When “Papa John” sold his 70 1/2  Z28 Camaro in 1984 for $2400.00 to fund his first Pizza restaurant, he probably didn’t expect to have to fork out $375,000.00 to get it back (250K finder’s fee, 125K for the car).  I didn’t make that same mistake which is a good thing; I don’t have $375K   

          I fell in love for the first time in 1967 when I was 5 years old.  I saw a Camaro and I was hooked!  When I was 9, I wanted a 67 Camaro, when I was 12 I wanted a 67 Camaro and then, when I was 19, I purchased my first car (you guessed it) a 1967 Camaro.  

         It was 1981 and I was a young Green Beret at Fort Bragg North Carolina riding my 79 CBX northbound on highway 210 when I spotted a half primered 67 RS-SS Camaro heading southbound.  I quickly made an illegal U turn and followed the “smoking like a pig” Camaro to the small performance shop owned by Cecil Roberts (Cecil’s Precision Performance as I Recall).  I pulled in behind him and immediately asked him if he would sell the car.  Cecil was a 30′ish tall thin black guy who upon seeing this kid with bigger dreams than a wallet, looked at me and smiled; he didn’t say anything.  I then asked him again, “do you want to sell your Camaro, I want it whatever you want for it.” Yeah, I know, not the right way to negotiate my first vehicle right… 

          He looked at me, gave a bit of a pause and said “You don’t want this car” he then went on to tell me that the car needed an engine build, lots of miscellaneous parts, a paint job, wiring, interior, etc… I didn’t care. I wanted it.  It just looked cool. It was a medium blue (roof and sail panels) and gray primer mix (rest of car). It had a set of 14X7 1970′s Camaro rally wheels on its (missing the trim rings) Hideaway headlights (not working) and a cowl induction hood.  He finally relented and said, get me $1,600.00 cash and you can have it.  I smiled, told him thanks and that I’d be back in a week and I headed straight for the Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union.  I had never had a loan prior to that and really didn’t know how to go about getting one. I sat down at the Credit Union and that’s when I found out, it’s better to have no credit then bad credit. I requested a loan for $1,600.00 and filled out the paperwork.  Eagerly, I called the credit union every day for the next five days until the voice on the phone said, “come on down and get your money.”  I was excited. I called a friend of mine and caught a ride to pick up the cash and then headed straight for Precision Performance.  When I got there, Cecil was out and the hour wait until he returned felt like ten years.  When he got back, I pulled the 16 hundred dollar bills from my wallet as he was getting out of the Camaro and I said “here’s your money Cecil”.  He was dumbfounded.  He looked at me and said, “I wasn’t serious” and then went on to tell me he didn’t want to sell the car.  I was somewhere between screaming and crying. I was crushed. I reminded him of our conversation a week earlier and told him that a deal was a deal and I had met my end of the bargain and I expected him to live up to his end of the bargain.  He looked at me with half astonishment and half pity and shook his head and said, “Well, I guess you just bought yourself a Camaro.”  I was overjoyed. I handed him the cash and he walked into his shop to get the title and write up a bill of sale.  When the transaction was over, he looked at me and said what are you going to do with this car? I told him I was going to restore it and he just snickered and said “ok.”  He then told me that the engine used oil, “lots of oil” and told me that I needed to check it about every 10 to 20 miles.  I said “no problem” and then walked over to the hood to take a first look at the engine in my car.  I had never owned a car and had absolutely no idea how to open the hood.  He noticed I was lost and walked over and opened the hood for me.  At that point I knew I was in trouble.  I was 19 and had owned motorcycles since I was 15 (a 73 Honda CB750K) and the engines on the two bikes I had owned each had a small screw in cap that had “OIL” written next to it.  This 350CID V8 didn’t have anything that said OIL on it.  I looked sheepishly at Cecil and said, “How do you add oil to this engine?”  He looked at me like I had a third eyeball and said “And YOU are going to restore this car?” and began laughing.  I defiantly said “YES” and said, “So why don’t you tell me how to add oil.”  He showed me and I thanked him for the car and the help and headed home. 

Desperately wanting to prove Cecil’s disbelief wrong,  I took night classes in metal fab and body work and spent my day’s (when I was not on an overseas assignment) haunting automotive body shops, interior shops, and custom build shops asking questions until they got sick of me, and then I’d ask more questions.  All in all, it took 2 years and lots of long nights and weekends, but I drove the car back to Cecil’s shop painted jet black with perfect lines and a completely rebuilt drive train (350 SS motor, Muncie M22 4 speed, 12 bolt 4:11 Posi) redone interior, rewired car with Centerline SS wheels on it. The car was a stunner and Cecil was floored. He told me that if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. 

I still have that car. It is now in need of a second restoration since that first one finished in 1983.  Here is the beginning photo and the photo of it in 83 painted black. Soon it will enter our shop and be restored for the second and last time. It will then take its place in our shop as the car that started it all. My first dream, my first restoration, my first car, and my first passion.  I’ll keep this car until the day I die and only then will my son get his chance to make it his dream. Thank you Cecil, wherever you are!

San Francisco Earthquake 5:12 AM - April 18, 1906

Arrival

Restoration

The restoration of this car will begin when we move to our new shop later this year. It is anticipated that because of the relatively poor condition of the vehicle, the restoration will take approximately two years. Although this appears to be the most complete Heine Velox in existence today, it will still require a great deal of research and parts to complete it. This vehicle still has the original hydraulic brakes, cabin oil filler, windshield ventilation system, dipping (dimming) headlights, and the original spoked wheels. This is believed to be the Heine Velox that was given to Gustav’s brother and may have been used as a chicken coop for years. It was sold at an estate auction in the 1970s from its resting place in northern California. It was purchased by a collector and remained in-tact and unrestored until it was sold to Mr. McAllister in Colorado as part of an estate auction approximately 10 years ago. 

Complete

Please visit both our web site over the next few years to see the progress or if you prefer, drop in and see the real automobile as we return it to Gustov Heine’s previous vision of one of the greatest cars of all time. 

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1968 Camaro

1968 Camaro SS.  Complete rebuild of car.  Bad shape.  Team did great work. Pics below…  Welcome to DRS Automotive FantomWorks or as we call it, “The FantomWorks”. Here you will find a pleasantly unique atmosphere of automobile enthusiasts who can provide any service or part for your classic automobile.

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