“I was to the point where I almost hated the car…” In hot rodding parlance, 38-year-old Chris Sanders has got himself a “reacher”, a first- attempt rookie that is well on its way to becoming whole. He says that he had previously never had a “hot rod” and that his ’73 Z aspires to something greater than a limited budget could muster in 2005. He paid $500 for the original, a bona fide Z28, plus a parts car, but it wasn’t like he stumbled over a screaming deal.

The deal wasn’t screaming, it was cursing him. In fact, the car didn’t even have rear wheels when he bought it. It was trying very hard to return to the earth. “I kept jacking and jacking,” he says. “But the axle was not coming up off the ground. Finally, there was a big thump … and the axle hit the ground along with a 2-foot [section] of the framerail that came off [bringing] the leaf spring with it.” This prompted his usually mild-mannered bud, Chris Martin, to jump back and exclaim, “That’s not good.”

via 1973 Chevrolet Camaro – Chevy High Performance Magazine.