were ripped and torn, the carpet was faded and shredded, and the door panels were all of the above. But from the bright side, we were lucky - all the correct parts were in their correct places. At least no one had replaced the original 1969 seats with high ­backs from a 1973 Camaro.

In the end, your Camaro will be judged by its exterior fi­nish. No matter how good the interior looks, or how de­tailed the engine compartment is, people always look at the paint first. If the paint falls short, they usually don't bother to check out the rest of the car. But if the paint is really slick, really deep-looking, then you'll have to fight off the spectators with a stick. 

An engine rebuild should be an integral part of any car restoration. Six cylinder, small block, or big block, the Camaro's engine is the life-blood of the machine, so it deserves first-class attention during your full-scale restoration.

Front end components take a terrible beating. Consi­dering highway conditions - pot holes, rough rail­road crossings, speed bumps, driveway dips, high­way imperfections - it's miraculous that so many older cars are still roaming the roads on their original front end parts. Ball joints and bushings in particular absorb tremen­dous punishment because they connect the spindles to the con­trol arms and the control arms to the chassis, respectively, ac­tually supporting much of the Camaro's weight as the wheels and tires bounce over highway hazards. But although Camaro front ends have survived the mileage and the years, the damage of time and use eventually takes its toll, usually surfacing as tell-tale pops and squeaks before advancing to the dangerous level. 

After dismantling the Camaro, the restoration pro­ject can progress in a number of different direc­tions. If you intend to rebuild the engine yourself (more on engine rebuilding in a later chapter), dis­assemble the engine and send the block, crank, heads, etc. to a reputable machine shop for boring, polishing, valve work, bal­ancing, or whatever. That way, when you're ready to proceed with the engine rebuilding at a later stage of the restoration, all of the necessary components will be refinished and ready for reassembly.