Scrolling through online marketplaces for project cars offers a familiar thrill mixed with serious risk – you never quite know if you’ll unearth treasure or just someone else’s abandoned headache. The crew at Grind Hard Plumbing Co. are no strangers to this gamble, often “buying the worst off-road projects we could find on Facebook,” as they put it. However, this ’80s Chevrolet Camaro proved irresistible.

Despite vowing off such endeavors after their monstrous Mini Cooper build, their latest video shows them diving back in, snagged by an irresistible find: a 1980s 4×4 Camaro. When the GHPC team arrived at the seller’s scrapyard, they found an ’80s Chevrolet Camaro body perched high atop a K5 Blazer 4×4 chassis. Their initial reaction was, “It looks way better in person than it did on those pictures.”

Complete with glass T-tops and a surprisingly intact interior, the backstory added to the appeal. The seller explained it was his actual high school car. “He eventually decided to jack it up on a Blazer chassis,” said one of the speakers.

The crew noted the build quality, and it felt more solid than some previous projects. “It’s built so much better than the Mini Cooper,” they joked. The initial startup revealed an engine that sounded “pretty awesome” at idle but clearly wasn’t happy. It was likely suffering from old gas and potentially not firing on all cylinders.

Undeterred, GHPC immediately subjected the Camaro to their signature off-road testing on the property. As expected, the results were chaotic. While the engine struggled and seemed to starve for fuel going uphill, the bigger issues became apparent in the mud.

The Camaro repeatedly got buried, hampered by poor departure angles and, more critically, a transfer case that kept popping out of gear. After multiple extractions, they concluded, “the only thing it’s good at is making a lot of noise.”

Despite the immediate challenges, including engine trouble and drivetrain issues, the Grind Hard crew purchased the unique Camaro.

They labeled it a “Mad Max machine in training,” acknowledging its solid foundation but obvious need for solid work.

The team even floated the idea that maybe they should supercharge this Camaro down the road, hinting at future possibilities for the wild project.

This latest Grind Hard acquisition perfectly captures the spirit of pulling rough but interesting projects from online listings.