This is the story of how I took a basic, somewhat clean '72 El Camino that belonged to my dad and built him a pretty wild hot rod and lied to him about the WHOLE project! Was a monster undertaking for an after hours, long weekends thing I took on 'cuz I thought it would be cool. Right after my parents moved back to So. Cal. from eastern Oregon, dad wanted me to find him a truck. He said an El Camino would be cool too and he really didn't even care what year. Myself and a friend went down to the Pomona Swap Meet in March '97 and found him a fairly decent (or so it seemed at the time) nothing special, but with AC car for $3200. Here it is right after we got it home. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/scan0002.jpg After driving it for a year like this, found some early style Tork Thrusts, had them fully polished and then dad redid the front suspension with dropped spindles and all new bushings. The car was cool and dad drove the crap out of it. Now in 2004 my parents decided to move back up to Oregon to retire. Dad had bought parts for me to start putting together a fairly nasty big block and install it for him after they left. After looking over the car for about a week I decided maybe to clean it up a little more http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/carbeforeteardown.jpg and so the story begins...

I had really good stuff for the start of the engine ('71 454 block and crank, AFR 335 heads, Isky Roller, Dart intake, BG 1025, etc.) but I figured I'd do a little Krylon tuneup, just to make it look nice under the hood too. Once I started getting ready to yank the old motor out, I decided to take it up a notch, take off the front sheet metal and make the frame look good too. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0431.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0488.jpg Hmmm, well now that it this far, maybe I should take the rest of the car apart underneath and at least clean it up too http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0487.jpg Ok, since the motor's pretty nasty I didn't think it needed the AC and what dad didn't know, won't hurt me!

Now he still has no idea any of this is going on. Thank goodness everyone who did kept their mouth shut! :) After about 10 gallons of diesel in my steam cleaner and another 5 gallons of purple stuff (degreaser) It was coming along ok. Looking back, I should have just taken the body off the frame, but at the time I just thinking about cleaning it up and making it look nice. I was underneath the thing for hours cleaning off undercoat and taking most of the paint down to bare metal. As I'm doing this I'm wondering what did I get myself into. Having a good friend with a powdercoat shop also came in very handy! Anything I could unbolt (suspension pieces and parts, brackets pretty much everything) was coated in a nice eggshell finish black! I painted the whole chassis in semi-gloss chassis black. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0490.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0565.jpg Time to start bolting parts back on!

I decided to take a break from the car and focus on the engine. After all the machine work was done, cam degreed, pushrods measured and made, etc., I put it on the test stand to fire it off, get everything adjusted and checked for leaks. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0462.jpg Man, you have to love the sound of nasty, roller cammed big block! I tell dad the motor runs, I just need to get the transmission redone before I can drop it in. He has no idea his car is completely torn apart!

So back to my story (it's too freakin' windy outside to do anything!) So, motor goes back in with a brand new Art Carr reverse manual valvebody trans (was mine, I'd done some trading for and one of the many things of mine he ended up with :)) http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0566.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0567.jpg The exhaust was a complete pain! I needed to run Hookers 2 1/8" primaries 'cuz thats what the heads called for. I picked these up on Ebay for $150 which beats $600 for new ones. They are a pain to bolt on! I also remade all new brake lines because the old ones looked pretty bad. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0568.jpg After getting them all dialed and the exhaust all welded up (went with 3" and 40 series Flowmasters 'cuz dad is deaf and he loves loud!!lol) I had my friend Vinny the powdercoater do the Cermachrome thing on the whole system. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0607.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0609.jpg

Dad still has no idea his car is in shreds! He's now mad at me because he thinks I've had the way too long to not have the motor in (I've had the car about 9 months) and says he's bringing a trailer when he comes down for my daughters graduation! It's funny, 'cuz he is pissed and I laugh (I can do that when he's 1000 miles away and can't smack me!) and tell him he better bring a fork lift too! I told him to go check his email so that would make sense and I proceed to sent him these very pics. He calls back and it's silent! Now he's all choked up and apologizing for getting mad and I told him to just get down and help me for awhile. He's down for about a week and redoes all the wiring on the firewall and now it looks much better. Now he sorta has an idea what he's in for. I told him the AC, sway bar and all the extra crap is off the car for weight, being that he wants this thing to haul butt he's pretty much going ok! Now he's gotta start kicking some money in too! We send the rear wheels down to Eric Vaughn and have him widen them from 8.5" to 10" so I can fit a bigger tire. The rearend gets an 1" chopped off each side and Ford ends installed for the Moser axles. Boxed 4 link arms and a TA girdle round all that out. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0717.jpg I had my friend Brian weld on the sump to the factory tank and coated it silver. I'd also added before I painted it all, an adjustable racing sway bar to keep the car from twisting at launch. With that installed, I had no room to finish running the exhaust all the way out back too. Oh well.

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0739.jpgStill need to repaint the rear coils and get the rest of my new fasteners. Now it's cool because dad is no longer bugging me about getting his car back. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0798.jpg I made the radiator hoses, just to give it a little flair. Finished it off with silicone ends and t-bolts. Ended up remounting the fan relay, 'cuz it looked so bad. Also made braided hose for the power steering and designed the laser cut bracket to hold both the steering pump and the torque strap to the frame. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0890.jpg

So now what? I've now decided I'm going to repaint it! Being a custom painter for the last 25+ years kinda helps in this area. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0877.jpg I start taking everything down with 80 grit to see where I'm at. Holy crap, this car is really rough! http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0900.jpg I end up replacing both doors, the pass. fender and strip the quarters down to bare metal! I end up doing a panel at a time, stripping it and starting all over! NO end to the bare metal madness! http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF0989.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1010.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1059.jpg So now it's ever so slowly (this is over months!) coming along. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1064.jpg After priming and blocking (LOTS of different sized blocks) 4 times (lots of primer too) it was actually looking really straight! WOW! Now dad knew I was painting it, but I just told him I was going to do it white again and do something cool with the cowl stripes, 'cuz I didn't think it would be anywhere close enough to do it any other color. Now that it's actually straight enough to paint it ANY color I make the executive decision to paint it blue! Dad wanted it blue, as Marina blue was the original color of the car and where it peeked through, he really liked. I'd worked with a custom painter by the name of Dick Vale for almost 17 years, when I was at this point and we'd discussed different designs and colors and decided that HOK True Blue would really rock on this thing! It's a little darker and cleaner than the original blue and would look really nice. Game on! http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1084.jpg Car jambed and put back together http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1094.jpg Since I decided I didn't want to tie up anybodys paint booth for a week (my main gig is pinstriping and lettering, so don't need a booth too often) I decided to convert my garage into a full on booth with lights, exhaust and filtered air system! It worked really well. My parents came down to my other daughters graduation and I was hoping to have the car painted. Didn't quite make it. Dad showed up to install gauges and help with other stuff (I'd lied to him and told him I was still working on one of the quarter panels, so he had no idea the car was ready to be painted!) I said no gauges, you're going to help me paint! He looked at me rather strange and I said yes, paint. I said I'd lied (again, he's a slow learner!) and told him we're not painting it white either. We're not? Nope, True Blue with FLAMES!!! Oh yeah, flames baby! He flipped and spent the next few days stuffed in my garage helping me paint his car! After basing the car out in white, I laid out and we masked off the flames http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1097.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1096.jpg

Again, it's too cold outside so I'll keep at this... After the flames were painted http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1100.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1102.jpg Flames are HOK pearls, so they glow! Here's dad helping to backmask the flames to get ready for the blue http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1101.jpg Here it is painted, cleared and color sanded. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1104.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1105.jpg I left the plastic up on the sides (took the roof plastic off) so I wouldn't get compound splattered everywhere. Here it is rubbed out http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0629082036b.jpg and the beginning of the pinstriping http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0704081721a.jpg

Now to start putting it together! Bumpers re-chromed http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0719081341a.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0705081400b.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0707080709a.jpg I ended up painting the black outline around the signals yellow 'cuz I thought the black killed the front. Did the back ones blue. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/131.jpg Notice the yellow striping in the flames and the dark blue on the outside. They go all the way to the gas door! Went to the inside and recovered the seat in black/black cloth and vinyl. New door panels, rubber, channels, carpet, etc. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/333.jpg Notice the shifter mount and use of the original column shift mount to hold the shift light!

Mounted the trans cooler in the bed to keep the radiator open http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/cooler.jpg The battery is also mounted in the bed. Made a pattern and had my friend Ron bend up and dimple die this aluminum piece for the back of the cowl opening. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/DSCF1071.jpg and the finished engine compartment http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/enginemag.jpg Finally, put 5" wheels up front w/165's and 295x65 drag radials in the back, trimmed about 1/2 coil off the front springs and it looks as good as it sounds!http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/camino1.jpg http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0704091150a.jpg

Took it up to dad in August (He flipped!) and he had it in time for the big car show they have in town every year. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/100.jpg He won his class! A few weeks ago I went up to help him get set up in the Boise Roadster Show (his first real show) and he was ready! He's built some really cool stantions out of his buddy's Pro Mod car rods and pistons! http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0310101746a.jpg Took first place in his class too! It was a lot of work over a period of 3 1/2 years but it's been fun watching the world's oldest 15 year old have fun!!!

Heck, I'm almost wordless. Wow. What an effort, I feel so lazy!! Super, super, super nice ride and what a great story. Thanks for telling it and sharing all the pics too!

Thats an awesome story and one hell of a car.. well.. truck.. :You_Rock:

Out of all the three and four letters words I could use I'll stick with (wow!!!!!)
Are you open to adoption?
Thats fantastic man!!!!!
Donny

Beautiful Elky and awsome story, thanks for telling and showing it!!

Thanks for sharing your story, that's an awesome ride.

THATS AWESOME CONGRATS, TELL POPS TO MASH ON IT FOR ME!!!!!:You_Rock::beer::texas:

I have a beautiful 1980 with a perfect body if you want to create a custom 5th gen.. LOL!

Im stunned.. that is... just.. BEAUTIFUL! WOW

Amazing dude! Now I really really want to start restoration of my Elky! :You_Rock:

Wow is right!, thats a great story post, great job man. more pics

WOW that is one hell of a story. I can not be leave you did all of that! Wow you want to help me with my car now JK JK JK!!!

Thanks guys! You made my day! My dad, being a truck driver was more into those than cars. He always had really nice Peterbilts and I was the car nut. When the car was getting closer do being done, dad would go what kind of mileage do you think it will get :)? I told him to never, ever ask me that again! You wanted a hot rod that makes noise, rattles windows and sets off car alarms everywhere and you're worried about gas?!! I told him you drive it 'till it's low and refill it and drive it some more! lol He asks me a little later if it was going to be like my old 14 second Astro van and would bark them in second gear. After trying to remain calm enough to not reach through the phone and ring his neck, I asked him if he spent $3k on a set of heads to chirp second gear?! I said dad "It's violent in second gear!" to which his reply was "Oh, ok". The car weighs 3300 lbs, roughly 630hp, 3800 stall, manual valve body and 4:11 gears... It's freakin' awesome to drive! For the 2 months he was able to drive it last year before the weather went bad, he burned up a bunch of gas and has had a ball so it was really worth it to do all that! Now I need to do something for mom so she doesn't feel left out! lol

EXTREMELY nice job from bottom to top and inside out. Well Done!

The only thing better than the story is the cruck! FANTASTIC JOB!!!! I rate it a solid "5"!.............Ken :beer:

Can I adopt you?

Great job , beautifully done 72

You are the man

I forgot to show the sticker I made up on the core support. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/coresupportsticker.jpg I drew it up in Corel and had a friend of mine who makes decals, do it! It's really hard to tell on the pics, but all the engine compartment, fenders, hood, engine and most everything under there are ARP polished 12 point bolts. I think it looks kinda racy

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae219/caminoguy1/0523091320a.jpg You can see the blue striping that goes to the back of the car. Also notice where the battery is located. Since that pic I changed to a black battery box. Behind the battery is the access panel which left off so the trans cooler can pull fresh air from the back.

This is a great project. I really liked the pictures. Good job.

WOW! what everyone has said for sure. Very good!

Beautiful Elky! I LOVE that sticker! Mind if I steal it?

Incredible work! Some son you are...and some father he must be in order to deserve all of that! Good stuff, man, thanks for sharing!
:beer:

I'm still waiting for something awesome to happen to ME! (I'm Laughing!!!) I've built cars for my sister (a way cool, slammed out, magenta, VW squareback on Porsche alloys back in the mid 80's) I did a pretty cool Chevy Luv for my younger brother even before that. LOL I guess it's just in my blood! After the whole way lots of hours, Camino deal, I've been working on my little ABSOLUTELY very little money '49 Chevy Pickup. It's been fun and kinda cool seeing how low budget I can do this thing! You guys can check it out if you'd like http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3516434#post3516434 as I've been documenting the build too...

Amazing work! :texas:

This was a video my sister took of me pulling the Camino out of the Boise building. She'd never heard the car before. Turn up your speakers!!! lol YouTube- Kings Kustom '72 El Camino Boise Roadster Show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OroWTZRZGBw)

MMMM great stuff!

It sounds great

Excellent job at highlighting the evolution of your dad's car! Love the paint, the details, and the fact that your dad and you worked together so well.

Too cool man, What an amazing effort for someone you love...

Now please come do it to mine! LOL!:poke:

Beautiful El Camino! Your dad must have been in hogs heaven when he saw it. The pic of the rear tire looks like there's some huge rubber in the back. What size rear tire is that?

Awesome! I gotta start making kids like you :yell:

It's a 295/65/15 MT Drag Radial. I couldn't get it any tighter without tubbing it!

What size wheel do you have in the back, I am gonna restore my 72 and I have 15x10 cragar S/S wheels for the back and 15x3 up front. Can I fit the 295 on them, would they fit with out rolling the lip ?

Man, you should think about starting your own business. Kustom Elkies INC. I would so make an order from you, if I had the money.:You_Rock:

If my cruck looks half as nice as that beautiful machine of yours when I'm done I'll be a happy camper. Stunning...absolutely stunning!! Great work!!!

What a "great son" and "great craftman"!

Congratulations on an outstanding project.

very cool car and I love the fact you did it for your dad very cool indeed