When our daughter was five years old, we were given a 1976 Camaro.  It didn’t take long for us to decide the car was her car. Trinety loved to help her daddy work on the car, and  she would do anything she could to help.

She helped from the very beginning, as much as a five year old can, that is. She really liked to use the screw drivers, so dad put her to work removing some of the interior panels.

The Camaro had been hit at some point and did not run very well. It had a stock 305 that I don’t think had ever been rebuilt. All the VIN numbers matched, and that’s a pretty cool thing for a ‘76 model.

Pulling and tearing down the motor was the first thing they did, and then it all went to the machine shop. My husband then ordered the proper size pistons and other internal parts the motor would need to be completed.

Considering Trinety being only five we knew that we had plenty of time to complete this car before she would be old enough to drive it. My husband decided he wanted to do a complete frame off restoration, where the body is actually separated from the frame rails and every surface is refurbished. So we got started, taking everything apart. It was far more work than I thought it would be. 

Everything got painted before any of the body was put back on the frame. At one point we were going to paint it purple with silver racing stripes and yellow accents.

We knew we were going to have to acquire some replacement panels for the car, so we looked at the junk yards for good quarter panels, but had no luck. So to the internet we went, and we found a place called Paddock in San Bernardino, CA. This was great, as it was local for us and we would not have to pay for shipping! That can really add up quickly. In a few days we had our panels. They were new ready to paint panels, but we did however find them a bit difficult to line up with the existing panels.

We found that Trinety liked to sand things, so we let her sand the primer coat on the hood before it was painted.  It was better she sanded that rather than other parts that did not need sanding. Kids are great to work with, you have to have eyes in the back of your head, but we would not have had it any other way!

While I helped Trinety in the shop with the hood, my husband finished putting the new quarter panels on the car, which took a lot longer than the hood sanding. They looked a lot better than the ones that were on the car when we got it.

When the engine was complete, we put it in along with the racing transmission from our GMC truck. We had already taken the motor out of our truck, so we decided to use the gauges out of it for the Camaro too. After getting everything bolted together and ready we got it started. It ran great, but it was a bit tricky to get it started.

Unfortunately, at this point my husband started having major back problems, and we were told that he needed to have back surgery. We made sure that the car was put

together and was in a drivable condition. This is where the project came to a standstill. The car has moved from Southern California to Texas with us due to a new job for my husband, and it is still unfinished due to the lack of sufficient space to work on it.

Trinety is now 12 years old and the plans for the car have changed some. My husband wants the new 2010 Camaro, painted like Bumble Bee, yellow with black racing stripes. Trinity’s Camaro is the same model so the new plan is to paint both cars alike. Like father, like daughter I suppose!

By Mandy Edmondson

Mary is a freelance writer.