Here are some pictures of an awesome 1968 SS Camaro owned by Jim Perry from Kane PA.

The car has been a life long dream of Jim’s; he is a recovering alcoholic that made a promise to himself that if he could stay sober 5 years that he would buy his dream car. Jim has been sober for over 6½ years now; it took him a year & a half to find the perfect car. The Camaro is originally out of Texas & came to PA last spring (2007) with a guy that got transferred here with his job. Jim actually got the car on a trade for his custom ‘97 Chevy Silverado 4 x 4 & $1500. Jim always wanted a car that would be good enough to be in the magazines so he wants this to be perfect. He took the car to a childhood friend of his Pete Gelsick who owns Gelsick Collision in Kane, PA, one of the best body & paint shops in the area. Pete owns a one-owner ‘67 RS Camaro that belonged to his grandfather that he will be restoring as soon as the work is done on Jim’s Camaro. Pete told him that there were about 20+ coats of paint on this car & that there was damage on the back quarter where it had been hit at one time but puttied over. Pete told him that the car was in great shape but to make it perfect the best thing to do would be to replace most of the sheet metal because of the time & labor in changing the paint would be crazy.

So Jim has literally bought every single piece of sheet metal new for the car with the exception of the doors, hood, trunk & roof. He has also bought all the original emblems & every piece of chrome that was originally on the car including the chrome for all windows, fender wells, rocker panels & the chrome trim for the grill. He bought an original new center console with shifter, front dash, rear deck, inner door panels & new front & back windows. The rear end & front frame & suspension are being professionally powder coated & Jim even went out & bought a new rotisserie to finish the bottom of the car & make it a 100% complete restoration. This will make the car completely original & perfect to look at.  

Then the motor, drive train & all the mechanical work will be done by another life long friend of Jim’s named Ron Cook the owner of Ron Cook Garage in Kane. Ron has been in business for over 30+ years & is a die hard Chevy guy & the best mechanic around. Ron has his own collection of classic Chevys, he has a ‘32 Chevy Coupe, a ‘35 Chevy & a ‘72 Chevelle that he has already restored & he has a few more projects in the works like a classic Chevy El Camino. Ron will be working on the 350/380 horse motor in Jim’s Camaro getting that running exactly the way it should. Ron will be redoing the exhaust system & suspension along with making the drive train work perfectly. The Camaro has a 3:73 posi traction rear end with the 3 speed automatic transmission. Ron is actually the one that built the Silverado that Jim traded for this Camaro.

This ‘68 SS Camaro will be finished in the spring & Jim will send more pictures of the finished product along with some pictures of it in the restoration process. Most people would be extremely happy owning this Camaro the way it sits but Jim says when you have friends like Pete & Ron that are the best in the business at what they do that there was no decision. The complete frame off restoration of this car is just preserving one of the classiest Chevys ever made & it will help get it in a magazine someday.

 Jim says that if he could have anybody restore his ‘68 SS Camaro that it would be Pete Gelsick & Ron Cook two local guys that will give anybody in the world a great run for their money.