My first car 72 Scamp

Hi everyone. Been a member for a long time, been helped by a lot of you on here, but I’ve not really posted on here to share the whole story of my 72 Scamp. I got it in June of 2004 when I was 14. It was my first car and I’m proud to say I still have my first! It had been painted the year prior to me buying and came with a nice original interior. The car had a 318 that was burning oil, needed bumpers, an engine rebuild, and some maintenance. Was a great place to start and it’s been an adventure!

First thing I did were the bumpers and swapping to electronic ignition. After that I wanted a 4 barrel so my dad suggested pulling the heads “just to check,” knowing full well that the 318 was needing rebuilt. This resulted in pulling the engine, boring it .030, cam, 4 bbl, and redoing the heads. Had I known what I know now, it would have gotten 302 heads. Oh well. What was the internet back then anyway?

After the rebuild, the tranny blew as my dad didn’t hook up the kickdown. Rebuilt the 904 with a stall and shift kit and dad paid for that one .

The car ran 16.3s stock, 16.1s with ignition. Engine rebuild I ran it the day before the tranny finally went and it went 15.2 with having to let off and ease in during shifting. After the tranny it’s been 15.4s (2.76 gears and the stall don’t go well).

After college the car sat for a little bit as I got married and had kids. Was able to keep it on the road somewhat, just doing maintenance.

Last few years I’ve really gotten back into working on the car. I redid the brakes, power steering, wiring harness, had the front seat backs redone, rebuilt the front suspension, and this spring redid the back end and swapped in an 8.25 with 3.92s and SG.

Other than the rear end, most of the restoring has been to stock or similar. I have just had a desire of keeping it on the road, rather than keeping it down longer to upgrade. Part of that is just having kids and other priorities, and wanting to use the car to create memories more than wanting to have the nicest and fastest car at the cruise night.

The car originally came with a/c. I yanked out the a/c in high school during the engine build (you know, 10 hp is important). I pulled the heater stuff out when I redid the harness. The heater box needs to be completely gone through, so again, a project for later down the road. I don’t drive the car in the winter, so no big deal for now. Plus, one of our friendly fabo members sold me a dash bezel for a car with no heat or a/c. What’s not to like?!

The car lives in Mid MO and has made trips under its own power to Kansas City, Indiana, and most recently to SeMo, when the parking brake became engaged on the highway, ruining the rear brakes. I limped it the last 70 miles with only the front brakes available as well as no power steering . This ultimately led to the rear end replacement I just completed a few weeks ago.

Going from 2.76 Scamp to 3.92s I think I’m done with the long trips but I’m excited to engage in a stop light battle from time to time. Will post pics mostly in order showing the whole process. Thanks for reading and God bless!