“They don’t make cars like they used to.” Yeah, ain’t that the truth. Growing up, I heard that crap every time I went to brag about my 1979 Cutlass, or my 1987 Monte Carlo, usually from someone at least fifteen years older than I was who could remember the “good old days” when cars had enough torque to slow down the planet, enough style to make the opposite sex weak in the knees and enough substance to reduce my modern-day pile of crap to nothing. Except, I never truly bought on to the idea. Sure, there are some awesome vehicles in the past that I’d love to call my own. But could I afford to own them? Hell. No. It wasn’t that I couldn’t buy into one, but repairing it to be a respectable daily driver that wasn’t flying under the radar of the cop looking to write a fix-it ticket would be cost-prohibitive, and while I agree that working on your own car is a great way to learn to not only understand your vehicle but to make you a more responsible driver overall, that policy tends to backfire pretty hard when you’re engineering a temp fix three times a week.

“But that builds character!” Stuff it, and stuff it far. I’ve done this route more times than I care to count, and if you want a beginning to end account of what it looks like for someone starting out with cars to start with a beater, might I suggest searching “Mirada” in the forums. You’ll find a particular 1981 example of Dodge’s forgotten coupe that I bought for $600, spent plenty of money on and last saw sitting on blocks in a Prescott Valley, Arizona junkyard, days away from the crusher. If you have the money, time, and ability to fix up a beater, then more power to you. But if you’re a teen or younger adult just starting out and you’ve gotten bitten by the bug to start a project, allow us to show you just what you’re getting yourself into going for a cheap classic instead of finding a cheap late-model muscle car instead that might suit you better. For our example, I dug up this 1972 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport off of eBay. At the time of writing, the bidding was sitting at $2600 plus, and I’ll all but guarantee that price will be much higher when you read this. Not exactly cheap, but it is a legit split bumper Camaro, and it is a running, driving car. It’s rough, but with a little love and care, you can make this into a respectable driver…right? Let’s take a look:

At first glance, this 1972 Camaro RS looks like a score. The paint looks stock, once you gloss over where sanding and priming has occurred, and it doesn’t appear to be totally trashed out. The car is coming out of Fort Collins, Colorado, which is between Denver and the Colorado/Wyoming border. It’s location is a mixed bag…you have plains and you have the Rockies, which means snow…which means salt. Mismatched mid-70s Rally wheels and shotgun mags don’t make for an appealing combination, and tires should always be checked on a used car with a budget ready, in case they need to be replaced. We will simply assume for now that they are safe and you can get in the car and drive away.Don’t expect perfection. This isn’t the straightest Camaro we’ve seen, but it is nowhere near the worst. A walk around will reveal where to start. At $60/wheel, we’d simply get brand new mags like on the back to complete the look. They’re steel and will hold up at least long enough to afford something better. Missing trim isn’t a necessity, so no worries on the “Rally Sport” script. The hole in the front fender and at the front of the rear quarter panel will have to be dealt with, and that does not mean “pack it full of Bondo until it’s filled”. If you are lucky, there isn’t much rust to cut out and you can patch in some fresh metal.Look for serious problems. The area around the windshield and back glass looks good, which is a plus. What is worrisome is the driver’s side. We will focus on the bigger issue in a second, but take note of the spot above the driver’s side window. It is difficult to tell in the photos whether that is surface rust or something deeper. Surface rust can be dealt with. Something deeper and you might want to think twice. Also note, once again, the interior…the dash cap is fully warped and while covering it up will put the problem out of sight, sooner or later you will want to deal with that. Knowing that this Camaro lived in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, we would want to see the underside of the car for any subframe issues.Go for a car with decent running gear if you are looking for a driver. Underhood is probably the brightest side of acquiring a Camaro like this: the small-block Chevrolet. With luck, this is a 350. It certainly isn’t the 396 that was still available, it isn’t the 250 I-6, and if that is a 307ci V8 sitting there…well, I’d be back in the classifieds if it were me. But if it runs and drives, and the transmission (an automatic, in this case) isn’t halfway shot, then you should be solid in the drivetrain department. I’ve seen Chevrolet trucks so rusted that you could see from one end of the truck through to the other, but driving them was still a joy because of the running gear. It won’t be a fire-breather and probably needs some maintenance and love, but every used car will need some attention under hood. If the engine is one foot in the grave, this will be nothing but a wallet-draining heartache for you.

Don’t sweat small stuff. This RS model doesn’t appear to be a vinyl top car, and what’s underneath the chrome isn’t scaring us off. That interior, however, has definitely seen better days. A package tray of some kind would be high on the agenda. That could be home-made using some basic materials to get by until the funds are available to restore the car, so again, not that big of a deal. A few cans of rust proofer, on the other hand, might not be a bad idea.

Remember where you will be sitting. It is one thing for the outside of the car to look like hell. But if the interior is disgusting, you will never, ever want to drive the car, and brother, this one is bad. Expect to spend the better part of a day detailing, disinfecting and scrubbing the interior. We would be ditching the seats in half a second for anything else that would bolt in. Radio is gone, but surprisingly, the dash isn’t carved out. Before that temptation strikes, we’d look in a restoration catalog for one that fits the “two dial” setup and looks stock-ish, but has either a satellite radio connection or at least an auxiliary port. Sure, it will cost now, but I’ve yet to see a beater-in-progress where the stereo wasn’t fixed up and it will keep the character of the car intact. Honestly, the interior would be the first bit of attention this Camaro needs. Make sure there isn’t any holes in the floor and get to work.

Save where you can. Amazing how the rear seat in most second-generation F-bodies looks almost unused, isn’t it? Shame the plastics have just about had it, and if that is the factory carpet, good riddance. The backseat might be salvageable, and if the front seats aren’t as bad as the photos make them out to be, reskinning them might be more cost-effective than just replacing them.

Determine the biggest repair needs. On our Camaro, the answer is pretty obvious in the pictures: the driver’s side rear quarter. On the bright side, a new quarter panel comes with the car, so you won’t be buying one, but the cost to replace it will stun you if you aren’t so inclined to do it yourself. You can add in shop equipment, body filler, and by this time, primer and paint, because if you’re going to the trouble of doing a quarter panel swap, you might as well prep the car and get it painted, so budget that in as well. If rust scares you, walk away now. If it doesn’t, expect your wallet to be a lot lighter for this part unless you know bodywork and welding…and given that auto shop got pulled out of most high schools about twenty years ago, we’re doubtful that a young adult has sufficient skills. You like Ramen, right? Remember that budget…any flex that goes to the car takes away from other fun stuff.

Here’s our take: If you have the money saved up, have the time to screw with this, have a second car to drive while you’re working on it and have the patience to give this Camaro the work it needs to come back to live, by all means, go for it..this 1972 would make for a killer project and be a sweet ride when done. But don’t just buy the car because it’s a split bumper and expect to be daily driving the thing. Without touching on the electrical system or the suspension, or any other surprises that await you, we can tell you with certainty that as a daily driver, in it’s current state, that this Camaro will be miserable. That interior alone would kill it for us. Sure, the body shape is sexy and the prices are only going to keep climbing the older they get. But the old saying sits here: buyer beware. Bringing this Camaro up to a decent standard will set you back several thousand dollars, for paint, bodywork, and interior restoration alone. By that point, you might as well do a visual restoration, and we haven’t started hot-rodding the engine yet. Do you have several thousand dollars to spend on one car that you won’t be able to drive for a while, or do you have a couple thousand dollars and need a car that will get the job done everyday?