Terry Kee had the dreams of every car lover when he purchased the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro he found advertised in an Allegheny County newspaper.
He would get her running again, restore her shiny gold finish.
"I was really gung ho and started taking everything apart," said Kee, 53, who now works in banking in Columbus, Ohio.
He described the car as being a "basket case" when he bought it in 1982 for $50.
Then he found the stickers that designated the car a rare "pilot car," one of 49 built in secret by Chevy at its plant in Norwood, Ohio, in May 1966, before full-scale production began in August. Three others were built at GM's Van Nuys, Calif., plant.
On Tuesday, the car and all its parts were loaded onto a truck at Kee's father's home in Ardara for the trip to Kansas, where the new owner, Corey Lawson, plans a four-year, $200,000 restoration.
"It's a labor of love," said Lawson, 45, who owns the first and seventh pilot cars made at Norwood. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Most of the pilot cars, used for publicity or testing, wound up in the crusher. Some survived, although an exact accounting is anyone's guess.
"They were assembly line test mules ... used to test the time needed to put the car together," said author Philip Borris, who researched the pilot cars for his book, "Echoes of Norwood."
They were "assembled and disassembled over and over again," he said.
Lawson's No. 10 car is one of seven pilot convertibles made at Norwood and one of two that served as an environmental emissions test car, said Jay Stokes, 66, of Murrysville, who researched the car's history.
It was shipped to the GM proving grounds in Milford, Mich., for testing — some believe that may have saved it from being destroyed at Norwood — and then to Pennsylvania.
"Car No. 10 is an interesting car," said Borris. "Its pilot car number and Vehicle Identification Number match."
Collectors covet the surviving pilot cars.
"There are several known Camaro pilot cars in private hands," said Rich Fields, co-founder of the Camaro Research Group, which publishes primary research and restoration data for first-generation Camaros.
When Terry Kee's interest in the car waned, his father, Gary Kee, 73, a car enthusiast who runs the popular car cruise at Norwin Hills, stored the Camaro and its parts in his garage for 32 years.
At first glance, the car isn't much to look at.
There's no motor, the convertible top has holes in it, bits of the interior are scattered around the garage along with its grille assembly, bumpers and the car's four counterweights. Each part — from the electric window switches to the rocker panel covers — has a tag or number applied at Norwood.
"It's going to take someone with serious money and dedication to bring a car like this back," Stokes said.
Lawson said he's up to the challenge.
"I'm just kind of a country boy, flying under the radar," said Lawson, who owns 25 car washes in Kansas. "I love what I do."
Brand new, a 1967 Camaro convertible sold for $2,809. A 1967 (non-pilot) model sold at auction in Dallas this year for $300,000.
Finding new "old" parts for the car's restoration could be a long — and expensive — process.
"An original battery that's sat on a shelf for 50 years could cost $1,500," Lawson said.
For a car with this level of provenance, it wouldn't be unusual to pay $400 to $500 for tire valve stem caps, Borris said.
"Collectors understand that," he said.
For a couple of guys in rural Pennsylvania who kept the car under wraps for three decades, seeing No. 10 brought back to life will be a sweet moment.
"It was the pioneer car before all the famous Camaros that came after it," said Stokes.
Craig Smith is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5646 or csmith@tribweb.com.
Source : http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/7261637-74/car-camaro-pilot
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