| In 1994, I worked with Ron Mitchell's brother, Jim Mitchell, at Leray Street Auto Gallery, on Leray Street in Watertown. While working there one day, a black, 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 HO came into the dealership as a front line sale car. When that car came into the dealership, I absolutely fell in love with it. At that time in my life, I could not afford to buy it. But I told myself one day I was going to own a car just like it. I can still remember the sleek black paint job, with the red and burnt orange body badges and graphics, the silver ground effects, the custom red, burnt orange and orange Camaro insignia interior, and the 5.0 litre high output V-8 engine, which had a nice, smooth rumble when the car was running. Over the past 16 years, I have only seen a couple of these cars. I had another opportunity to buy a red colored one quite a few years ago, but the seller changed their mind. So, my quest to find my dream car continued. That was until November, 2009, when I finally found her. One night, I was doing an Internet search on eBay, and there she was. An eBay seller in Colorado Springs, Colorado had put up a red, 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 HO for auction. The car was described as being a second owner by this eBay seller, who had purchased it in Colorado Springs in 1984 with only 9,000 miles on it. I immediately called the seller, whose name is Eric Holt, to talk about the vehicle. Eric stated that he had bought the car from a local dealership in 1984. Eric stated that the car only had 9,000 miles on it when he bought it. Eric stated that the car now has 46,000 original miles on it, which he could verify, and did verify, prior to my buying the car. Eric stated that he purchased the car as a custom conversion convertible. Eric stated that the original owner lived in Colorado Springs, and that the original owner had the custom convertible conversion done by a company, which is still in existence today, called Colorado Custom Tops. Eric stated that the car never saw snow, nor did it hardly ever see any rain, as it was kept stored in his garage for most of its life. In speaking with Eric, it was very obvious that he loved this car, and that he did not want to let it go to just anyone. Of course, that posed the question, "so why are you selling the car then?" That's when he sent me pictures of his new car, that being an orange, 2010 Camaro SS. Eric stated that his wife gave him an ultimatum . . . that if he wanted the new Camaro, then he would have to sell the old Camaro. So after two weeks of research and negotiation with Eric, I bought the car. It was then shipped to my house in Watertown by a private car hauler. She now sits in my garage! My Camaro is a red, 1984 Chevrolet Z-28 HO It has the very rare L69 RPO option for the 5.0 liter high-output V-8 engine. It also has the very rare, factory installed Conteur Sport Camaro interior, with a 6-way power driver seat with 18 different adjustment settings. These two options alone, combined with the custom convertible conversion, make this car one of a kind, and very rare. I doubt that there is another one like it. The car is also equipped with factory air conditioning (which still works), cruise control, tilt wheel, custom center console, power locks, power mirrors, power antenna, full sport gauges - including tachometer, original dual exhaust system, 700R4 automatic transmission, leather wrapped steering wheel, leather wrapped shift knob, and a genuine GM factory front bra. The stereo in the car had been replaced with an aftermarket Pioneer AM/FM/CD stereo system. The wheels on the car are aftermarket aluminum rims, mounted with fairly new BF Goodrich tires. The car still retains its original factory paint finish, and pretty much all of its original factory installed equipment. She is in excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition. A true find. I would like to add that when I got the car, it had a white colored convertible top on it that needed to be replaced. I asked Ron if he knew anyone that did replacement convertible tops. Ron gave me the name of Highway Legends car club member, Cal Massa. I called Cal, who came and looked at the car and told me that he could do the job. Cal then took the car and did the replacement black top for me, which turned out absolutely excellent. Enjoy! |
