I have been requested to post some pics of how I built my X-Camino. The first thing I will say is that the pictures here are not the best quality, as I am scanning photographs out of the "Baby Book" that I take with me to the car shows. So here is the story, This first pic is what started it all. For years I had been talking about building one, with my buddies as we traveled down to the GSCA Nats every year. Finally I cut out and glued together a couple of pictures from various cars to see what it would look like. The result is the pic below. I figured it looked pretty good so I started. The idea behind this project was to build a car that could have been built in 1970 with only the parts available at that time. Also, if any parts needed modified, I would only do the bare minimum of modifications necessary. By doing this I hoped to retain a "Factory" look. As it turned out only the radial tires would not have been available back in the day. At that time radials were only available on the Buick big car models. Duane PS. This is for you Ronnie.
The next thing we did was to find some donors. My friends Rich & Tim Garland had a rotted out 70 GS 455 car, so it became the first casualty. As you can see from the pics, me and Mr. Saws-all get along just fine. You might also want to note the dark mustache, that I am unhappy to say is not dark anymore.
The next donor was a smashed up 72 El Camino. This was a complete car in a junk yard, and I spent 3-4 weekends at the junkyard dismantling the car for the owner so he could sell all the parts. He got free labor, and I did not have to buy the parts that I was not going to use. Once I got the shell home the fun started. You can see from the pictures how hard the passenger side was hit, by how bent up and shortened the passenger side frame rail was. If you look at the center top of the firewall on the pic where the firewall is painted black, you can see where the Chevy distributor cap and spark plug wires left impressions when the engine slammed into the firewall. (They are still there, by the way.) Once I got the body loose from the frame I used a 12 foot long 4"x4" post to slam the floor pan and firewall until I got everything back into the right spot. I stood in the bed and slid it through the hole where the rear window goes, it worked great. The next thing I did was to cut out and add the inward body mounts to the firewall. El Camino's only use 1 body mount on each side while Buicks use 2. I grafted the second body mounts to the existing ones for 2 reasons, 1, it would make it stronger and 2, I now had the mounting hole for the clip that holds on the Buick inner fenders. I was afraid if I did not do this the inner fenders would make noise as the car traveled down the road. At this point I welded up all the holes in the firewall for the "Chevy AC" and drilled out all the holes for the "Buick AC". GM put small dimples in the firewall for all the various penetrations, so it was easy to see exactly where they go. I also cut out the Chevy dash and installed a Buick one. This is really not as hard as it sounds. Yes it takes a bit of time to trim everything, but I cut everything to the factory weld lines, so it went in like a piece of cake. The funny thing here was I tried my best to center the dash in the opening (side to side) and used a come-a-long, and it simply would not center. The gap on the one side was a little closer then the other, so I just welded it in. Later when I looked at an original car I had to laugh because it was the same way. They were never lined up exactly from the factory. I also used a 70-72 Buick parking brake assembly to line up the steel dash piece. This way I knew exactly where to place the mounting brackets to support the bottom ends of the dash. More pics and story to follow later when I get some time. Duane
GADS! What an undertaking!! Keep the pics coming. Noticing the jack stand heights, is THAT how hard it took the hit? WOWZER!! Yeah it used to be "OK, step away from the bar, Popeyes here...", and now its "gather 'round, Santa's' here " LOL... Ya know Im still amazed at the vastness of the factory resources to be able to accomplish this stuff by the 10s of thousands of vehicles built across several different divisions. Theres SO much that went into a job like this (even stock El Chamingos) that its not just different doors and fenders. I guess nowadays, you can cut a door in half and just crazy glue the plastic back together. Are you scanning these pics Duane? I just lay mine flat and take a digital camera pic of the picture. All of our old photo albums can now be carried around on a lousy ZIP drive in a T shirt pocket. ws
I am scanning the pages out of my book and then editing them. They will be good enough to tell the story. The idea behind building this car from what were basically parts cars was also 2 fold, 1. I wanted to keep the cost of the project down. I "knew" the doors were going to be the hardest part of the project, so until I got to that point I wanted to spend as little money as possible. If I could not make the doors work, then I was going to scrap the project. This way I could "get this out of my system", say I tried, and then move on. Even though I had some time in the project, I had spent a grand total of only $500 by the time I purchased the doors. (This included the door purchase.) I refused to buy any other parts until I got them to work. 2. If/when the project was finished, I did not want anyone to think I cut up some "nice" cars to do it. All the vehicles, and the bulk majority of the parts, came off junkers and the pictures will show this. I am getting ahead of myself, but up until the point when I started cutting up the doors, my only regret was the fact that they were perfect 70-72 Skylark coupe doors. If I ended up ruining them I was going to be pissed off at myself for a long time. There is also another back story to all this. I am a regular guy, with a regular job, not Rockefeller. I could only afford to keep 1 driver, and if this "car" was going to be it, then I was going to have to sell the car I was keeping for my driver which was my first car, a 67 Mustang Convertible that we bought from my cousin. I drove that car all thru high school and college, and had kept it for years. It was really rotted underneath, but it was still my first car. I grew up in that car. There were some serious decisions to make. Duane
"Duane, why not let it see the light of day again?" Do you mean taking it out to events etc.? Again, because my last name is not Rockefeller. I am hard pressed right now to just keep everything. Eventually, when I retire, I plan to drive the "piss" out of all of them. You guys can come see them then and we will go for a ride. Duane
I hope I hang on that long. I am probably like most. Every trip to the doctor brings something new. If it’s not cholesterol it’s my hearing. Getting old sucks. I always though retirement would be fun but beginning to think it’s just surviving it.
...thanks for taking time to publicly document. X is Buick homage on so many levels...what could have been, from ultimate insider statement for those who know, to fooling those who don't...
But I have acid reflux and burned esophagus from spicy and vinegary foods I eat too and vinegar is not the best for that. I still eat them though.
Lets see... methotrexate for RA, Omeprazole for GERD, xanax for anxiety, oxycodone for pain, atorvastatin for cholesterol, Folic acid,D3,and calcium for the bone loss from RA meds, Cannabinoids, beer and wine for recreation. Cant seem to find any lysergic acid or shrooms anymore LOL... Just to name a few. Then theres the antibiotics for anything blood born from the plastic knees, and now a flare up from the stupid labyrinthitis thats kickin' booty. RETIREMENT??? Hell, its just another full time job and they dont pay mileage or per diem! 24 hours in a day just aint enough. WWUJD ???? ws
Apple cider vinegar helps arthritis too, but take a pull of it and you know why most older folks have arthritis.
Dave, I don't know about that. Now that I figured everything out, I estimate I could do another one in half the time. I was always tempted to do a 71 Stratomist Blue version. My car needs a brother. Duane PS. I built the entire car in 18 months. I spent a solid year on it, and missed the next GS Nats. So I took 6 months off, and then went full throttle on it until it was done for the following GS Nats.
Duane, I am curious if you have any thoughts on a conversion of later models ('73 -'77 & '78 - '87)? Just thinking aloud here, but as GM started sharing even more components and possibly body parts (doors, skins & qtr panels) in the new models, how much easier do you think a newer GS/Camino would be?
