By Cameron Malone, Talon staff reporter

HRVHS senior Conner Curtis built his 1968 Chevrolet Camaro up from little more than the imperfect frame it came in. It is definitely a story of rust to riches. Curtis got what would someday be his personal vehicle on his fifteenth birthday as a gift from his father. It was going to be a long process to fully restore the thing but he felt it was going to be well worth it. And sure enough, about a year and a half later he proved himself right.

The process began with bringing the Camaro down to the most basic product possible as to be sure that it gets restored at even the lowest level. “The frame had rust, so we had to fix that and do some other body work,” Curtis begins. “When it was ready we replaced the wheels and exhaust and the motor.” Those specs are pretty impressive too. The wheels are American Racing Torque Thrust, the exhaust Flow Master Series 40, and a 327 cubic inch motor. “The whole thing was just a huge challenge. At times I would want to push the car over a cliff and just be done with it.” Luckily for him (and his father, who had helped him with the restoration after buying the car for him and would have likely been severely displeased at such an action) he stuck with it. So now he has both a nice car that he essentially made and a great story to tell. That’s absolutely worth a year and a half of work.