I decided it was finally time to document the history and progress of my 2002 V6 vert.
In The Beginning...
Probably back around mid to late 2008, I started to get serious about what to do about my aging daily driver, a 1999 Cadillac DeVille Concours with the 300 HP Northstar V8. Northstars are infamous for their oil consumption and leaks, as well as their propensity to lunch on coolant, and otherwise be big expensive money pits that are no longer worth maintaining.
Add to this the spectre of $4.00/gallon gasoline, and Premium Fuel Only ("Dude!") at that...
Things were already starting to look grim around GM, and I figured that rather than go further into debt for a new car or for even a nice used car, I would buy something cheap for cash that I could have fun with. The list was quickly narrowed as I laid down my wish list: GM-made, convertible, and economical. Corvettes were not practical, so they were never really in the picture -- not to mention the inability to get a decent one for cheap, much less be able to insure one. I looked at the Cavaliers too, but most of them had the living tar beat out of them already, and they also had a kind of a "white trash" image.
Soon I settled on the Camaro. Our family had a history of Camaros, as between my dad, my two brothers, me, and a sister in law, we had owned 6 Camaros so far. You can see most of these cars in my Photo Album. (CAM 4, my car's first nickname until I found out about it's notorious Internet connotation, was supposed to acknowledge it as the 4th Camaro in the succession, but for whatever reason we did not count all of the earlier cars!)
I was shopping exclusively for 4th Gens. It had a good size and decent safety ratings, had a folding rear seat for occasional haulling, had a respectible trunk, was simple rear wheel drive, was a fun chassis that drove well and had lots of potential for making your own mods, still looked good after being out of production for 6 years, had collector potential, and was available with either a sweet V8 or a sensible V6. My search began with me looking at Z28s, but as the economy later tightened and the possibility of me having to leave Michigan loomed in the background, I soon started to look in earnest for V6s.
I officially joined MiFBody.com on July 6, 2008, at the suggestion of Brian (bri2203) of MasterWorks, and Randy of Continental Bike Shop and EMCC. I'd known Brian's dad maybe even before Brian was born, as I had first bought stainless steel sleeved disc brake calipers for my 1974 Corvette from his dad back in 1983. Sometime around the GM Shutdown in July of 2008 I was at MasterWorks helping a buddy drop off a car for some work, and when I mentioned that I was looking around for a Camaro, Brian told me that he had just recently gotten rid of a Camaro V6 hardtop. So Brian quickly became my "4th Gen guru" and source of info on what to look for, the trouble spots, etc.
I visited the MiFBody site a few times back then, but the forum format wasn't intuitive to me at first, and the car ads seemed kinda sparse -- especially for verts -- so I don't think I even posted between my first introduction thread until August of 2009! And I think that was because I met Kolin and his 2000 SS at Papa John's on August 25, 2009, when Papa John's owner John Schnatter gave one free pie to Camaro owners who brought their cars to their local PJ's, to celebrate the rediscovery and repurchase of Schlatter's prized 1971 Z/28. But a lot of interesting stuff happened in between...
In The Beginning...
Probably back around mid to late 2008, I started to get serious about what to do about my aging daily driver, a 1999 Cadillac DeVille Concours with the 300 HP Northstar V8. Northstars are infamous for their oil consumption and leaks, as well as their propensity to lunch on coolant, and otherwise be big expensive money pits that are no longer worth maintaining.
Add to this the spectre of $4.00/gallon gasoline, and Premium Fuel Only ("Dude!") at that...
Things were already starting to look grim around GM, and I figured that rather than go further into debt for a new car or for even a nice used car, I would buy something cheap for cash that I could have fun with. The list was quickly narrowed as I laid down my wish list: GM-made, convertible, and economical. Corvettes were not practical, so they were never really in the picture -- not to mention the inability to get a decent one for cheap, much less be able to insure one. I looked at the Cavaliers too, but most of them had the living tar beat out of them already, and they also had a kind of a "white trash" image.
Soon I settled on the Camaro. Our family had a history of Camaros, as between my dad, my two brothers, me, and a sister in law, we had owned 6 Camaros so far. You can see most of these cars in my Photo Album. (CAM 4, my car's first nickname until I found out about it's notorious Internet connotation, was supposed to acknowledge it as the 4th Camaro in the succession, but for whatever reason we did not count all of the earlier cars!)
I was shopping exclusively for 4th Gens. It had a good size and decent safety ratings, had a folding rear seat for occasional haulling, had a respectible trunk, was simple rear wheel drive, was a fun chassis that drove well and had lots of potential for making your own mods, still looked good after being out of production for 6 years, had collector potential, and was available with either a sweet V8 or a sensible V6. My search began with me looking at Z28s, but as the economy later tightened and the possibility of me having to leave Michigan loomed in the background, I soon started to look in earnest for V6s.
I officially joined MiFBody.com on July 6, 2008, at the suggestion of Brian (bri2203) of MasterWorks, and Randy of Continental Bike Shop and EMCC. I'd known Brian's dad maybe even before Brian was born, as I had first bought stainless steel sleeved disc brake calipers for my 1974 Corvette from his dad back in 1983. Sometime around the GM Shutdown in July of 2008 I was at MasterWorks helping a buddy drop off a car for some work, and when I mentioned that I was looking around for a Camaro, Brian told me that he had just recently gotten rid of a Camaro V6 hardtop. So Brian quickly became my "4th Gen guru" and source of info on what to look for, the trouble spots, etc.
I visited the MiFBody site a few times back then, but the forum format wasn't intuitive to me at first, and the car ads seemed kinda sparse -- especially for verts -- so I don't think I even posted between my first introduction thread until August of 2009! And I think that was because I met Kolin and his 2000 SS at Papa John's on August 25, 2009, when Papa John's owner John Schnatter gave one free pie to Camaro owners who brought their cars to their local PJ's, to celebrate the rediscovery and repurchase of Schlatter's prized 1971 Z/28. But a lot of interesting stuff happened in between...
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