Faults:

This car was very neglected when I bought it. Consequently, nearly everything imaginable has either broken, rusted, or needed upgrading.

Power windows were slow and the regulators sagged badly when the doors were open. This caused the windows to lean inwards, and made the doors hard to close.

Door hinges also sagged badly; it's cheap and easy to replace the pins and bushings, or just buy new hinges (also cheap).

Interior was ratty everywhere. Headliner sagged and rested nicely on top of my head, sun visors sagged in my face, seats were from a different car and didn't line up right, the dash pad was horribly cracked, and the console had chunks of plastic missing.

Someone put a junkyard turbo 350 trans and 305 V8 in it. Both of those leaked from every seal and crevice you can think of.

Both the engine and trans were on their last legs, but still provided me with years of service and relatively cheap maintenance.

Rear drum brakes provided me with many hours of frustration and profanity. I threw all of the drum brake parts away, and did a rear disc conversion instead. Well worth the money, hands down.

The steering was dangerously sloppy when I bought it. Replaced the steering gearbox coupler (rag joint) and it handled like new.

Driver's side leaf spring was broken... drove it like that for years, and it didn't give me any problems.

Roof had holes in it.

Trunk pan had holes in it.

Doors had gaping holes in the bottoms filled with filler and chicken wire.

Fenders were wavy and filled with filler.

Quarters had holes in the lower front and rear on both sides.

Passenger door jamb on the quarter panel was nonexistent due to rust.

Trunk lid was rotted out badly.

General Comments:

This car is awesome. It looks awesome, it handles awesome, it sounds awesome, and everyone will think you're awesome for owning one. Even when it had faded old paint and bondo falling off every body panel, people stopped to stare, and offered to buy it on the spot. It's also extremely easy to work on, and it will teach you everything you could want to know about working on cars, from engines to bodywork. Parts are cheap as well, and they reproduce nearly every panel if yours has rust (which mine had plenty).

None of the stock engines were particularly mind blowing performance wise, but the small block Chevy has almost unlimited aftermarket potential. A big block Chevy motor will also fit nicely in the engine bay with room to spare.

I can't say enough about the way this car handles. Even the soft Berlinetta suspension had minimal body roll, and took every corner with ease. With some aftermarket suspension parts, I'd put the second gen Camaro on par with many modern vehicles.

I've had more fun driving and working on this car than I ever thought possible. The second gen Camaro is pretty popular today still, so if you're reading this you're probably well aware of everything I've already said. If not, and you like driving and wrenching, then don't miss a chance to pick one of these up.

This car is like an old friend to me now. A hard partying relic of times when all you needed was attitude and an open road. A guttural burping of exhaust notes and timeless body styling. Most of all, it'll never go out of style, never say no to a sharp corner, and it will never, ever, be owned by someone else.