3/20/10

By Rachel Azevedo

This shiny, burgundy 1978 Camaro used to look like this, when 21-year-old Dustin Overton bought it from a friend for a hundred bucks. Imagine the shock for the aviation electronics technician in the Navy, to come home and see his Camaro looking like this. It was presented to him at the custom car show in Redmond.

"I just couldn't believe it. It felt like some weird fantasy," said Overton.

Overton says in his wildest dreams he wouldn't have been able to restore his Camaro to this quality. So who did? And why? Enter Gordan Aram of "The A Team Racing."

"I figured go as high tech as you can and you can't go wrong on that one," said Aram.

Aram, who'd never met Overton, was compelled to do it after reading an email Overton sent to a car club, asking for restoration advice. Overton wanted to dedicate it to fallen heroes of the war. With that in mind, Aram contacted Overton's father and secretly worked on it for more than a year with a team of experts.

"Why me? All this for me. I mean, look at this. And he said, cause you asked for help," said Overton.

"Dustin was the right person to do this for. We're all in this war together, and anybody that can show their support anyway they can; this is the way I can do it best," said Aram.

The names of Oregon and Washington servicemen killed in the war are engraved and will be a permanent fixture in the car. Overton is only home for four days. He's stationed out of Washington and has a third deployment just around the corner.