derekf.com

28 Jun 2024
New Daily Driver

The Corvette (see this update for a pic) got rear-ended in November, and after sitting at the body shop for three months waiting for a rear bumper brace, the insurance totalled it out. I couldn't find a replacement in my price range and was not willing to go back to a sad four-cylinder car, so after a month and change of searching I found a good price on a 2010 Camaro 2SS.

Black, manual, 2ss were the requirements.

Wish it had been an RS (and wish it had the HUD) but this was ~5k cheaper than the others I'd looked at.

Given the price difference, I was told by She Who Must Be Obeyed that if there wasn't anything seriously wrong with this (read: anything I couldn't fix for a couple of grand) then I should get it.

It had a little less than 90k miles on it. No serious issues, but I got them to pull the GM service history and the previous owners apparently didn't like going to the dealership.

One issue is that the rear speakers barely work - I get a little bass and that's it.

The Boston Acoustics speakers take two separate inputs - one for highs and one for lows - and are 2 ohm speakers.

This was wired... poorly.

Local salvage yard offered up some parts - a set of the BA rear speakers for $15, and a set of the RS headlights for $80. Yes, $80.

These other BA speakers are slightly blown but at least I have rear audio now. There's a rattle from the package tray, and one of the door speakers is much quieter than the other (suspect it's been replaced with another 4ohm) but the to-do list is pretty short.

So here's where we start. I also bought the "heritage grille" and old-school SS grill badging and Camaro script for the fenders.

Thud, the front end falls off.

Installed. I... dig it.

Not too painful. If the HUD would have been as easy to do, the salvage yard had one of those too... but that's too involved for me to want to do, especially in the June sun in Texas.

Still need a little more cleanup of the removed letters but I like the look. I'd seen it on one of the cars I'd looked at and not purchased, and wanted to do it to mine too.

The car is not as fast as the Corvette. That's fine. The El Camino is faster.

Go back to the previous day (27 Jun 2024)

	Black, manual, 2ss were the requirements.
Wish it had been an RS (and wish it had the HUD) but this was ~5k cheaper than the others I'd looked at.
	Given the price difference, I was told by She Who Must Be Obeyed that if there wasn't anything seriously wrong with this (read: anything I couldn't fix for a couple of grand) then I should get it.
It had a little less than 90k miles on it. No serious issues, but I got them to pull the GM service history and the previous owners apparently didn't like going to the dealership.
	One issue is that the rear speakers barely work - I get a little bass and that's it. The Boston Acoustics speakers take two separate inputs - one for highs and one for lows - and are 2 ohm speakers. This was wired... poorly. Local salvage yard offered up some parts - a set of the BA rear speakers for $15, and a set of the RS headlights for $80. Yes, $80. These other BA speakers are slightly blown but at least I have rear audio now. There's a rattle from the package tray, and one of the door speakers is much quieter than the other (suspect it's been replaced with another 4ohm) but the to-do list is pretty short.
So here's where we start. I also bought the "heritage grille" and old-school SS grill badging and Camaro script for the fenders.
	Thud, the front end falls off.
Installed. I... dig it.
	Not too painful. If the HUD would have been as easy to do, the salvage yard had one of those too... but that's too involved for me to want to do, especially in the June sun in Texas.
Still need a little more cleanup of the removed letters but I like the look. I'd seen it on one of the cars I'd looked at and not purchased, and wanted to do it to mine too.