2010 March Newsletter
It is the dream of muscle car builders to share a project with their sons. But very few of us get to share a muscle car project with our daughters. Craig Geske has experienced that special bond with his daughter, Heather.
It all started with Craig finding the 91 RS in a farmer's barn in Annandale, MN. It had real bad body work done and needed a lot of straightening, but when Heather saw the 1991 RS with a cool T-top she asked if she could sell her 81 Z28 and get the 91 RS if they could complete the rebuild before her graduation. Well 8 months and over 500 hours of hard work later, the car is nearly complete. The project took on a suped up 'Bumblebee' apprearance. Everything about the car is in dandylion yellow and black . . . a lot of black. Craig also used a lot of custom logos special ordered from Austrialia. They even lucked out and got the last remaining 'bumblebee' themed personal license plate from Minnesota: BMBLBEE.
The seats for now are yellow and black seat covers until the seats are custom upholstered in all yellow pipping and inserts with black seats. Do you hear that buzzing sound? Get out of here bees.
Some of the other custom work that needed to be done:
All emblems removed and replaced with all yellow and black Z28 logos; replaced the stock Red/White/Blue chevy nose emblem with a yellow custom badge.
The front fender and grille Camaro badges are replaced with a . . . you guessed it . . . a bee!
All of the lights are covered in perforated black vinyl to appear solid but allow light to get through. Brings back memories of the old Pontiac T/A blackout style.
Craig and Heather have created a nice one of a kind bumblebee themed restoration. But more importantly, they have shared a special project that we can all appreciate. Thanks for sharing your story. Now catch those bees!
Key Facts
Engine
Factory 305 with Ram Air to Intake Box
Transmission
Rear End
Suspension
WS6 34mm Front Sway Bar; WS6 Oversize Rear Sway Bar; WS6 1 inch lower springs
Exhaust
Brakes
Wheels
1991-1992 Z28 16 inch aluminum; Bridgestone RE71 Z Rated (Corvette Size)
Exterior
Yellow and Black Z28 Logos for Rockers and Rear Panel; Logos are custom art out of Australia - 'Fighting Bumblebee.' Tail Lights and Front Signals are all legal blacked-out perforated vinyl. Custom stripes go completely from front bumper to back bumper. Hood is Iroc design with Louvers. Ground Effects are all black as well as front glass pillars.
Interior
Custom made Dandylion Yellow Speedo Gages; Heat Cluster, Emergency Brake are Yellow. Windows are painted black and the whiskers are yellow. Custom ordered yellow steering wheel from Australia.
Paint
Dandylion Yellow with Black Stripes
This past month has been very busy for the club. The members of the club toured Gopher Engines and it was a wonderful time. The quality control measures that the staff takes in building the right engine, the supply of engine parts, and machines were out of this world to a motor head. I found it very interesting the amount of process steps each motor goes through before it is placed into their inventory. So if you need an engine check out Gopher Engines.
This past weekend the club attended the World of Wheels car show. I would like to say thank you to all the members who worked the show. The setup on Thursday went very fast, and it was nice to spend time with everyone who was there. A huge thanks to the members who brought their Camaro down for the show. The roads were dry and had a little salt dust on them, but everyone arrived safely. After the setup members then helped clean cars. This year Bob Marvin, from Warroad, MN, brought down two of his cars. They were a 1967 Yenko with a 427 cu in engine, and a 1968 Hemi Camaro, which had a 302 with Hemi designed heads on it, and a cross ram intake. The motor put out 600 horsepower. There are only 3 of this type of engine made and Bob owns two of them.
At the end of the show several members received awards. I believe 8 club members won. So with about 200 cars at the show, the club had 16 Camaros there and we received 8 awards. I was very proud of the club members for the work that it took to have such an outstanding display.
Summer is on its way and soon it will be time to dust off the Camaros and take a drive. Remember to check out the website and forum and if you haven’t registered for the web page please do so.
And again thank you all for making World of Wheels such a huge success!
Joel Bazey
We had a wonderful time at the World of Wheels car show in February. One of the big hits at our club display was the 2010 Camaro Ultimate Factories DVD. Included in that DVD were classic Camaro commercials from 1967 through 1998. How did we get those awesome commercials?
Many of those commercials came from youtube videos. Just search for 'Camaro Commercials' in Yahoo or Google and you will come up with alot of choices. You can watch them, but in order to capture those videos from the internet you will need special video capture software. There are many good video software tools out there, but the one we used is Roxio Creator 2010. It not only included a nice video capture utility, but it also included a nice DVD creation tool and several nice audio CD tools.
With Roxio it was fairly easy to trim out excess video from the beginning and ending of our videos and also a nice cutting tool to delete any unnessary commercials or other unwanted video. The cutting process also allowed you to trim at the video frame level for very precise editing. Good luck with capturing your vintage car video commercials.
Easily capture, enhance, save and share your photo, video and audio projects:
List price: $99.99
Your price: $79.99* (after $20 mail-in rebate)
www.roxio.com
Need ideas for that special muscle car nut? Here are a few:
Mini Desktop Toolbox
Each toolbox is constructed of heavy duty .24 ga steel and is bent & spot-welded to create an authentic replica of the toolboxes professionals (not us) use. The top flips open revealing a deep storage bin with felt liner on the interior floor. (drawers are stationary) The top of the lid has a grooved rubber mat just like their big brothers.
The mini measures 9" W x 4" D x 5" H. Interior is approximately 3" Deep.
Powder-coated in toolbox red with The Busted Knuckle Garage® name and logo on front.
Price: $39.95
www.bustedknucklegarage.com
Rubber Tire Coffee Mug
If you prefer the smell of burnt rubber over that of burnt coffee, then this mug is for you! A full sized cup of java quaffed from our specialty mug with a real rubber tire base and the catchy graphics and important truth of "Grind the Beans, Not the Gears". We've even embossed the initials BKG into the tire on two sides. Due to the custom nature of this mug, hand wash only and no microwaves (unless you want the smell of burnt rubber). Holds a whopping 16oz of sludge, just what's left in the oil pan of your last project car.
Led Flex Inspection Light
The tough anodized aluminum body has great balance and gives you excellent, secure grip. A flexible PE coated, metal 10 inch gooseneck makes it easy to insert the light around any obstructions. The WorkStar™ 440 is a well balanced tool, and at about 5 ounces, makes a light weight and comfortable trouble shooter that is nearly indestructible. The body of the WorkStar™ 440 is O-ring sealed to make it almost waterproof. One year warranty. Includes 2 AA batteries.
Price: $39.99
www.led-worklight.com
Max Chevy On-line Magazine
Max Chevy is an exclusive on-line magazine. Here is a list of the magazine categories:
* Lead Story
* News and Rumors
* Tech Section
* Event and Race Coverage
* Manufacturer Directory
The 2011 Camaro SS is to pace the 2010 Indianapolis 500. This year’s pace car features an Inferno Orange Metallic paint scheme with White Diamond rally stripes that travel from the front to the rear over the top of the body, as well as extending to the instrument panel. The design is a modern interpretation of the original rally stripe that debuted on the 1969 Indianapolis 500 Pace Car. This year’s pace car is equipped with a stock 400 hp 6.2L V-8, an RS appearance package and leather interior with Inferno Orange interior accents. The pace car also features unique design cues that further enhance the Camaro’s head-turning design. Features unique to the pace car include: * 2010 Indianapolis 500 event logo painted on doors and embroidered on driver and passenger headrests * 2010 Indianapolis 500 event logo badges on front fenders * All-new front grille insert that Chevrolet plans to offer as a future Camaro accessory * Amber lens tail lamps * Complete safety strobe light system with custom interior light bar in the rear window (no rooftop light bar) * All-new GM Accessory floor mats with red and orange accent stitching
Unfortunately, GM is not planning on producing this pace car for the public.
The 2009 SEMA Show took place in Las Vegas in early November 2009 and is the premier automotive speciality products trade event. In the next few newsletters we will be spotlighting a custom Camaro that was rolled out at this show. This month we are highlighting the Maui Jim Camaro.
The custom Sherwin Williams paint and bodywork from Estrada Customs quickly draws your eye to the vehicle, and then you’ll begin to notice the aggressive stance that has been provided by the 22” Nitto tires, GWG wheels and Pedders suspension upgrades. The Maui Jim logo is placed on the upper left side of the windshield, just like a pair of Maui Jim shades. Then you open the door. The red accents that were noticed on the exterior have flowed nicely into the vehicle’s custom Alea Leather seating and trim. Team REAL’s creative use of Streetglow accent lighting has become one of their signatures, and the Camaro’s interior features seem to glow from their innovative placement of red LED lights. With a turn of the key, all of your attention goes to the sound and power. Air being thrust through the ProCharger supercharger, SLP headers and exhaust combo, create one of the best exhaust notes you can imagine.
As reported on camaro5.com: It’s alive!! Although not the best photos, the way that this Camaro has been camouflaged (front fascia completely covered) makes it very likely that we’re looking at a Camaro Z28 test car! The only other likelihood is that it’s some type of facelifted Camaro, but a facelift for a car not yet one year into production seems highly unlikely. Also, one change which is not camouflaged are what appears to be wider fenders, particularly in the rear, no doubt to accomodate the Z28’s wider track and to provide the car with a more aggressive look.
This car was spied during an extremely brief test track run, but the exhaust was said to be "blaring". The front and rear fascias on the car are extremely camouflaged, but based on past hints from GM, the new Camaro Z28’s front fascia will be very close to the Transformers 2 Bumblebee Camaro. We do not yet see any type of ram air scoop type hood yet, but expect one on the Z28, which will require much more air to be fed to its monster engine.
According to the photographer (take this info with a grain of salt as it has yet to be confirmed): "The wheels and tires on this Z/28 are likely non-production, however, we felt like we’d seen this particular setup before. A quick look into the archives and we realized the 2009 Cadillac CTSv sedan prototypes used almost exactly the same wheels and tires as we see on this Z/28 test car. That isn’t surprising when you consider the Z/28 will share a heart with the CTSv!
Lurking under the hood is the 6.2L, supercharged V8 known as the "LSA." While that motor is good for 556hp in the CTSv, there seems to be some debate as to whether GM will allow the Camaro to have that much power. Along with a lot more power, an upgraded suspension package along with even better brakes can be expected."
The 2010 Camaro has sold over 67,019 to date and has outsold the Mustang and Challenger for eight straight months.
It’s being reported that Ford has laid off 900 workers at a Mustang plant due to slow sales last year due to the tough economic times, as well as competition from the 2010 Camaro.
2011 Camaro production will start June 7th with a last 2010 order date of April 10th.
According to Automotive News, GM will be building 20,000 convertables. However, GM has also pushed out the production out until the later half of 2011. Additionally, the convertable top will be built by a Canadian company called Magna. The tops will be built in Bowling Green, Kentucky with fabric from Mexico. The production 2011 Camaro SS Convertable has been spotted in Michigan as reported on Camaro5.com.
New color for 2011 – Synergy Green.
Latest news:
* Will be available in limited quantities from February to May of 2010
* Will only be available for the 1LT (V6) Model
* Will NOT be available in the RS package
* The Convenience & Connectivity package will be available
* Green interior accents and seat trim stitching
* Accented with Cyber Grey Rally Stripes
Note: Camaro News information found from many sources including Camaro5.com, GM.com, and the various muscle car magazines.
Be the first Northstar Club Member to guess the member who owns the Camaro pictured below and win a prize to be determined later. Club officers are not eligible for the prize but can try and guess for bragging rights. Send your guess to this e-mail address: sgtatarms@northstarcamaroclub.com
We will announce the winner in this column as soon as it happens, but we will identify the member ride later in the month to allow more people to enjoy the contest.
So without further delay, here is the next member ride to identify:
Chris Williams was our first winner when he guessed that the February Guess the Member Ride was John Monno's 2002 Camaro. Jeff Faffler also guessed correctly.
March is here and we are one month closer to spring and our opening cruise! The World of Wheels car show was a big success with many of our members winning awards.
It is our plan to continue to update this newsletter by the first day of every new month with categories such as Tip of the Month, Product of the Month, and Camaro News. We may have different categories in different months. For example, these categories may be featured from time to time: Junk Yard Find, Tech Tip, Featured Drive In, etc.
Our new feature is the GUESS THE MEMBER RIDE CONTEST. This is another way to showcase a member ride and bring some fun to our website. Enjoy the contest.
Our main focus is on the Feature Member Ride which we will attempt to upate every other month. That way the feature ride stays on-line for two months. We randomly select six members each year to feature their Camaro in this e-newsletter.
But to make this e-newsletter really take off we need articles from you the members, especially TECH articles. So if you have any suggestions or feedback please send an e-mail to sgtatarms@northstarcamaroclub.com.
We hope that you continue to enjoy this new feature of our great club website.
Walter 'BamaKid'
PS: Here is the link to a vintage Radio Commerial for the 1968 Camaro:
1968 Camaro Commercial.mp3
========================================================================================
Newsletter Archives
Portals/0/Forum/Newsletter/Camaro Newsletter - December 2009.pdf
January 2010
Portals/0/Forum/Newsletter/January Newsletter.pdf
February 2010
Portals/0/Forum/Newsletter/Feb Newsletter.pdf