West Virginia
Man Drives to West Virginia To Buy a Camaro IROC-Z, Finds Really Bad News Under the Hood
Photo: WD Detailing | YouTube
This 1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z has been trapped under cardboard boxes and whatever the family threw on top of it for ages. The detailing expert found it online and just had to have it. It’s got the original hood and gold wheels. But it won’t be easy to drag it out of its entrapment.
First, he has to dislocate tons of cardboard boxes sitting on top of the poor Camaro. Trash buried it alive. The owner is giving a helping hand. They try to pull it, but it doesn’t work. They try to push it, but it doesn’t work, either. So, the next attempt is with the help of a Snatch Block pulley. And it finally works. The Camaro is out in broad daylight for the first time in over 20 years.
RJ drove all the way from Cleveland to West Virginia, which is at least a five-hour drive away, to get this Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z but did not expect such a high price for a car that has been sitting in a barn for 23 years. The owner, John, is asking $7,000 for it. But RJ plans to make a final offer of $5,000. However, he will start low. Very low.
Photo: WD Detailing | YouTube
The Chevy does, however, have sentimental value for John. It was his high school project. He rebuilt it with his father and friends. It was originally red over a gold interior. But John hated everything about that color combo, no matter how special it was at the time. You know, teenagers have their ways…
The 1986 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z went from red to black
So, he chose to paint it black and put in a gray interior, with many components donated by a newer Camaro model, but doesn’t say which one. They also retuned the suspension and put in a new auto box. The IROC-Z was already sitting 5 inches lower to the ground than the standard Camaro. So, the aggressive styling is something that made both RJ want one of their own.
But John had a family later on, kids came, and the car was not family-appropriate. He parked it in the barn in 2021 and never took it out again. John also gives RJ the bad news. The 350-cubic-inch V8 engine caught fire once because the fuel pressure regulator was leaking. In its good old days, the V8 pumped out 220 horsepower (223 metric horsepower) and 320 pound-feet (434 Newton meters of torque). The owner says that it still ran after the fire. But he hasn’t started it, let alone drive it, in over 20 years.
With that bad news in mind, RJ starts negotiating at $2,500 and ends up with the car paying $4,500. The hood lifted up on the wall is included in the price. He pays cash and drives away.
Photo: WD Detailing | YouTube
Once in their detailing studio, RJ and Mike find a lot of surprises. First, the front wheels are marked with the “FRONT” lettering. As expected, the rear wheels read “REAR.” The wheels are where the detailing begins. Pressure wash comes next. It will reveal all the issues that have shown up on the body of the Camaro over all these years.
They remove the insulation under the hood. Since it was affected by fire, they no longer need it. However, the cabin turns out to be somewhat confusing. The seller did tell them that there were parts from a newer Camaro in there but did not tell them which. The speedometer scaled up to 115 mph (185 kph) might be one of them, as well as the CD player. The odometer reads 14,445 miles (23,247 kilometers), just switching to 46. The low mileage confirms the 23-year-long parking.
They want to have the Camaro IROC-Z up and running
The seats are terribly dirty, but the stain extractor works miracles on them. The leather center console cleans up nicely, and there are hardly signs of the wear and tear you would normally expect from a car that rolled off the production line almost 40 years ago. That’s because it wasn’t driven, of course.
Photo: WD Detailing | YouTube
The IROC-Z is missing the wheel center caps, but RJ and Mike have already ordered four of them. The original hood finally goes back on the car.
Once the detailing is completed, RJ and Mike take the 1985 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z to experts to have all the mechanicals fixed and get it running. The best-case scenario is driving it back to their detailing studio. The worst-case scenario is probably paying for the fix more than they paid for the whole car.
Once they lift it, they see rust all over, wires hanging, holes in the floor, and some leaks. The best part is that they did not run any power on it. The last thing they wanted was to have it on fire once again. They are going to leave the car with Adam and his team and come back for it when it’s ready. Ready for the best-case scenario. For the moment, an engine swap is out of the question.
West Virginia
Community Catalyst Grant applications are open through West Virginia First Foundation through June 30 – WV MetroNews
The West Virginia First Foundation, which was established to use drug lawsuit settlement money to try to alleviate problems related to addiction, reported having access to $378.5 million in financial resources and noted that more than $34 million in grants have been awarded since the organization’s start.
The West Virginia First Foundation met for a few minutes Thursday at Ascend West Virginia in Charleston. The meeting was also available for view through streaming.
Executive Director Jonathan Board highlighted the launch of the Community Catalyst Grant application and a statewide needs assessment intended to identify service gaps.
Designed as a three-year, outcomes-driven investment, the program will support projects focused on public safety response, day report centers and generational prevention efforts. The program opened for applications on June 1 and remains open through June 30.
“We’re very encouraged by the interest and engagement so far,” Board said.
The board also approved a $4 million funding request for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. The project is focused on expanding access to innovative addiction treatment and recovery support tools while building the technology and infrastructure needed to support implementation across West Virginia.
Additional details about the project and funding agreement are to be released in the coming weeks following the completion of final documentation. West Virginia First Foundation and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute plan to issue a joint announcement once the agreement process is complete.
“They’ve gone through a very rigorous process for the correct funding,” Board said. “Their team has presented an opportunity to fund a project that will build technology, training and support systems of care needed to expand access to an innovative addiction treatment approach throughout the state of West Virginia, and really beyond.”
The West Virginia First Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2023 to manage and distribute 72.5% of the state’s opioid settlement funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The organization is aimed at combatting the addiction crisis through grants and regional projects.
The next regular meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Directors is scheduled for Sept. 17 although it’s subject to change.
West Virginia may have come up empty-handed in two tries against North Carolina in the College World Series, but they earned the respect of their head coach, Scott Forbes, who was incredibly complimentary of the Mountaineers following Wednesday’s game.
“I want to congratulate West Virginia. A heck of a team, a heck of a run,” he opened his postgame press conference with. “They are very well coached. They just play the game the right way. It’s a credit to their coaching staff. They come at you a lot of ways. A lot of speed, deep pitching staff, so we really had to work in those two games to beat them. I’ve been in their shoes, and I know what that feels like, and it’s a stinker. But man, they got a lot to be proud of, and they should be extremely proud of how they represented their university.”
The culture at WVU is as strong as it gets
Multiple times this season, West Virginia looked like they were well on their way to a loss and were rewarded with a win because they never stopped playing hard. Everyone thinks of the two games against Kentucky in the Morgantown Regional, and rightfully so, but they also came back to win after trailing by eight against UCF and after trailing by five to BYU.
For a moment, there was a belief that the magical moment was going to come again during Wednesday’s game against Forbes’ Tar Heels. With two outs in the 7th and trailing 12-1, Armani Guzman busted his tail down the first base line to beat out a grounder to short. It ultimately led to a five-run inning for the Mountaineers, all of a sudden turning a laugher into a semi-interesting game. Gavin Kelly hit a solo home run in the 8th to make it a five-run deficit, and in the ninth, Ben Lumsden just missed a three-run shot that would have really put pressure on North Carolina, even with two outs.
To have your team still playing hard when trailing by 11 with their season likely about to come to an end, it says a lot about the character of this group, but also how deeply ingrained the culture is at WVU. There’s a reason this program has turned the corner over the last 14 or so years and is continuing to trend up. They’ve had the right people in place leading it.
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West Virginia
Proposed 107.5-mile transmission line could leave W.Va. ratepayers on hook for $440M-$900M
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — A 107.5-mile transmission line project has been proposed, the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link, which would cut through parts of West Virginia to ultimately help power Virginia’s data center hub since there is not enough generation locally to serve them.
“Virginia gets the power and West Virginia gets the towers,” Del Chris Anders said. “What they did is they look west and said, hey, we’ll just use West Virginia but we’ll get this power and we’ll run this big extension cord. I’m all for exporting power from West Virginia. We are a power production state, but I’m not going to do so out of the wallets of West Virginians and allowing their property to be taken.”
During the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers put a bill on the table which was aimed at giving the state access to utilize these lines, but nothing made it to the finish line.
“We said, ‘Okay, if you’re going to run them through, you have to drop substations in West Virginia and by the way, West Virginia ratepayers will only pay for the amount of energy that stays within our state,’” Anders said.
A second line is also up for discussion. Valley Link Transmission hasn’t finalized any routes yet, but it would consist of 260 miles of transmission line and would add two substations between Frederick County, Maryland, and Putnam County.
With both of these lines, the main concern surrounding the proposals is who exactly is expected to foot the bill and whether or not it will ultimately fall back on West Virginia ratepayers.
“We’re going to be on the hook for anywhere between $440 million to over $900 million on both lines,” Anders said.
Lawmakers said those price tags continue to increase.
“At least for the MARL line, they went back to the grid operator, PJM, and said, ‘It’s going to cost significantly more money than it originally thought. Those estimates of the cost to West Virginia ratepayers are only going to go up,’” Del. Evan Hansen said.
These projects have gained bipartisan opposition. This is all beginning when representatives for these energy companies brought these proposals to lawmakers in January, noting that these lines would strengthen the entire grid.
But many lawmakers were not convinced, asking why they should support it if West Virginia has no direct benefit.
“It would increase our electric rates and private property owners might be faced with giving up their land or having their property values decline,” Hansen said.
It’s not only state officials voicing opposition. Public hearings have been held in the northern counties where community members shared their concerns with these projects that could go right through their backyards.
“We did hear from construction workers and electrical workers about the jobs, but otherwise it was uniformly against the construction of the project,” Hansen said.
An evidentiary hearing for MARL’s permit application will be held by the Public Service Commission on Oct. 26.
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