There is perhaps no vehicle as endangered as a base model pony car.
After a few decades and multiple owners, many of these economical classics have been transformed into high performance clones of their top-of-the-line cousins.
In fact, the long-running joke is that, thanks to high quality reproduction parts, there are now more 1970 Hemi ‘Cudas, Boss 302 Mustangs, and Z/28 Camaros on the road today, than there were back in 1970.
Not that we’re knocking tribute cars around here (far from it, actually) but there’s just something oddly refreshing about seeing a well-cared-for vehicle that recalls a time when a classic pony car was just part of regular traffic.
So when we heard the unmistakable burble of a Chevy inline six as this 1967 Camaro pulled into a recent Cars & Coffee event, our ears perked up….
“I bought this in 1973,” Keith Bailey says, as he explains that the trusty Camaro was the first car he ever purchased—at age 16, no less.
He goes on to describe his teenage brain’s immediate urge to start modifying it.
“I mean, you’re 16 years old. What do you want? You want a V8, you want Cragars,” Keith laughs. “I always thought I was going to lower it and put a V8 in it. That was my plan.”
But time moved on, and the I6-powered Camaro just moved right along with it.
“I started restoring it in 2009. And I hadn’t decided what I was going to do with the engine and the chassis yet. And so I thought, you know, I’m just going to rebuild that six cylinder. I’ll put it in for a little while.”
Turns out, that “little while” got to be a little longer than anticipated.
“As I got closer to finishing, I thought this is the way to go,” he smiles. “And I’m really glad I stayed true to that.”
We are too, because this car is a legit time capsule—Keith reveals that it left the factory with a mere three options: AM radio, Powerglide, and the door edge guards.
“I’ve got the window sticker for it,” he jokes. “2,700 dollars, off the line.”
Even with Keith’s focus on showroom specs during the restoration however, astute Camaro aficionados may notice some logical deviations from the Camaro’s original recipe.
“I added a couple of little upgrades along the way, but just to make it drivable,” Keith explains. “So it’s got some luxuries to it. I added a Vintage Air A/C system. And then I put power disc brakes on it because it was originally a drum car.”
Keith also explains that he switched to power steering too—using genuine GM Parts to keep it as factory-correct as possible. “It took about a year to find the brackets and everything,” he quips. “It’s all V8 stuff, there’s none around for the six.”
But focusing too much on this Camaro’s options sheet is to overlook the impressive attention to detail.
Keith pretty much tackled a chalk-mark restoration here—and that’s no easy feat regardless of what’s under the hood.
“I did a lot of research. There are not a lot of six cylinder Camaros left, and just little things, you know, like this radiator hose is for a V8 car,” Keith laments. “Nobody makes them for the six cylinders.”
Even though some of the glass has been replaced, you’d never know it either.
“It has the original date-coded glass,” Keith says. “There wasn’t a stamp on the new ones, so I bought plain glass, and etched them all myself.”
Does he ever pine for the power of a rowdy 396 big block or a DZ302? Not in the least.
“The 230s are great engines. It drives fantastic, it runs really good,” Keith reports. “It’s not a speed demon, you know, but you can go out and do highway speeds. It’ll go 70 and and I’m sure it will go more.”
In fact, Keith quickly shows us that this car has close to 200,000 miles and is a regular sight at local car shows, now that the restoration is completed.
Already knowing the answer, we asked him if he’d ever consider selling it, and Keith offered this anecdote in response:
“I met a kid at a car show years ago, and I said ‘yeah, this is my first car.’ And he looks at me and says ‘it’ll probably be your last car too.’”
At this point, Keith begins to laugh.
“I didn’t know quite know how to take that,” he snorts. “But I started thinking about it and, you know, it probably will be.”
As his smile grew, we don’t doubt that sentiment at all—and with the six pistons of an ever-reliable 230 pounding away under the hood, we know the Camaro is up to the task.
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