1973 Chevrolet Camaro: An American Let Free In The French Countryside
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- This week take a lap through the French countryside in Gabriel Henaut’s 1973 Chevrolet Camaro.
Gabriel grew up under an influential father who also happened to be a mechanic. You know this story; with the seed planted early on in his life, cars were a point of passion for a young boy, and that hasn’t changed since. But like every tale told often, there’s a reason for that. When it results in cars like Gabriel’s Camaro emigrating to France, when the journey and the result are equally intriguing, these are the examples of whatever the Hero’s Journey is for the world of cars that are worth telling.
Growing up, his father taught him how to wrench and shared the tricks that come with experience, but more importantly, he encouraged Gabriel to adopt the do-it-yourself mindset. Getting a license and driving on his own began a longtime love affair with Mk1 Volkswagens, and Gabriel refreshed and restored several early Golfs, but after spending a good deal of time around, in, under, and on the iconic four-banger hot-hatches, he desired something different. Something unique thundering around in France. Maybe something American?
They say forbidden fruit is the sweetest, and a plump V8 from Detroit is about as foreign as it gets in northwestern French. “V8s were just fantasy,” Gabriel says with a small smirk, “You think it’s impossible, until one day you ask yourself, ‘Why not?’ ” So, after colluding with a friend to take a trip to the United States, the search for a machine to quench his thirst for torque was underway in full. In 2013 they flew to Los Angeles to start poking around for something rust-free, but couldn’t pass up the chance to visit Las Vegas while on the West Coast.
On the way out of the city, they get lost in the desert’s stretches of deserted roads for much longer than anyone would want to (which to be fair is not very long), and barely make it to a petrol station before running out of fuel. After topping off the tank again in Victorville, his friend noticed a Nova for sale parked just off the road. Not his ideal choice, Gabriel was about to walk away when a man walked over to ask him if he was looking to buy something. The man’s name was Roberto, and Roberto happened to have a pretty nicely stuffed garage.
“Follow me,” Roberto said, luring the traveling friends into the collection. “We entered a shed full of dismantled cars.” And though covered up, Gabriel quickly recognized a certain shape under its dusty cloak. Roberto removed the tarp to reveal a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro. “My interest was piqued,” Gabriel admits, “I got all excited; I loved that car.”
After fiddling with the ignition briefly, Roberto woke the split-bumper beast. Despite the accumulated dirt, a thorough inspection of the car proved it to be very clean and complete. A deal was struck, and Gabriel was the smitten new owner of some vintage American iron.
But the car still had to find its way back to France. “The nice thing about this story is that I indulged myself when I discovered the car, but also when I rediscovered it a few months later when the vehicle arrived home,” Gabriel explains, “I had forgotten a lot of things: the smell of it, the sound it makes, details that had been erased with time.”
By the time the car arrived home, and after the requisite time just sitting inside it again and reacquainting, Gabriel was shocked at how clean it really was, even on top of his initial surprise at its good condition. The process was well worth the risk, as he explains, “it gave me the chance to have unique experiences that I will never forget.”
Drive Tastefully®
Petrolicious.com
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Nice to see another video of Europeans who admire our stuff as much as we admire their stuff. And a guy who has a wide range of car fetishes, as in his love of the VW Type 1 and the Camaro, is always great to watch simply because my own tastes run the gamut of big, small, fast, slow, rare and mass produced, etc. Petrolicious always does a bang up job of telling us not only the story of the car but a story of the car's caretaker as well.
Petrolicious is simply awesome!
Got lick with your Channel Bro. Sweet Stang!
The cinematography on this channel is perfect. Great to see it combined with an American icon, it inspires us to do more cinematics on our channel with our 72 Mustang and 89 Camaro!
Decades Cars just checked out your channel, thanks for commenting!! Would never have found it otherwise, great content you deserve more subs.
8 minutes of pure beauty!!! LOVE this channel!! Keep it up petrolicious!!!😍😍
As a french this video really pleased me, what a pleasure to hear my language and this awesome story on this amazing channel thank you.
This made me cry. Amazing how cars bring people together
Thank's CC ;-)
What a cool story, it really hits close to home as I live maybe 30 minutes from Victorville.
you can sau hello at Roberto's colision for me if you want he's really a good guy
Mon Dieu qu'elle est magnifique !
A Camaro in France! You might as well be driving a tank down the roads. French country roads compared to North American roads are very narrow, and a 73 Camaro is a wide car. I was in Germany with the Canadian Military from 78 to 81 and a lot of guys brought over their Camaros, Firebirds and Mustangs, with a few Dodge Challengers and Chargers thrown in. The roads in both France and Germany were narrow, especially in towns and the price of fuel even then would make it expensive to drive, even on weekends. And the best part of the whole story, the 1973 Camaros were only built in Canada.
Charles Damery Firebirds in france? Most odd thing I heard today
Charles Damery it's not 81 anymore😜
And the roads in Europe aren't any wider either.
People could bring their cars over and unlike the Americans, we could sell them over there or at the time bring a European car back as long as it was built before 1970. So some people sold their Camaros, Mustangs, and whatever, you'd be surprised at the number of Cadillac Eldorados that were around Lahr and Baden-Baden.
For starters, I doubt it's his daily driver, so fuel prices shouldn't be an issue. The car is an indulgence for him. Also, I often hear people talk about how American cars are too big for European roads, but I don't understand how the same thing isn't said about Range Rovers or Mercedes S Classes. Surely they're just as big, if not bigger, than most American cars. This car is meant to be enjoyed, you don't drive it at the limit, it isn't that kind of car. You let the engine serenade you with that low V-8 rumble (with the occasional burnout for show) and cruise.
A beauty. Very nicely done video, especially in the intro.
This needs a "love" button. What a great film, a great story, and a great owner.
Wonderful video as always, I am curious as to what car his buddy ended up getting
my frien not bye a car :-(
C'est dommage pour to pote! Mais félictations pour ta belle trouvaille et merci d'avoir partagé ton histoire! J'habite au Canada et je conduis une Camaro SS 2013. De voir et sentir ta passion pour les voiture est inspirant pour moi, ca me rapelle pourquoi j'ai acheté ma Camaro! Le plaisir de conduire une belle voiture avec le son du V8 qui gronde a l'avant mais aussi l'aura de la voiture et tout ce qui va avec! Ici il y a plusieurs Mustangs qui courent les rues, les Camaros sont plus rares. continue a chérir ton bijou de voiture et profite bien des histoire qui s'accrocheront autour au fil du temps!
Géniale ton histoire Gabriel, et quelle voiture!
Merci a toi ;-)
Victorville.. I live in Victorville. I never would have imagined Victorville would be mentioned in one of these videos. And he's right. It's a small desert town in the middle of nowhere. Spot on!
roberto's colision ;-)
Great story, Keep up the good work Petrolicious. :) Good luck with the car Gabriel.
As always, great video! IMO, the 70-73 Camaros, without the front and rear spoilers (split bumper or not), have some of the most beautiful lines of any car. It'd be a crime to change one that warranted a proper restoration, but I'd love one day to find one that would be a good candidate for a resto-mod.
How can you dislike this?
2:58 I think it should be translated as "eight-cylinder" instead of "four-cylinder".
no, although the translation is wrong. He's saying, "when you have four cylinders, and you watch all those american movies, it makes you want a few more [cylinders] "
They messed up. I just knew that what was translated couldn't be right because it didn't make sense.
he still said 4 cyl though
Ok, so it shouldn't be translated "eight-cylinder". That's not the point. It still makes more sense than what they put him as saying. I don't speak French. I was only guessing at what made more sense and what was closer to what he was conveying. He definitely wasn't saying "When you keep seeing four-cylinder cars in American movies, you end up wanting one."
yeah sorry, i didn't mean your translation was wrong, just that they got it mixed up. You definitely guessed correctly!
beautiful car~beautiful owner~beautiful music. would like some V8 noise then it will be perfect, but nothing could be that perfect.❤❤Nice work team!
Super histoire super voiture
70-73 my fav Camaro and I will say the best looking Camaro ever.
You folks just make the best auto videos on UA-cam...........fantastic, interesting stories!
Great video and it's cool to see a forgotten, maybe unloved car cherished. But PLEASE align the darn steering wheel so it's centered when the car is going straight.
Just little things, but I know it drives me mad as well xD
Yes I can do it :-)
yay!
unloved? UNLOVED? STFU. split bumper Camaro = best Camaro.
Andrew Samy I'm aware. I meant that particular example before Gabriel found her.
Wow! An American Chevy Camaro on European roads! Interesting. :)
Yes those cars are very rare around here in France... French people don't really like cars in general and that's a shame.
I've noticed a surge in American cars in Germany. I've seen a thundering GT500 Eleanor last week and it was awesome!
I noticed while traveling through France that the cars all seemed pretty drab. which I thought was strange since French style is pretty much an assumed thing.
Great story, and well shot! Very happy to see the American cars lately, one gripe though, we only got to hear the car one time! More car sound in the next one please!
I wonder what car his buddy ended up getting.
Yea...when the father and son are in collaboration, that's the best in the world !
Another fine example of a Car Guy story.....(regardless of Manufacture or Location)
Belle histoire pour une belle passion
Merci
Very nice video, but I'm disappointed with the sound as we did not hear much of the engine which was drowned out by the soundtrack. We've had better in that department from Petrolicious. Enjoyable, still high quality though.
Ok what is with the loud music you can't hear the car....and why did it rake 1/4 of the video to get to the car? I don't mean to pick but with such great videos and almost no car time in this one...smh.
I'm confused by the title if this video. In the story he refers to a Nova they spotted first as being apple green, not the Camaro which appears to he more if a muted brownish green.
can it be
?????,
is it possible...
?
?
?
featured american retro muscle car...
.
wow....
I'm wondering if anyone could fill me on what the classical piece in the beginning of the video is called?
The videographer at Petrolicious is an artist. Nothing more, nothing less. This is art.
Got to be one of the most beautiful cars out there. And this guy is down-to-earth, authentic. Better don't steal his car, though. He'd beat the shit outta you so that you won't ever see tomorrow no more.
Oh, and credits again to Petrolicious for putting that music in that video. Works fucking perfect.
Pas courant les camaro 73, encore plus rare presque d'origine (extérieurement). Sympa
wow that song in the first part - what is it??
cool. I was born in Victorville. kinda a sketchy little town
what is the name of the music playing from 0:00 to 2:32? it was beautiful.
Nice story. Always nice to see cars from that era being given a new life by someone that appreciates them.
C'est le rêve de beaucoup de Français les "muscle cars". Je trouve aussi que c'est des voitures complètement folles même si elles ne sont pas très sophistiquées.
you know, couldn't help but think the music could be just a tad bit louder.
what's the song from 0:00 to 2:32?
Beautiful yet again, very emotional when he was talking about seeing the car for the first time, brilliant video as usual
I loooove thise channel. Such quality content!
I don't understand one word of French but I don't have to. Great vid guys- very nice!
This guy. Great story
And he likes VWs...even cooler.
Driving a camaro in France is dope! I know I missed my Camaro when I road tripped through Italy
I get you're French and all but for '73 Camaro - Chevy did not make an SS SuperSport.-- your options were Base, LT Type or Z28..that's it.. all w/ standard bumper... so why have SS badge & bumperettes -- it's c'est boiteux.
The best automotive channel
Can someone tell what soundtrack was used in this video??
Im going through the comments myself to see if anyone knows. Especially the at the start.
The greatest thing in Petrolicious is the love for cars that people have, NO MATTER what car it is. This so so so much more than "Car Romance", for many of us our car(s) are Life...
Gorgeous!
BTW! How do you guys select the cars? You should search in Latin America...
Cuba is a great example! No matter what old piece of forgettable 50s American car they own, their love for their vehicles is way beyond anything you will see anywhere else in the world.
I don't comment in UA-cam, but I decided I should state as an American who only speaks English and Spanish, I still love watching videos in which the car owner speaks in his native tongue. Unlike some, I'm perfectly capable of clicking CC. Please don't let anyone discourage you from making more! Honestly, even though I know trolls are thick even here, it's still embarrassing to have a bunch of jackholes make us all look collectively stupid.
Congrats Gabriel, such a beautifully told, shot and edited story.
Wow what a story he seems like a really nice person.
Francois G I confirm!!!!
thank's F.G
Great car not so great video
One day when the wife and I are both retired we'll move back to France (her home), and I'll take my '74 F250 along. I'm looking forward to driving that big ol' beast on those narrow country roads in the Ardennes!
Please feature a 90s JDM car. These were the fastest budget cars of all-time and there are surely so many excellent examples (even many without crazy power mods your audience would like hate).
My favourite Camaro.
What a beautiful car! BTW, anyone knows what is the music from the beginning until 2:38? Thank you in advance!
Makes me miss my 72. Only thing is that this is not a real RS. The split bumper cars have a different front end than the full bumper cars. With that said, great video.
Can you please identify the music? I love the vibe of your videos. True homage and love is evoked in every vid you produce. I feel the music has a bit to do with it as well. Wouldn't mind listening to it while working on my car.
great video i dont speak french but ive owned a 1970 camero.
love that Camaro year
Je comprend parfaitement quand tu parles de la redécouvrir étant passé par là moi aussi. Profite en bien. Salut.
This page has class. Kudos to the camera guy. You're making each car look fucking gorgeous.
Makes me miss my 72 RS. Placer Gold Metallic with a white vinyl top. Loved that car to death!
Good car & good man
Nice as always...
BUT more footage of the car and less of the owner please.
Let him talk in the off while showing the car.
I hate it when somebody puts the bumperetts on a non rally sport. You can get a conversion kit to change the front end sheet metal paint and the endura front grill.
I love the story, the car and really connect with the owner.
I dont know what this fine man is saying but im from America and its a 73 camaro so who cares. Were all car guys.
Love Petrolicious Films! Especially international films that say it all without the subtitles.
The 1st and 2nd gen camaros were probably the best looking ones out there. Like if you agree 👍
Great car, but can we get subtitles? Just like the Ferrari video. I want to know what you have to say.
Wow, talk about fate... If you never ran low on gas, or didn't take that exit....
Did Gabriel's friend buy a car as well, or will we have to wait for the friend's video to find out?
Petrolicous Episode Idea. Richard Petty and make him pick a car for a episode.
That's a pretty cool accidental find for Victorville. A real crap hole of a town.
I really want to work for you guys and help create more masterpieces like this.
The same video quality with a different subject...
Pas mal!
(Ces Camaro SS/Z28 ont gagne des courses au Portugal, parmis les Alfa, BMW, etc...)
Why play music over the engine noise?
This Guy passed Up a Nova For a Camaro...But good video!
This guy looks like someone with alots of personality in a good way
you did it again petrolicious. You made my day better!
Car Lovers live everywhere..as do their choice of cars..great video...
Another incredible video and story. An owner and car that deserve each other.
Superbe Camaro !
Merci beaucoup pour ton histoire , Roberto peut rouler pour 4 fois moins chère :/
Content d'avoir des Français sur cette chaîne :)
Yess a new videoo lol
That is one great looking Camaro
Nice video beautiful car but will be nice if I see translation.
3:30 à propos de ton moteur chinois 4 temps sur ton vieux van-van , en es-tu satisfait ? .. et comment as-tu modifier le pignon de sortie pour la largeur du swing-arm ?
Nice video but the music is too loud and distracting.
Yo at some points cut the music I want to hear the car please.
Best classic car channel on youtube, period.
A muscle car in Europe man what a trip that would be
I got goosebumps, too, when I hear that part of the story.
"Voiture américaine qui traine" becomes "vintage car" in subtitles, and the americana of it lost
Gorgeous! Cars that have a story behind it, are the best
The destiny to meet the car under those circumstances.