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Editor's note: This is part of a series at KSL.com featuring some of Utah's coolest cars. If you own a customized vehicle — from sports cars to semitrucks — email jormond@deseretdigital.com with a photo of the vehicle and a brief description for consideration.
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s not uncommon for parents to bequeath a car to their children.
A mom leaving her daughter one as cool as a 1975 Camaro is as rare as a 1975 Camaro in beautiful condition.
When Sue Davidson graduated from college in 1975, her father offered to buy her a car. She asked for a pickup with a camper so she could take road trips. He said no and they settled on a silver Camaro with a 350 engine, which they had to order. Davidson took the Camaro on numerous road trips and used it as a daily driver.
In 1976, Sue married and in 1977, her small family moved from Idaho to Sitka, Alaska. The Camaro made the trip up the Alcan highway, which was gravel in parts at the time.
The family later moved to a town north of Anchorage, where their third child was born. The Camaro got a fresh paint job in 1979 now that it was out of Sitka, where it was so wet that crackers don’t stay crunchy.
Davidson became a pilot, doing deliveries, air taxi service, Civil Air Patrol rescue work, and flying float planes. She passed away in 2016. Davidson wanted her daughter, Heather Mortensen, to have the Camaro, so it was shipped to her in Logan, Utah.
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Shortly after the Camaro arrived, Mortensen and her brother were cleaning it up at her Logan home, a place where aircraft are rarely seen, when a small plane flew overhead. They called it a message from their mother that she was OK with the Camaro’s new home.
Many Camaros of that era got hot-rodded and cut up by folks thinking they were making improvements. This one was left alone, garaged and only driven in summers. In 40 years, it racked up fewer than 80,000 miles. The paint is in great shape and the interior is original, except for a modern stereo that replaced the original 8-track player. They’ve added headers and exhaust and period-correct Cragar wheels.
Mortensen got it insured this month and replacing the Alaska plates with their reference to the Camaro’s reputation and Davidson’s pilot work "ITFLYS" is next on her list.
Daily driving is not on the list; Davidson will keep the Camaro pristine as it waits to be passed on to her teenage daughter. Over her son’s complaints (he gets to drive her 1985 Chevrolet pickup), the Camaro will continue the chain, going from mother to daughter.
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