Dad Buys A 1976 Camaro Like The One He Owned 40 Years Ago, And Even The Dealer Selling It Could Not Say Whether He Got 50% Off Or Paid 25% More

Forty years ago, a young man owned a black Camaro that he drove every single day, even though it was really a race car. He put his hands on “every single nut and bolt” on it. Now, in a video from @royaltyautoservice, he is back in the driver’s seat of the very same kind of car, a 1976 Camaro, and his son is there to film the reunion.

Man in a black work shirt beside a covered car on a trailer on the left, a dark 1973 Camaro on the right

“Dad, the day has finally arrived,” the son says. “You are going back old school.”

@royaltyautoservice

“This Was My Youth” And The Car Was Hiding Out Back Under A Cover

The dad says it is not the exact car he owned, but it is the exact model. “This was my youth,” he says. He says he probably had his hands on every part of his old Camaro at some point, taking it apart and putting it back together again.

The new find came through a friend named Neil, who has a car collection. While looking over the collection, the dad spotted this Camaro sitting out back. It was not inside with the pampered cars. It was under a cover.

He explains why it was parked in the back. The car is not the most sought-after Camaro because of its year and its big bumpers, front and back. For most collectors that makes it less desirable, but for him it is the one that takes him straight back in time.

The Price Bounced From 10 To 14 To 25 And Back Down To 12

Then the son asks the question everybody wants answered. How much did it cost? He has heard there was a little dispute.

The dad lays out the haggling. “It started at 10. Started 14.” Then the 14 came out of nowhere, since it began at 10, and they ended up at 12. At one point it went to 25, and then it came back down to 12.

“So either I got 50% off or I paid 25% more,” he says. The math is fuzzy, he adds, but “that’s what happens when you deal with a car dealer.” He shrugs it off with a laugh. His son tells him he got a deal, and he says he is happy with it.

His Old Camaro Was Black, Stripped Down And A Daily Driver That Melted His Shoes

Standing next to the 1976 Camaro, he describes what he built back then. His was black with a fiberglass hood, a complete hood and not just a scoop, with an L88 style scoop on it. It had been a race car in its day.

“It really shouldn’t have been a daily driver, but I drove it every single day,” he says. The header ran right under where his foot rested, so the bottom of his sneaker would melt.

There was no carpet and no air conditioning. He recalls a back seat for a while, and then no back seat. “I made it into a car where you can race,” he says, and he adds that it was fast.

A B&M Ratchet Shifter Is Still Available, But The Wheels Are Another Story

The old car had a B&M ratcheting shifter, and he says the same shifter is still available today. He has already found one for this car, along with the bushing kits for the body-to-frame mounts. In his words, everything that was available back in the day is still out there.

The one thing he has not found is the wheels. He is looking for a set of Cragers, the aluminum wheels with circles around the outside, where a center cap covered the lug nuts and a single Allen head screw held it on. The cap had the Crager name on it in plastic.

He liked how clean the wheel looked, though you did not see them much back then. They were probably 15 inch wheels, he guesses, though he notes that back in his day they went much bigger. He asks viewers who know where to find a set to let him know.

Before the video ends, the two stop at a detail that most modern cars no longer have. “The flip there,” the dad says. “That’s what you put your gas in.”

Why A 1976 Camaro Is A Smart Choice For A First Throwback Build

Camaros from the mid 1970s tend to be less expensive than the earlier cars, mostly because of the large impact bumpers the dad mentions. For a buyer who cares about nostalgia more than a trophy, that can be a plus. As he says, he does not care.

His approach is worth copying if you are thinking about chasing a car from your own past.

Look for the same model, not the same car. Finding the exact one is a long shot, but the same year and body style can bring back the feeling.
Check what parts are still sold. The dad found his shifter and body bushings quickly, and the wheels were the only hard piece.
Expect negotiating. Prices can move in both directions, and as he found, it can be hard to tell who came out ahead.
Ask around. Collectors with a car sitting under a cover in the back are often the best source for a lead.

The takeaway from this reunion is simple. A car does not have to be rare or fancy to matter. For this dad, a 1976 Camaro with big bumpers is the car that takes him back 40 years, and he wants it back on the road with the right wheels.

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