Red Sonja Gets a Makeover; My Build Journal
 

After destroying my credit as a teenager, I never thought that I would be able to ever get a car loan. I joined the Air Force in 2006 and worked really hard to get my life turned around both personally and financially. It took 5 full years to get myself ready to apply for a loan. In September 2011, I was approved and the car shopping was on. My first choice was a Mitsubishi EVO X. I drove one and loved it but the dealer would not negotiate into my price range. :doh: I then turned back to my roots; American Muscle. I drove the Mustang and it was too soft. I drove the Challenger and it was too wimpy (price range). Then I drove the Camaro and it was perfect in every aspect. I drove an IBM Convertible first. Then an IOM LS. At the second dealership, my dad found a 2011 1LT/RS in Victory Red in the very back of the lot, put out of sight to make way for the '12s. With "cash" in hand and some minor negotiations, we had come to an agreement. It was just a few weeks before my 30th birthday, so this was my present to me.

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Current Mods:

Visual-

Heritage Grill, Color Match
Euro-33 Wheels
Caliper Covers
Gorlilla Locks
AAC Ghosted Side Markers
NS-3 Stripe Kit
Rear/Front Fascia Blackout
Hyper White LED DRLs
Locking Gas Cap
Painted Tail Light Bezels
Painted Fog Light Bezels[
Black License Plate Frame
Clear Blinker Bulbs

Performance Mods

Black CAI Intake
Magnaflow Cat Back

Mods purchased; not installed

AAC Dual Color Halos
AAC Dual Color Fogs
AAC Afterburner Tail lights
Pfadt Lowering Springs

Future Mods

Windo Tint
Ported Throttle Body
RX Black Isolator
Black Out Side Emblems

Thanks for reading. There is much more to come.

Awesome! Congrats on the new ride!

Good to hear you got back in the groove financially! Congrats on the new ride and thank you for your service from a fellow service member :thumb:

Thank you very much. :thumb:

I drove the car off the lot with 302 miles on the clock.

Stopping for a celebration lunch.
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I knew that I would soon have to leave my car and head back to Okinawa where I was stationed. It was a tough decision to buy a brand new car, knowing that I would not be able to drive it. The plan was to make extra payments while I was over there making pretty decent money, but that didn't work out too well. Instead I spent the extra money on mods to help set my car apart and make it my own. I left the car with my mother in law with 1142 miles on it. She promised to take good care of her.

Fast forward 18 months.

I received orders to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas Nevada. I was finally getting off the rock and reuniting with my baby. The last few weeks before traveling were so nerve racking. I picked up the car with 1335 miles and the perma-grin was back instantly. Almost Everything was in perfect order. The barn cats who were guarding the car from mice and rats, used my car cover as a scratching post. It is pretty much garbage now. :mad:

I opened the car door and the new car smell still filled the cabin. It was almost like I had not been gone. I did how ever have to relearn how to drive the car; getting used to the clutch, the blind spots and shifting points. Everything came back pretty quickly.

First stop was my parents house, where I was greeted with this:
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A whole treasure of boxes

These are just a few of the highlights:

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The first thing that had to go was that stupid dealer plate. Thanks for the business, but you are not paying me to advertise.

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The next thing that got put on was a locking gas cap.

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Don't mind the dirt. It has pretty much been raining non stop here in Oregon and I am not letting that stop me from driving.

Welcome home and i see you have a few things to keep you busy!:thumbsup:

Thank you so much. It is the best feeling ever to be home for good.

We switched out the blinker bulbs and the DRL bulbs
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I thought they would blink clear, but they still blink orange. However there is no orange hue when they are not on. Not entirely sure if that mod was worth it.

The next mod to go on was the ever important catch can.
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We had some rubbing issues when we put the engine cover back on but we figured it out.

My dad and I pulled all the bezels for paint.
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In the process, we had a casualty. :doh:
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The finished product.

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On the car.
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The first bit of damage came from a curb. I was so mad at myself.

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We tried to fix it ourselves and it would have worked, but the paint dried a different color. It is totally smooth though. Good thing I am putting on new wheels.

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The next bit of business was to pull the nose off and make way for the heritage grill.

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The finished product...
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It took me a long time to decide on whether or not to keep the front bow tie. After a long collaboration with my dad, I decided to leave it off

The next project was getting the side markers from AAC switched out. Since we had the nose off and front wheels off, we pulled the wheel shrouds to help ease getting to the lights.

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I really should have watched the Youtube video on how to install the back ones. We made it much harder than it should have been. The first one took us about an hour, the second one, 10 minutes.

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Nice Car and great stories....Thanks for you service to our country....:army:

Keep up the good work....:coolpics:

Kurt ABL99...:chevy:

Thank you very much. I have been on this site for a long time and know everyone loves pictures.

Installed the caliper covers

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Test fitting the new rims.... plenty of room.

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With the stock rims

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And now, this is how the car looks. I am getting NS-3 stripes put on Tuesday.

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I still have to black out the side Camaro emblem. I also have dual color halos, dual color fog halos and afterburner tail lights to install. Those lights might get professionally done. The vinyl installers will be doing a lot of work. More pics to come. Thanks for reading.

Future mods:

C.A.I intake
Magnaflow exhaust
Pfadt drop springs

Nice ride, Warfighter! I love the color, (of course.). If I didn't have a 1LE, I would have optioned that spoiler, too. I ordered mine with the heritage grill, and yes, the bowtie came off immediately! Good work and welcome back to CONUS!

Tara

Car is looking great Jessie! Glad to see you finally started a build thread for your camaro :thumbsup: Cant wait to see what else you have in store.

Also welcome back home!:usa2:

Thank you very much. I was really against red when I was car shopping. But now, it really is the color for me. I love the spoiler too. It wasn't until I joined this site that I found out it was not a standard option.

Thanks Chris. I wanted to start one a long time ago, but it would have been just a bunch of me whining and missing my car. LOL I have a lot more planned and with a fully supportive wife, everything will come along nicely. And Thanks, it is so good to be home.

looking good man

Thank you.

Gorgeous ride, LOVE the red with the red calipers. Congrats on your beautiful vehicle and thank you for your service. My son is stationed in Kentucky right now with the possibilty of deploying to southern Afghanistan and the thoughts of owning a dream car when he is financially able is what keeps him going. Thank you for sharing your mod journey!

Man I love those wheels!

Great looking car and great story!

:thumb:Nice and clean

Those wheels looks sweet against that red!

Thank you for your service! Beautiful car ... enjoyed the pics, great mods so far! Looking forward to what you're planning next!

Thank you very much. :happy0180: I am happy to serve our great nation. The red caliper covers really set off the black wheels. I have been to Afghanistan and it is a great place to save a ton of money. Tell him to keep his head up.

I love them too. The first time I saw them in real life was a week ago. I bought on an impulse with the hopes they would work out. It paid off.

Thanks. Just don't look at the back. LOL.

I have always loved black wheels. Black and red are a great combo.

Today is big day. I am getting the stripes put on as well as the rest of the vinyl work. I will post pics later.

The weather was finally nice enough to take some pictures. I would like to give a big thanks to Seth and Colin with Nightshades who came up with a great kit.

I would also like to thank the guys at PDX Wraps for doing the install. They did an amazing job customizing the spoiler. The kit was not designed for the aftermarket dove tail.

If you are in the Portland area and need some vinyl work, I would highly recommend these guys. Top notch and professional.

And now without further ado...

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I had them add the front fascia.

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They also installed my gills.

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Customized spoiler to match.

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Blacked out the rear fascia. I need to paint the bow tie and stick it back on to break up the back end a bit.

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Just some random shots from our mini road trip today. I wish the weather was nicer.

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I am so happy with the end result.

grats man!!! cars looking great but its time to get lower!! lol

I know. I have lowering springs on the list. I knew, the second the new rims went on, it needed to be lowered. I am just out of mod money at the moment. :iono::sad0147:

Wow..nice work looks awesome ..love the wheels..

Wow! Awesome job so far, this is probably one of my new favorite builds :drool: I love your stripe kit! Everything really does look great :headbang::respekt:

Thank you so much. I love them too.

Wow! You are too kind. I really love the kit too. Everything has come together.

love what you have done with the car......i was thinking of having my roof done in real carbon fiber or gloss back

The last SCCC event was a dyno day held at Leading Edge Performance here in Las Vegas. I am pretty happy with the baseline number of 243hp. I will post the sheet as soon as my scanner arrives.

Thank you very much.

Woow u have really turned ur ride into a sexy beast....luv luv luv what u've done so far...hood looks amazing...very nice:bow::bow:

Thank you so much. My ride has become a sexy beast. I am so glad I chose to do visuals first.