1980 Camaro Z/28 Review Turns Into Complete Disaster
Watch the shit show above so we can talk about this disaster on wheels.
Did you watch it, all of it? I know, that was pretty hard to watch. In fact, this video has started something of a shitstorm on the Internet. We will get to that, but first, let’s talk about the car.
The second gen Camaro tends to not get much love. Between the bloated styling and smog emissions-choked engines, a stock second gen is pretty low on the totem pole. However, they can look pretty cool with the right aesthetic tweaks. This all-black example shows pretty well, at least on video. The polished Centerline wheels are a nice, period-correct touch as well. The engine is a lightly breathed-on 350 with a cam, “Eldebrock” intake manifold, an upgraded carb and headers.
That is all well and good. However, things get wacky any time Farah got near the brakes.
The pedal was unresponsive, and the car had a tendency to jerk to the right under braking. The owner of a the car played around the issue before finally coming up with “I don’t have rear brakes.” The look on Farah’s face says it all. After some more hemming and hawing around the issue, we get treated to some primo bullshit. “The rear brakes are physically on the car, but there’s a gear leak. It’s leaking gear oil.” Uhh…Then we hear that only three of the calipers work, and one of the fronts is seized, explaining the pulling issue. More excuses abound, my favorite quote is “It’s safe though. I’m not gonna bring a car that can’t brake, or else you’re gonna crash.” A quote that comes after the owner previously encouraged Farah to stand on the brake pedal to get it to slow down.
I think I have a translation for this insanity: the owner mentioned upgrading the rear end. So presumably he didn’t bother fixing the brakes until he swapped in the new axle assembly, with new brakes. However, offbeat this logic is, it doesn’t excuse not fixing the front brakes. A caliper rebuild kit is like $5 at Autozone, homie.
The “interview” during the video was a bit off-putting as well. Adrian, the owner of the Camaro, tried to get in several plugs. First off, his YouTube channel (no thanks, we’re good), his friends, and then a movie plug that his car supposedly starred in? It is all very strange. It should be mentioned that since going live, the majority of the videos on his YouTube channel have been removed, and comments have been disabled. Ouch.
We thought it was over: the Internet said otherwise.
Naturally, the kid got roasted by commenters. The overwhelming consensus is that the kid is either stupid, a bullshitter, or a stupid bullshitter. Farah later took to twitter, in a now deleted post, indicating that Adrian, the owner of the Camaro, was “begging” to have the video removed from YouTube. Adrian stated that he was “trolling” Farah with his intentionally (dangerous) unfinished brakes. Right. In a rather Democratic twist, Farah started a poll for viewers to indicate if the video should stay online or be removed. The overwhelming majority indicated that it remain, as a reminder of what not to do, and how not to act.
The Reddit thread is still active, with damning evidence of Adrian’s shenanigans being posted throughout. I’m not much for Reddit, I find it annoying to follow, but the gist is clear: own up to your mistakes and don’t try to bullshit the Internet.
This second gen could be a pretty cool car, it just needs some TLC and an owner that knows what they’re doing, and can actually wrench.
