If nothing else, the initial COVID-19 pandemic days of sheltering in place did provide an excuse to get my '67 Camaro out of hibernation a little early this year, to participate in our local version of the car parade phenomenon. If you've read this column for any length of time, you've heard my frequent laments about not driving this car enough. It was in fairly regular use when I acquired it, back while I was living in southern California some years ago, but after coming back east, and then leaving the car in "paint jail" for a few years, I'd become a bit gun shy when it came to venturing out with it.

The good news is that I've been steadily putting it back together and sorting out the issues that developed after it sat idle. Finally, I'm using the car with greater frequency and less concern about winding up on the side of the road somewhere. You have to know an old car to trust it, and I'm getting back to that relationship with it.

But driving the car more is also making me aware of the things about it that I'd like to make better. That, in turn, reminded me of what this car was like when I first got it. This was back in 2000, and believe it or not, the Camaro still had its stone-stock 327 two-barrel (complete with all the smog gear), it still had a Powerglide, and most incredibly, it still had single exhaust. Plus, it had manual four-wheel drum brakes, 14-inch wheels, junk tires, and some other maladies...