Several years ago, the folks at Goodmark Industries came up with the idea of rebuilding a classic musclecar, in order to demonstrate its line of aftermarket sheetmetal along the way. As a result, the Goodmark Chevelle garnered a legion of followers, and at the same time, it became an icon (of sorts) that was quickly recognized as synonymous with the Goodmark name. Tens of thousands of people checked it out carefully at the SEMA Show, and even more caught it up close and personal on the Super Chevy Show Tour.
This time, the choice of body style is a '71 Camaro, but all the same, it's a real-world musclecar that's very similar to many of your projects across the country. Granted, the "starter car" was a little rough, but we'll bet you'd make a similar selection if you were in the business of selling quality reproduction sheetmetal for a living. Once again, many of the most respected names in the high performance industry have jumped on the bandwagon, to ensure that our finished product would be high tech enough to make an interesting story, but not too high tech to be out of reach for our general readership. At any rate, if any portion of this cruiser is out of reach for what you would build in the real world, you're sure to come away with lots of ideas that are well within your budgetary constraints.
In some cases, you get what...
In some cases, you get what you pay for. In other instances, you can also pay for what you don't get. Goodmark found this puppy minus its front clip, and deemed it to be a pretty good starter car.
We brought you Parts 1 and 2 in the May and June issues, which explained all about our World Products 454-inch small-block mega motor. Our intent was to show you just what goes into these desirable engines (parts-wise), as well as some solid theory as to why we chose to equip it and outfit it the way we did. Along the way, you learned how the horsepower gurus at World Products were able to squeeze so many cubic inches out of their newly designed cylinder block. Interesting, huh?
While brainstorming other facets of the build-up, both sides of this partnership (meaning Goodmark and Super Chevy) voiced important concerns that would ultimately allow this car to come full circle. Goodmark needed the car to be painted black, in order to better demonstrate its commitment to providing a quality product. On the flip side, we at Super Chevy needed it to have lots of horsepower and also be able to stand up to thousands of miles of highway abuse. Simple, huh? When all the dust settles, we sincerely think both sides will come away shouting "mission accomplished."
Once again, the folks at Goodmark selected Craig and Aaron Hopkins to perform the sheetmetal replacement, bodywork, and paint. This father and son team operates Metal Finish U.S.A., a division of H&H Auto Body, Inc., which is located in Cleveland, Georgia. They're well schooled in the proper (and time tested) methods of auto body repair and refinish, and are totally dedicated to performing world-class craftsmanship. With professionals like Craig and Aaron onboard, a job of this magnitude is really not a problem. In this segment, we'll go behind the scenes to see what was involved during the disassembly process.
Editor's note: When you review the artist's rendering, remember that it was conceived several months before the project ever became a reality. Therefore, it is not intended to be an exact representation (parts-wise) of the finished product.
 This tired Camaro was pushed...  This tired Camaro was pushed into Metal Finish U.S.A., and immediately inspected from one end to the other, to determine a game plan for its imminent success. |  With the amount of rust present...  With the amount of rust present in the trunk floor, it's much easier to replace it than rework it and hope the rust doesn't re-appear. Like all the other sheetmetal panels, it comes right from Goodmark's massive inventory. |  In its as-found condition,...  In its as-found condition, the backlite (rear glass) was already missing in action, which made it easier to examine the channel. This entire area is susceptible to standing water, which causes rust as time goes by. Compared to some we've seen, this one wasn't too bad. Most of the reveal-molding clips were still intact. |