Barn Find - Early Class 5

[olsonrob]

Any Interest to anyone? Location - Southern California. Stored since 1989.
Built mid 1970 and raced to early 1980. clean title - offroad registration -
non op issued. email - olsonr@webuniverse.net

 

[Bro_Gill]

Any specs on the build? I remember seeing a Camel Works Baja prerunner in Kernville at the brewery a few years ago. Same people?

 

[olsonrob]

Any specs on the build? I remember seeing a Camel Works Baja prerunner in Kernville at the brewery a few years ago. Same people?

Not sure - roll bar has Baja 1000 and 500 tags- I also think it has a Score tag. I was told raced up in the the Antelope Valley CA area. I have a old off-road magazine showing taking the checked flag at the fair grounds
Took to Glamis dunes 2000 and 2001- a few people recognized from past.

 

[Bro_Gill]

The photos look like they are from Indian Hill probably an AMSA race which would have been Antelope area, Ridgecrest, etc...

 

[harleys dad]

Indian dunes, I am in that line up of 51600 cars

 

[Bro_Gill]

Isn't that a cool pic Dave? How'd you do that day?

 

[olsonrob]

Indian dunes, I am in that line up of 51600 cars

The Camel Works car was a class 5 car - did this line up photo include class 5 and 5/1600 Baja Bugs?
Not sure -thanks.

 

[harleys dad]

I believe there was a 51600 camel works car also, been a long time ago and I only went a couple of times but I think going off fuzzy memorie there were both a and 51600. I think that whole line up is 56100 as it was huge everywhere in that time period

 

[Bro_Gill]

Any pics or specs of the car as it sits?

 

[sitnbull]

The Camel Works car was out of Saugus and was a Class 5 car. With a 1600 engine it would most likely be close to the current 5-1600 class construction. I built the roll cage and some of the suspension upgrades out of my shop back in 1976. Garo raced in the HDRA races at Barstow in prep for the Score races in Baja. I lost track of the car after 1978 so not sure of it's history after that.

 

[olsonrob]

I can tell you the cage is still in place - front and rear shock mounts gussets. I beat the bug to it's limits in my mind and no broken welds etc.
Many people have looked at the chassis/cage work and stated it was good for it's time and place.
Not sure how someone seen my Baja at a winery in Kernville around 10 years ago. Last time Baja was out was 2000 and 2001 at Glamis, Ca sand dunes.
You mentioned the Baja races. When I removed the old foam pad on cab roll cage it had several Baja 500 and 1000 sticker tags - maybe tech?
I have owned since 1990 - 28 yrs. Baja pretty much still looks the same. Some earlier posts mentioned maybe (2) Camel Works Baja's?
Not sure how mine would have ran in the 5/1600 class with the dash cut out with flat dash and rear areas all cut out - all open?
Also added a undated photo with Garo taking a win, any idea location/year.

 

[sitnbull]

I was thinking more about the suspension and wheelbase being more 5-1600 like than what today’s class5 cars. While I was working with the Camel Works guys, they did not have a 5-1600 “company car”. They may have sponsored a customers car that they race prepped. Thanks for posting. It feels good that the car is still around.

 

[olsonrob]

I know a few years back maybe 15 - I had a trans shop replace the reverse gear and they said transmission was really loaded with
high end parts for the 1970 era. The car still the wording "Bullet Proof Transmissions".
What type of business was Camel Works - was it a buggy shop or some other business?
Also is Garo still around? Car is "shoe in" for the NORRA race.

 

[TRAVISD]

How much do you want for it? Any more pictures of the car currently?

 

[olsonrob]

Photo above is the current condition - off and on about of parting with it.

 

[Bro_Gill]

The car I saw in Kernville was a prerunner, not a race car, but it had 'Camel Works' painted into the old lettering on the body. It had obviously been someone's prerunner at some point and was built as a nice prerunner from back in the day. But that car also was tan with orange and yellow graphics and had some similar things to the car above. If you aren't sure about letting the car go, I would recommend not selling it until you are sure. Otherwise, you may never get it back. It happens.

 

[harleys dad]

The Camel Works car was out of Saugus and was a Class 5 car. With a 1600 engine it would most likely be close to the current 5-1600 class construction. I built the roll cage and some of the suspension upgrades out of my shop back in 1976. Garo raced in the HDRA races at Barstow in prep for the Score races in Baja. I lost track of the car after 1978 so not sure of it's history after that.

Garo for sure rings a bell

 

[Rory]

Cool Baja bug, not sure what it's worth. Talking with a buddy about this very thing the other day. Not many people looking for a complete vintage race car that has been restored. Most people want a project that needs a lot of work. If this Baja has been in storage since the 80's I'm guessing it needs a complete restoration from the frame (or pan) up. New everything. With that being said you are looking at between $18-$25k depending on how much of the work you can do yourself and how good the remaining parts are on the Baja. If you spend $25k on a restoration on this car, in this market right now you'd be lucky to get $15k for it when its completed. With that being said someone is not going to pay a lot of money for a project car that is going to cost a lot to restore. Well, that is unless that idiots name is Rory but their is only one of them thank gawd.

Old race cars are very cool, unfortunately for us there is not a high demand for them. I've said it before, we are in the early stages of vintage off road racing vehicles. We are going to make some people extremely rich within the next 30-50 years but it wont be us!

 

[sitnbull]

Garo for sure rings a bell

Hi Dave, Jerry Kerr here. Garo had his VW shop "Camel Works" in Saugus off of Golden Triangle Road in the 1976- ? time frame. I had my fabrication shop in Aqua Dulce and did a lot of fab work for Garo as well as a couple of other shops in Newhall. Back then I did alot of pan shortening for glass cars as well as roll cages for class 11, 5-1600 and class 5's. I was racing with Lewis Off Road Enterprises out of Acton. The team ran a Class 4 Bronco, Class 8 Ford Pickup, and a Class 9 HiJumper which was my primary involvement.View attachment 194394View attachment 194394

 

[oldschool5er]

Cool Baja bug, not sure what it's worth. Talking with a buddy about this very thing the other day. Not many people looking for a complete vintage race car that has been restored. Most people want a project that needs a lot of work. If this Baja has been in storage since the 80's I'm guessing it needs a complete restoration from the frame (or pan) up. New everything. With that being said you are looking at between $18-$25k depending on how much of the work you can do yourself and how good the remaining parts are on the Baja. If you spend $25k on a restoration on this car, in this market right now you'd be lucky to get $15k for it when its completed. With that being said someone is not going to pay a lot of money for a project car that is going to cost a lot to restore. Well, that is unless that idiots name is Rory but their is only one of them thank gawd.

Old race cars are very cool, unfortunately for us there is not a high demand for them. I've said it before, we are in the early stages of vintage off road racing vehicles. We are going to make some people extremely rich within the next 30-50 years but it wont be us!

No truer words spoken. Perfect example sitting in my garage now. Lots of money was spent to put it back together, but few places to show it or race it again other than Norra. Even then I would have to let someone else run the car. The kids will just let it go back to dust after they get it as no appreciation for what it is even though they can see the history.