Speedtech Build's Karl's Camaro!

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Funny how this industry is. Where else can you start a project, decide to go a different direction, then come across another guy that wants a project like yours and takes it on to be his own, promising to take really good care of it. It's like a win win big warm and fuzzy family, right?



Such is the case with this new Speedtech ExtReme Camaro build. Some time ago we started a 69 Camaro project for a client. With big changes at work and being clear back on the east coast he decided a different route was more suited to him, but was stuck with the dilemma of selling his partially built '69 Camaro to the right person. Just so happens a local fellow had a '68 Camaro he was building but had a bad itch for a '69 instead, and heard about the car here for sale. Low and behold, the car stayed in our build shop and is now under way again. BTW the '68 is for sale now :D.

Here's the car when it came to us some time ago. As a clone it looked pretty nice but that was on the surface and reality check showed it was a little ugly according to disassembly media blasting.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

This is only part of the issues we found, including patches all over.











More coming soon...

[cornfedbill]

Ouch. That is a lot of cancer.

[CSG]

Feeling pretty good about my own fabrication skills after looking at that... Jesus... I don't even understand how they could hide that patch at the body line. Maybe that's the purpose of that white stripe.

[SSLOW6.0]

Ouch. That is a lot of cancer.

You must not be from Michigan... lol

[Bugzilla]

That thing must have had an inch of bondo on it! And those patch jobs.... Glad to see its in the right hands now.

BTW - Ill be stopping by your shop on Monday!

[Jimbo1367]

Horrible patch job !!!

[Ben@SpeedTech]

The body was so messed up on this car that we considered doing an entire new aftermarket body. In the end it turned out more cost conscious to replace what was needed and salvage what we could. It's really surprising what was under the paint and what appeared to be a fairly straight body, the previous "Bondo Sculptor" did a great job hiding it all. Here's a list of the new sheetmetal we put on:

• Both rear 1/4s
• Both rockers
• Both doors
• Both fenders
• Top of the dash
• Firewall
• Complete floor
• Complete deep rear wheel tubs

In the process this car is also receiving a few body upgrades:

• Tucked rear bumper
• Shaved drip rails
• Bullet mirrors
• Razor hood
• Custom front valance
• Custom sheetmetal dash
• ExtReme frame connectors
• Something a little different for the rear seat area
• Bolt-in custom roll cage

Here are a few pics to get started with...

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Test fitting the fiberglass interior pieces. These came from 3 different product manufacturers, Modern Classic Interiors, Fesler, and Marquez.

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

The interior is coming along nicely. I like how clean it is looking.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Thanks Sam.

Back to the body work. Along with the new sheet metal we're doing a couple subtle upgrades like shaving the drip rails. This is one of those design cues that really smooths the visual flow of the car.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

As we roll through the visual design plans on this car it's going to be a great blend of subtly bold, if there is such a thing. The exterior colors will be charcoal gray metallic, black, an accent of silver and maybe just a tiny splash of red. Nothing new right? But between the unique exterior stripe design and the interior layout we're anticipating this car will still jump out in a crowd and even with low key colors will create a decent level of boldness.

Here's a copy of the interior rendering I put together. Karl's always had a dream of driving a Camaro in the Silver State Classic as well as doing some Pro Touring events so we're setting up the interior to be able to easily exchange a proper race seat for the normal street driver seat. This OMP seat we'll be using has a cool design sewn in so we've decided to play the rest of the interior off that.

With an SSC legal cage Karl doesn't see any folks climbing into the back so we're making the rear seat functional in a different way. The back rests will be opened to expose the 12" woofers, having the speaker grille follow the upholstery pattern. The lower seat portion will open up via seat belt type straps to reveal storage compartments. The package tray will sport a contoured layout for the speakers and the trunk will have fairly simple and smooth upholstery matched panels.

[cornfedbill]

Looking very classy.

[dhutton]

Really like the way the dash and console are being integrated.

Don

[expensivehobby22]

Love the gauge area. I'd probably buy a simplified, insert-version of that if it was available for my 68.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Thanks everyone!

[Ben@SpeedTech]

A little more progress on the dash with new vent openings, and mounts for the hidden stereo equipment and battery out back.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

And a couple fiberglass parts going up front.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

The work continues with the Camaro, at this point Robert is getting all of the body lines and gaps fitted and matched while Jeremy reconstructed part of the firewall for the triple master kit and finalized the rear package tray. A full rendering and the start of the final body work are on deck!

[jlcustomz]

Lookin better.
Is that somebody's production hood with the rear extractors or custom? That vent design & location might look good with my project.