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Asked to pick his favorite car at the AAA Employees Car Show and barbecue, TKCS-STL participating volunteer Eddie chose Carl Fields’ very special 1968 Chevy Camaro!
Asked to pick his favorite car at the AAA Employees Car Show and barbecue, TKCS-STL participating volunteer Eddie chose Carl Fields’ very special 1968 Chevy Camaro!
The day was near perfect for a late summer car show. Sunny, a bit warm but with a steady breeze throughout the day. Approximately 60 cars and trucks plus two motorcycles showed up for the event ... one of those motorcycles belonged to my son Jeff. I thought I might mention it now because Jeff changes cars and bikes like I change socks!
Coming along to help me was TKCS-STL participating volunteer Eddie. I gave Eddie the task of picking his favorite car out of the bunch, which is not an easy task. I mean, how do you pick between a wild custom lowrider, a prewar antique that looks like brand new, a vintage muscle car with all the right stuff, and a late model sports car? I figured out a way when I was assigned a similar task of choosing the best car at the Fords Unlimited Club’s All Ford Show at McDonnell Park.
I told Eddie to pretend that the show chairman came up to him and said: “Eddie, if we said you could have any one car of this bunch, which one would you choose?” With that in mind, Eddie’s pick was Carl Fields’ 1968 Chevy Camaro shown on this page. But it gets even better because, as with most “special cars,” there is an interesting story to go along with it.
Carl Fields, now 59 years old, purchased this car 43 years ago and has owned it ever since! You do the math ... never mind, I already did. Carl was just 16 years old when he purchased his first car, this Camaro, for $150. Of course it did not look like you see it here. This virtually new car is the result of roughly $80,000 worth of custom and restoration work.
Under the hood, where a six-cylinder engine once resided, is a 350-cube, ZZ4 small block Chevy engine ... a new version of the original Chevy 327s. The interior is the work of David, owner of Top Stitch Interiors in Cottleville, Missouri. It is totally custom — the seats and surrounding interior panels. He also did the gauge cluster, which is fitted with Dolphin Gauges. Outside the candy-apple red is a custom mix done by Dave’s Vintage Custom Restorations, a color named Brandywine with some ghosting stripes in a gold hue, which was the car’s original color when Carl purchased it.
Carl probably didn’t keep track of how much he spent getting the car the way he wanted it, as many collectors do, but he told me the car was appraised at $80,000 after the restoration was completed 15 years ago.
Carl, a graduate of McKinley High School in St. Louis, class of 1982, is rightly proud of his creation, the details of which he left mostly up to the parties doing the work. Carl is also the proud owner of a 2004 Chevrolet Corvette that has also been customized and, as Carl put it, “has a lot of tricks!” He was glad Eddie chose his car as the day’s favorite, but Eddie was just as sad that his dream of ownership would never come to be.
Bruce Kunz is contributing automotive writer for Brand Ave. Studios
Originally published on stltoday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.