Blue Angel [COTW 5/30/11]
 

Well it's time to start my project thread. I got the car on August 17, 2009 after waiting 3 months for it; ordered on May 18. Checking the status of my car had become a way of life by the time it arrived so it seemed kind of surreal once it was actually here. I found myself going into the garage and just staring at it a few minutes to let it soak in that it was actually here! lol

I had given strict instructions to the dealer, Mark Christopher Chevrolet in Ontario, California to not wash it; I didn't want rail dust being swirled into the paint finish. They followed my instructions to the letter and A.J. who was my salesman was great about following up with phone calls.

Here's how she looked when it arrived:

I took her home and washed her carefully, using a clay bar on the surface to get the rail dust and grime off the paint. Here's how she looked right after that process:

congrats!

First mod I made was to get Zoomer's catback exhaust put on it which I don't have a good photo of but I plan to take a video so you can hear how it sounds.

I drove her for a month. Hadn't come up with a name and then I had just washed and dried her and as I stood there admiring the beautiful deep blue color, I said to myself "she's a blue angel" and I knew I'd named her right then and there. :)

First week I'd got her I had gone down to Nutek in Anaheim and met Jim Dunphy who is just great to work with and very knowledgeable about his profession and we came up with ideas for rims. Nutek is the American company of the man who originally founded HRE wheels; yep THE HRE of forged rim fame. You can contact him at Jim Dunphy jim@nutekwheels.com and I have talked with him and he said they'd be happy to work with Camaro5 for custom rims; just tell him Doc from Camaro5 sent you. He works through Rick Teter at Wheel Warehouse nearby who did a great job today of putting my rims on the car. They took their time, did it right, were very careful and really knew their stuff. Rick is great to work with too and he also said he'd be happy to work with Camaro5 members so his email is Rick Teter rick@wheelwarehouse.com and say Doc from Camaro5 sent you!

So anyways on to the pics. The theme I was going for (and some of you may remember my thread "Playing with Ideas") was the original Roger Penske/Mark Donohue Sunoco Z/28 Camaros of 1969-70 racing fame. They won the Trans Am championship and their colors were deep blue and the Sunoco gold/yellow. In fact Chevy paid homage to that heritage with one of their SEMA concept cars which I have in my avatar (except for now which is a homage to Thor).

The rims are 3-piece forged, 19x9.5 and done in the Sunoco gold/yellow for the spokes, the inner faces of the center spokes and front outerface is IBM, the inner rim is flat black, the outer rim is brushed aluminum with 2 thin stripes; outer is IBM inner is Sunoco gold/yellow. Tires are Hankook Ventus V12's in 275/40x19 all the way around.

Here's the car going in for the changeover; last time it will have the stock wheels on it:

And here she is decked out in her new shoes:

There are more things I'm going to do to her; suspension mods (Pedders) and lower it about an inch or inch and a half; I already have 2-piece slotted rotors ordered with Racing Brake for which we currently have a group buy underway http://forums.racingbrake.com/showthread.php?t=425 as well as some other mods I'm planning. Been a long day so that's it for now. I'll add more stuff including a list of what I'm planning on in the near future. :)

That's all folks! :D

Looking very nice

how much less do the new wheels weigh?

this is so crazy! i seen that car at mark christopher!!!
i was kind of annoyed, cause i seen it had not been washed, and thought that was because they didnt want to.
but its very good to see that they took what you told them seriously.
congrats!
i love the color combo with the wheels. :thumbup:

Awesome look!

mike
dms

Hi Doc,
I like that style rim.. pretty sweet! Nice colors! They help to differentiate the car from all the others..

Blue Angel will look good once those brakes are on and it's lowered.

Tailpipes look much better.. Where's the sound clip? LOL

Coming along nicely!

When I seen your thread title it made me think how cool it would be if someone made one called Blue Angel kind of like Roush does with the Mustang P-51.


Nice ride.

That is very cool. Love the blues angel's and everything they stand for.

Doc, Blue Angel looks fantastic! You must be very proud! I can't wait to see the pictures when you are done with her. :w00t: ;)

Thanks to all the nice compliments. :)

I'm planning on putting some stripes; possibly an outlined hockey stripe on the side in the Sunoco gold/yellow. There are many ways I can go here, but I'm taking my time and carefully thinking about it before I change the look; it's such a beautiful car I don't want to mess it up.

The idea of a styled theme tribute to the Blue Angels crossed my mind hehe; I have nothing but admiration and respect for them and all our pilots in all our branches of the service. They and all our service people make it possible for us to have fun in our lives in peace and safety. A tribute car might not be a bad idea.