April 2020 • Tony Thacker interviews Damien Lewis

“My mom Joanne worked with a guy who leased this ’69 Camaro SS convertible new from Bliss & Paden Chevrolet at 1290 Westwood Blvd, West Los Angeles, CA.  It was built at the GM plant in Van Nuys so it’s Californian born and bred and has never been out of State and apart from that first year and has been in my family for 50 years.” Said Damien Lewis. “Of course, it hasn’t always looked this good.”

The Camaro received a facelift for the ’69 model year and it would be a one-year only look. While the hood and deck lid were carried over, there were new door skins, rear quarters and a rear valance that contributed to the ‘69’s lower, wider and more aggressive look. Up front, the ‘egg crate’ grille now had a more pronounced ‘V’ with deeper recessed headlights.

Mechanically, the ‘69s were a carry over and Joanne’s car was blue with a white interior but it was nothing special.

“My mom loved that car,’ continued Damien, “she drove it everywhere for a couple of years until my dad George, known as Buzzard,’ took it over. He owned some auto body shops and he put about quarter million miles on that car, mostly with the top down, visiting his shops. Unfortunately, he used it to test the skill of new painters or body men. It seemed like every panel was a different color every week, which embarrassed the heck out of me when it was time to go to school. No matter, I fell in love with the Camaro’s curvature and the lines.”

“In 1992, dad was driving home one day when the harmonic balancer fell off. I was 18 years old when he handed me the keys. The car was mine but I had to fix it. I started to dismantle it. We sand blasted and powder coated the frame. We put a new rear end under it; new suspension and my folks bought me a new crate engine. There was actually a HOT ROD Magazine article about that Target 350 engine where if you installed a new cam and did a few other things it became a 400 hp engine. I bought all these parts, dad bought the carburetor, we had the heads ported and polished and we put it together. Eventually it was dyno tuned and made 400 hp.

“Then it was time for it to go to a body shop where it sat for a year and a half with nothing done to it. Then we took it to another shop and they went out of business and said, ‘come get your car.’ Well, the convertible top frame, the fenders, the hood and many of the other one-year only parts had just disappeared. Then it went to another shop where it sat for another eight or nine years.

“Finally, around 2005 I was in a shop in LA and saw this incredible ’72 Plymouth GTX-R. It was red on red and I remember had paddle shifters. It was just sensational and it was built by Steve Strope’s Pure Vision Design.

“I kept track of Steve and about ten years later went to lunch with him and told him the saga of the Camaro. Steve said he couldn’t fit me in, however, two weeks later, he called and said a customer had dropped out and he could fit me in, now.

“The car, which was little more than the shell by then, went to Steve’s shop in Simi Valley where they completely resurrected our Camaro.  I have to say, working with Steve and his crew and Mick Jenkins and his crew at MicksPaint.com was such a pleasure. We followed the build on Instagram and when it was done we had my old friend and TV host Clarence Barnes film the reveal. What we didn’t tell my dad was that the car being revealed was his. Dad was always a numbers guy and when he got to the back of the car he recognized the license plate and I was able to reveal that it was, in fact, his car. He was amazed saying, ‘It’s so beautiful I don’t even want to drive this.’ He even asked if the owner wanted to sell it. Sadly, he passed away but at least we got to deliver his car.”