RIDE OF THE WEEK: 1974 Chevrolet Camaro

One powerful Camaro

Much of the news lately has been about what the American car companies headquartered in Detroit have done wrong. This week’s Ride of the Week, which goes back to a time when Detroit was doing things right, is one of the most successful automobiles to ever come out of the Motor City: The Chevrolet Camaro. This ride is a 1968 Camaro owned by Matt Decker of Scranton.

 

Introduced by General Motors in 1953 as the first American entry into the sports car market, the Camaro actually had its most successful year to date in 1968, producing and selling more than 28,000 units. The 1968 Camaro was also the first year of the car’s redesign, which gave it a bold new look, and introduced new innovations to the American automobile market: hidden windshield wipers and removable T-tops. The 1968 Camaro also has a 3-speed automatic transmission — which was new at the time — and replaced a 2-speed version.

Decker says that he recently rebuilt his Camaro under the hood and replaced the engine with a newly rebuilt 1974 Camaro 454 V8 engine.

“It needed a new motor anyway, so I decided to go for power and replace the 327 cubic inch engine with something bigger and more powerful,” he adds.

His car also features a TH400 automatic transmission and a 12-bolt posi-traction rear end. It has a blue interior, power steering, Rallye wheels and a dual exhaust system with Flowmaster mufflers. The Camaro also sits on Dunlop Radial G/T Qualifier tires.

Now that the engine is taken care of, Decker plans to work on the exterior over the winter months to get the car ready for spring car shows.

“I’ve replaced some of the body on the rear of the car to get rid of rust spots, and I’m trying to decide on the color. I don’t necessarily want to stay with the original blue, but I do want to keep the blue interior, so it will have to be something that goes with it,” Decker explains.

He also replaced the floorboards on the passenger side, just to be safe.

“They were showing a little bit of wear, so I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry. Otherwise the body of the car and the undercarriage is now in excellent shape.”

Be sure to look for Matt Decker and his Camaro next spring.

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