If there is one car Chevrolet produced that is sure to entice enthusiasts to express their opinions, it’s the Camaro. Some feel the first generation is the best looking, others feel the second generation is the best handling, and then it’s hard to find many that have anything nice to say about the third-gen cars.

We understand the third-gen Camaro was not built during a time that evokes much respect or adoration from a lot of automotive enthusiasts, but when it comes to hot-rodding, the third-gen makes a great platform. They’re relatively inexpensive, accept many upgrades, and the aftermarket is beginning to offer some much-needed parts.

A stock third-gen Camaro’s engine never looked or ran as good as this one.

Kyle Mountz and family buck the trend and have a true affection for the style. He was gracious enough to send us a couple of pics of the family hot rods and led the email with some killer pics of his dad, Eugene’s, ride. “Our family ­­– for whatever reason – is into third-gen Camaros,” said Kyle. “We have a total of five of them in the family.”

Kyle’s dad found the maroon gem wasting away inside a barn in Maryland, where it had been sitting for 10 years. “It was just a bone-stock roller with no engine or transmission when he found it, “quipped Kyle. “He brought it home and put a mildly built small block in it, added a set of Weld wheels, and a cowl-induction hood.”

Like all projects, the the car was a cool cruiser for many years, but finally got to a point of needing an update. “A couple of years later, he then decided to tub it,” Kyle stated. “The car was back halved with an 8-point cage and new raised-floor pans.” Unfortunately, life intervened, and the car sat in this incomplete state for several years. To see the reasons why, you only need to look at the picture of a few of the other cars in the family.

The black interior features Procar seats, Auto Meter gauges with a custom dash, B&M shifter, and a custom switch panel.

“During that time, my cousin was working on his tubbed a car that he has owned since 1995. We then put my brother’s Camaro together, then came mine,” Kyle said. “All three of these cars had my father’s help as he put our cars ahead of his. With the other cars done, my father and I worked side-by-side in the garage at my house to complete his car.”

Eugene’s ’83 Z28 features a 355ci small-block with a roller cam, Dart heads, forged bottom end, and a polished single-plane intake with a 750 Quick Fuel carburetor. Behind that is a Turbo 350 with a 3,500-rpm converter and a 9-inch rearend with 4.88 gears and a locking differential.

Left is Kyle’s blown hot rod, the middle is Eugene’s, and right is Kyle’s brother’s car.

Do you want to read about more Home-Built Heroes? All you need to do is click here. If you own a Home-Built Hero, we want to hear about it. Since we’ve started the series, we have received more than a few candidates, but we still want to see more – we can never get enough. If you want to see more cars built by you the readers, send us a few pictures of your car showing the engine, interior, and exterior, along with all of the pertinent information, and we’ll make you Internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].