October 2010 Hometown Hot Rodding

'72 Camaro
Family Formed
After 30 years of owning Chevelles and older Camaros, then driving a new LS-powered Camaro, Dale Noyes knew he needed to merge the two together. The superior driveability for the amount of power of an LS motor is hard to beat. Set to build this super cruiser, Dale searched eBay for a second-generation Camaro. He found one that had been sitting since 1989, but had very little rust, even under its faded vinyl top. To go with this purchase, Dale needed a donor car to facilitate his LS needs. He found a '06 Pontiac GTO that had been totaled, which only had 3,800 miles on the clock. He promptly stripped the GTO of its drivetrain and got it ready for the transplant into his '72 Camaro. All the goodies to make the engine run happily were taken from the Goat too, including radiator, fans, wiring, and pedals. He even sold the GTO roller on eBay after taking what he needed from it.

Luckily for him, Dale has two sons, Matt and Steven, to help him with the build. Steven did most of the drivetrain work while Matt helped with the bodywork. Dale is the owner and sole employee at his own body shop called Quality Car Care in Harpursville, New York, where he and Matt did all of the paint and bodywork. Of course, because that is his trade, it was the highlight of the build. Painting a car black is pretty risky unless you are very competent in the bodywork department. Judging by the seamless reflections, we'd say they did a great job.

The updated 460hp LS2 spent the last season waiting for the rain to clear to stretch its legs at the track. Dale and the boys can't wait to see what it can do. With a modern drivetrain, clean interior, and flawless paint, the tally came to just under $22,000-which isn't too bad for such a clean build.