So it’s a jillion o’clock at night and I’m sitting here putting up items on Facebook for tomorrow’s content when I come to the Craigslist Find that Brian put up about the Cantara Camaro. And it makes me laugh. Not only because it’s Brian and he really does write some funny stuff, but also because of his comparison of this thing to a Delorean. Brian hates Deloreans. I mean he wouldn’t take a free one unless it was so that we could crash it.
Nobody would want to crash a Cantara Camaro though because they are super rare. After all, only 50 were made. That’s COPO territory right there!
Of course Brian had to make the distinction between “it’s worth a lot of money” rare, and “nobody bought one cause they sucked so there aren’t hardly any around” rare. Which I agree with in principle, but when he started attacking parachute pants and boom boxes…. I almost lost my mind. After all, he’s turning 3o something today, so what does he know. He was just barely born when I started wearing parachute pants and break dancing. Come on Brian, where’s the love man! LOL
Anyway, he goes on to also say that “With its busted transmission, stock 305, peeling silver paint, cracked windshield, and unstated but expected smell of animal urine inside, this car is worth a little less than the $4500 the seller is asking for it.” And I can’t argue with that.
But when he says “I hate DeLoreans, but may actually take one over a Camaro pretending to be a DeLorean.”, I have to cry bullshit. Dude, where is your head at? A DeLorean has some engine in it that is so inconsequential that I can’t actually be sure but think it’s a Pugeot. And it weighs eight jillion pounds. And it’s ugly. And it doesn’t handle well. And it isn’t comfortable. And everywhere you go in one you have to listen to jokes about cocaine. BUT…with the Cantara Camaro you get most of these things, and one big bonus. The ability to make it FAST!
Yeah baby. I would put this bad boy together with a seriously sick twin turbo LS motor in it, cage it, throw a 275 drag radial on it and have the only Cantara Camaro drag car EVER. Or, throw a bunch of handling goodies on it, which all bolt on one of these cars by the way, and throw power and some creature comforts to it and have the only Cantara Camaro pro touring car EVER.
See? I know it’s ugly like a DeLorean, but the one thing it has that the DeLorean just can’t match is hope. Cause there ain’t no hope for the DeLorean, but I can make the Cantara Camaro cool. Plus, I bet if you look hard enough there is a gold chain somewhere in that Camaro. Golds worth a lot right now. You could make some of your money back.
Later….
Oh, and Happy Birthday Brian. You DeLorean lover. LOL
Ugh, I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Happy Birthday Brian… Just trying to imagine Chad break dancing.
Really trying not to imagine that, thank you.
Since I hate the looks, fit and finish and the interior on third gen Camaros I have to say that the body kit is a massive improvement. That they are relatively light and can be made to handle well is beside the point, if you can’t do it while looking good what’s the point?
That was my thought when I bought it. I posted a reply about this since it’s my car. I don’t respect camaros, they’re junky, they were junky when they were new. They are however, fun to drive, sorta easy to work on, and dirt cheap to buy and maintain and there is a HUGE aftermarket for these cars. I think it looks great, if it had been a firebird cantara, which were also made, I’d have put my knightrider fiberglass nose on it to really change up the front end look. Also a GTA hood would look great with that.
Call me crazy but I like it. Needs to be a different colour, close up the funky gap in the front end behind the nose cone, and like all 3rd Gen F-bodies needs interior improvements. I’d go Pro-Touring but stuff a Buick V6 or a Northstar in it and turbo that instead of the Gen III/IV V8 that everyone does.
Also agree with Chadflunky here that it has hope which makes it way more appealing than a DeLorean.
I kinda like it, i would pimp it
I’m actually digging the fender flares, and the rear might look good without the spoiler.
I’d need to see a few more angles to make a real decision, but from the side it has potential.
So, just discovered this and replied to the original. So, I’ll paste it here as well *paste*
This is my car.
No smell of critter piss. It’s kinda odd someone else submitted this as I had submitted it back before I was trying to sell it and nobody cared. Ah the internet.
Anyway, as for the car the styling isn’t really for everyone. It’s a neat car to see in person I think. Honestly I hate this era camaro. The doors never work, the tops leak, overall it’s just a shitty cheaply built car. A real poor mans corvette (which also sorta suck in this era I think). They’re fun to drive, but in a trashy Coors drinking mullet wearing sorta way.
My info on the build numbers comes from a guy that’s prolific on the 3rd gen camaro forum who has owned one (possibly this one as it was originally sold over where he lives). That guy has a claimed GT which has a big stupid wing on it and different paint. I rather doubt they built a GT as there were four built he claims. Sure, whatever, it coulda happened.
I never bothered to paint the car or make repairs to it because it’s original paint, a half ass paint job would just make putting it back correct harder in the long run for whoever digs it enough to make it nice. The engine has an aluminum intake and chrome valve covers so I’m not sure if it’s the stock 305. It may have had some work done to it. It sure sounds good after someone stole the muffler.
The body kit is really well built and applied to the car, it has door sill pieces and the fender flares all fit nicely. The hatch bolts up where a stock one would go and is quite a bit lighter being all fiberglass. I think the rear window is from a Fiero.
I’ve had it listed off and on for different prices. If I list it any cheaper I get 2AM mouthbreathers calling to offer me $500 for it. Maybe it’s not worth what I’m asking, it’s going to end up on ebay to let the internet decide what it’s worth anyhow.
The car has problems but I do have another windshield and 5speed that would go with it. I have a 1970 500 cadillac mill as well I could be talked out of, make the car into something that would actually go as fast as it looks like it should. Heck I’ve got a parts car camaro that could also go with it if someone asked nice enough.
To rant a bit, I wager I could pull up to a car show in this fiberglass monstrosity and park it next to a much much more expensive car and have a larger crowd gather around this. I’ve done it in the past with some pretty outlandish cars and it rather infuriates the guys with the restored or restomod 57 Chevrolets, or corvettes, or whatever’s.
As fun as they can be to drive I don’t really ‘respect’ this era camaro, but at least I could run down to AutoZone or similar and pick up any major mechanical part of this car. Not sure you could do that with a Bugatti. Not sure you’d want to park a Bugatti at the mall or on the street either.
It’s funny to see one of these ‘omg it so fugly’ posts on something I actually own. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but figured I’d give more info.
If it helps any, I originally bought it to paint it flat black with wire mesh windows and my mocked up pair of 50cal machineguns mounted on the hood. I couldn’t bring myself to tear it up after finding out what it was, figured there was some camaro head out there that would rather me not do that and take it off my hands. I mean how many times do we all bitch about ‘good lord why did they wreck that (insert whatever car/truck)” ?
This thing still has the original wheels, center caps, paint, interior…pretty much everything as far as I can tell.
There’s rare and amazingly expensive, and rare and reasonably priced. Both may get looks, and both are going to have a ton of people going “damn son, that ride shoulda been swallowed at birth”. If ya like the thing, drive it.
They put wheels on cars for a reason.
I always wondered how it would go over when the owner of one of the “craigslist/ebay find” cars logged into BS one day and found his car there! I’ve never been a “KILL IT WITH FIRE!!” kinda guy, and I like these blog posts because it’s cool to see what kind of stuff actually exists. Even though I probably wouldn’t own any of the featured cars, someone does, and probably gets a lot more looks than I do! Just drive what you love.
Yeah, I’d wondered that as well. I won’t lie, I agree some of the cars on these type of sites are god awful, but I tend to be more ‘drive what ya like cuz the haters are gunna hate regardless’ sorta guy. I’ve seen much more expensive cars that I thought were far uglier than that odd camaro in my barn. I’d love to see it go somewhere and be restored, It survived this long unmolested and while it’s not really my ‘thang’ I think it deserves something for hanging in there.
….while I’m old enough that this still a ‘new’ car to me, it seems like it would be a good car to make into a ‘retro’ road racer type of car (new trend?) – (pro touring anyone?) yeah all the cars were crappy built in those days, but it’s got more potential than most
I need to to thank you for this excellent read!! I certainly loved every bit of it.
I have you bookmarked to look at new stuff you
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