Back in Savannah in 2000, I met this dude. After a few years of us crying on each other shoulders about s* we saw Out There (overseas) and other such bone shattering failures, we became brothers. Somewhere along the way, he bought a L36 M49 98 Camaro, dark blue metallic with grey cloth interior. He was building it up to get what he could easily get. He lost it in the divorce. A few years later, I find this one on the side of the road at a buy-here/pay-here for $2500. I traded my 85 Firebird with the 4-spd and 2.8L and a set of good 15-spoke T/A rims for that thing. I ended up having to pay $1500 for this Camaro. It was rough, but still in great shape so I intended on cleaning it up and giving it to my brother. He was dealing with a LOT of bad s* and deemed himself unfit to expose my kids to, so he took a vacation from us until he could dial himself in. I learned in Feb 10 that he was killed in a motorcycle wreck back in Nov 09. I was set to deploy to Kandahar in Mar 10. In his honor, I'm getting irrational and impossible power out of an engine that's not highly regarded at all for power. It's what he would have done if he wasn't working on a Galaxie 500 at the same time. One-off firing order, one-off head designs, one-off intake...all the s* that makes me sound stupid, insane, immature, unrealistic. That's the thing about most civilian car folks, though: They can't understand the fraternity that service can bring. I had the intent of building this and giving it to his father, but he took my brother's ashes and disappeared. Now, I can only build this car how WE would've built it, keep Stitch in the forward cup holder, and keep the loving memory of him alive for me, my wife, and my daughter. Too bad that my son has no idea who this guy was and that my brother never did meet my son.Originally Posted by lsxftw
Requiescat in pace, frater.
