One Owner Project: 1981 Chevrolet Camaro

How valuable is it to have a car with just one previous owner? Some enthusiasts might say it doesn’t matter, but there are collectors who place a great deal of weight on owning a vehicle that was purchased straight from the first purchaser. If nothing else, it can provide some added value to a car that might be in a sorry state at the moment, such as this 1981 Chevrolet Camaro project. The seller claims to be the first and only owner of this V6-powered coupe, and it seems he’s decided to send her on down the road following a bad transmission diagnosis. The Camaro is priced reasonably at $3,000 here on craigslist in Georgia, but it may need more of a discount to get it on to owner number two.

A six-cylinder with an automatic is not normally a good basis for muscle car enthusiasts looking to add a new project to the stable. This Camaro fits the bill of what might have been referred to as a hairdresser’s car back in the day, owing to its conservative power output and two-pedal arrangement. The Camaro is said to crank up on a dime, but it doesn’t want to go into gear. I’ve seen plenty of YouTube celebrities claim that a transmission fluid swap was all that was needed to get a stuck project car back into gear, but I doubt it can be that simple of a fix every time. The interior looks decent first, but close-up photos reveal what looks like mold on the sides, dirty rugs, a cracked dash, and other cosmetic faults.

Then there’s the paint, which is pretty much shot as well. I suspect this Camaro went from being the daily driver to the second car at some point, left outside to gather rain and mold and who knows what else. The bodywork shows some rust weakness in the lower fenders, so even with its Georgia location, there’s no guarantee you won’t find some soft spots here and there. The faded and burnt paint look is attractive, in a way, especially if you like the patina and rat rod look. The later Camaro wheels are a good choice for an OEM upgrade, but I wonder if this six-cylinder-equipped Camaro would be more appealing if it was sitting on poverty-spec steel wheels and hubcaps.

From the side and in the daylight, the Camaro looks pretty straight. The panels aren’t dented to hell and the alloy wheels fill up the arches nicely. The seller’s asking price isn’t terrible, but I still think he’s going to have to come down a bit to get this Camaro into a driveway other than his own. A V6-equipped Camaro with a broken automatic transmission is not the stuff many dreams are made of, but if it’s cheap enough, it could be an ideal swap candidate. The seller mentions that things like the radio and lights still work, so perhaps there’s a better car under all that burnt paint than we can see from this side of the computer monitor. Would you rescue it?