Dayton Daily News

Kathy Pitcox had been going to car shows and cruise-ins with her husband, Jim, for a quite a few years in his 1956 Chevrolet street rod, but she always wanted her own car, a '69 Camaro.

"I bought one about six years ago. It was in rough shape and I didn't even tell Jim — I just bought it. But after we looked it over close, we realized we needed a better one to fix up," she said. A rough but restorable '69 Camaro Indy pace car filled the bill, and four years later, Kathy is bringing home trophies from every show she attends.

There's no resemblance to the pace car edition, however.

"We tore it down together, then hauled it over to Bob Swank's shop in Lewisburg for a new paint job. We had him do some minor tweaks here and there on the body, and then applied a GM silver paint, with pearl added," Kathy said.

Husband Jim was busy locating parts and building up the 350-cubic-inch engine.

"I had it bored .030 over, added a mild street cam and then had Swank shoot the block in a charcoal gray color. Then I put it all together, using chrome pieces wherever I could," he noted.

Mike Lyons of Lyons Custom Trim in Brookville took on the interior work, which is done in hand-stitched charcoal gray leather. A custom-built console is in the front, and another one separates the rear seats, with checkered flags embroidered in the seat back.

The reassembly process was a team effort for the husband and wife.

"I get right down there with Jim, helping him put in the transmission. I detail and paint the frame and brake lines. We worked every day and night for three months to get it back together," Kathy said.

Jim had a slightly different take on the process, noting that it required lots of repeat jobs to ensure everything fit correctly and worked.

"I put the power windows in three or four times before they worked right: Lots of stuff didn't fit just the way it should. Sometimes I thought we'd never get it done," he added.

The Len Immke Car Show in Columbus in early July yielded the ultimate trophy for Kathy.

"We won a 6-foot-tall trophy at the cruise-in on Friday night. It was so big we had to take it apart to get it home, but on Saturday at the show, we won Best of Class for modified Camaros," she said. Jim added, "There were 75 or 80 Camaros in that class and we won. Most of them were trailered, too, but we drive our cars everywhere we go."

"Jim worries about the car more than I do," Kathy said. "It's just a car. If something happens to it, I'll fix it. I have it to drive, and that's what I'll do."