In a world where first-gen Camaros are being stamped out anew, Alan
Wyant decided to start over with a 1972 Camaro that was barely there.
The Z28 seen here revealed itself in far different form to Alan before
he plucked it from a North Liberty, Indiana, cornfield. Alan got a
glimpse of the car but twice a year — once before the corn grew and then
again after it was cut. When the owner came back into town, Alan saw
his chance and made the deal, scoring the cornfield special for $500.
The project put up a fight, but in harvesting this second-gen from a
future of rust, Alan himself discovered a new direction in life.
Alan’s
obsession with the second Camaro from the General began early. Seems
one Uncle Denny and his own ’72 Z28 left an indelible impression during a
performance test down to the local Dairy Queen. A young Alan was riding
shotgun. Alan’s original plan was to rebuild the car in stock form to
wear red with black stripes in homage to his Uncle and that life
changing experience. The condition of the car changed that direction
before the first wrench was turned. Lounging in an Indiana cornfield had
not been kind to the vintage Detroit steel.
As Alan’s wife, Jennifer, jokingly reminded him, the initial $500 he spent was for a title and a VIN tag!
The
true scope of enduring so many harvests only became apparent after the
car was hauled over to pal Gary Vanmeter’s house so the restoration
could begin. The deeper Alan and pals dug, the longer the list of parts
became. Not only was the trunk pan long ago made into corn fertilizer by
rust, the rest of the rear frame had oxidized right along with it. Easy
access to some drag racing technology, combined with a lack of much of
anything original in the aft section of the car steered the project onto
the first step to eventually becoming anything but stock.
After what was left of the back half was halved back together with a
Redline Design four-link and Chassis Engineering wishbone-style track
locater, it was onto the front subframe. Numerous attempts at getting
things to square up led to wholesale scrapping of the forward section
for a junkyard fresh replacement. With the front and back of the car
finally making like an “L” and a “seven,” the whole car went to body and
paint. The final solution to the ravages of rust was a smooth layer of
two-stage House of Kolor Solar Gold at the hands of Larry Whitaker.
Getting
the powertrain together didn’t present any fewer challenges than
reversing the corn’s attempt to harvest the body through the floor and
trunk pans. The challenges started with the discovery of cracks in the
first set of cylinder heads, and ended with Alan seeing double though a
pair of TH400 transmission rebuilds.
12/24
A replacement set of Dart Iron Eagles prepped
up by Darren Mayer solved the cracked head quandary with fresh iron.
Alan installed the Shaker Racing rotating assembly for 377 cubes out of
the Park Side Motor-prepped 400 block. All appeared well and torqued
until it came time to fire the engine, when no oil pressure was to be
found anywhere. The source of the problem was traced to a missing oil
pump spring and plunger. The original spring and plunger were never
found. Their location is remains a mystery even to this day, and maybe a
good story for Art Bell.
With the engine sorted, Alan and crew
bolted up a fresh TH400 with mild stall converter in between. After a
heap more wrench spinning it was time for the road test. The first
converter decided to grenade instead of stall, filling the transmission
with more disintegrated pump metal than the Camaro came with in its
trunk. Everything came back apart and the trans was sent off to RMK
Racing Transmissions to be gone over — again. A Coan 2,500-stall
converter held up the second time around, and still sends the twist
through the Turbo Action full manual non-braking valvebody when Alan
hits the loud pedal. Navigating around the sun and planetary gears comes
through a Cheetah SCS shifter. A B&M cooler keeps the transmission
universe cool from behind the stock grille.
When not stomping the
gas, Alan likes to surprise people by way of induction. The Mr. Gasket
Hilborn-style bug catcher perched atop a pair of 600 Holleys doesn’t
provide much of a clue to the Dyers 6-71 gas huffer sitting hidden under
the hood. The blower spins a hearty 14 psi of boost into the
small-block, drawing the good stuff out of the tank from a Barry Grant
fuel pump. The belt hooking up the Lunati crank to the blower drive gear
tracks right on in a tensioning pulley, arm, and standoffs all
fabricated by Alan.
Inside the rollcage are a couple of Fiero seats, refinished minus the
’80s-cool built-in speakers by Joe’s Upholstery. Although the Camaro
sports a Concord head unit and Clarion speakers, the real soundtrack is
lit up with an MSD 6BTM, sent through Hedman Elite headers, then piped
out of two Flowmaster 40-series mufflers to the tune of 672 horsepower
at 6,800 rpm. Rounding out the interior are Auto Meter gauges that send
out readings from behind the Grant Formula GT steering wheel. Custom cut
pile carpet was shaved in by Alan from bulk stock.
A downright
unruly 660 lb-ft of torque hits 2,400 rpm sooner than peak horsepower. A
set of Mark Williams yokes on a 4130 chromoly driveshaft sends the
twist through a 9-inch stuffed with a set of 5.26:1 gears, Moser
40-spline axles, and Strange Engineering spool.
Hypercoils drop the body 3 inches over the stock GM spindles with
Competition Engineering three-ways damping out the ride. Spooned onto
the American Racing Torq-Thrust II wheels could be nothing else but
Hoosier Pro Street tires. Any other tire just wouldn’t be right in
Indiana. Stock 10 1/2-inch discs upgraded with a set of Wilwood pads get
the hoops stopped when required.
Alan drives the car on the
street whenever he can. While flying down the dragstrip is good for
maximum velocity, Alan likes to show off in relatively slow motion so
everyone gets a good chance to see and hear the end result of his
truckload of work. In spending nearly every spare minute and dollar on
the project since he uprooted the car Alan found something new. Each
roadblock thrown at Alan by the Camaro helped him to channel his energy
onto a new road. He had been making some choices that may have led him
down a darker path, and credits the Camaro for saving his life. “I was
making some bad choices in my life, and knew I had to find a more
positive way to channel my energy and money,” said Alan.
The final results are worth every penny.
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