Mike Williams found this barn find ’69 Camaro out in the Carolinas and had originally anticipated restoring it in his own garage. After talking with Speedtech owner Blake Foster, it was clear Mike wanted a little more than a stock Camaro. Ultimately it was decided the car needed to be something radical yet refined. Powerful, yet docile enough to be taken on a dinner date. The end result is all of that and then some.
In an attempt to be somewhat faithful to GM’s original contribution, suspension mods are based around the core of the factory sub frame. Custom tubular control arms work with an ATS tall spindle to correct the factory geometry and put to use a power rack and pinion steering conversion. Out back a custom triangulated 4 link aligns a Ford 9” axle boasting a 3.73 geared and Auburn cone type limited slip filled Strange Engineering third member. The smooth yet responsive ride is handled on all corners by coilover shocks. Two piece C4 Corvette style rotors and 4 piston Wilwood calipers put the slow down on 19×8.5” and 20×12” Asanti 3 piece wheels. Michelin Pilot Sports wrap the wheels in 245-35-19 and 335-30-20 rolling stock.
Rather than swap in an LS, Mike wanted to stay true to the car’s original small block heritage, so a stout 383 was nestled between the frame rails. This Kershaw Performance built old school mill is no slouch, topped with AFR heads, Vic Jr. Intake, BG 850 carb, and about the prettiest nitrous injection ever seen. An aluminum Edelbrock water pump and Be Cool radiator keep all things within optimum temp range while a bead blasted and clear coated billet accessory drive keep things spinning. This mighty mouse is backed by a Tremec T56 6 speed gearbox running a Centerforce clutch assembly. Stainless headers, 3” exhaust, X pipe, and Magnaflow mufflers move the spent gasses back through hidden exhaust tips on either side of the custom license plate housing.
Subtlety is not a word used in conjunction with body mods on this first gen. Starting from the front there is a custom front air dam, filled and smoothed cowl panel and massaged cowl induction hood, ultra bold fender vents, shaved drip rails, shaved door handles and smoothed rear ¼ panel louvers. Out back is a custom deck lid spoiler and a reworked tail panel including a custom fuel filler door, split and molded in rear bumper, Marquez billet taillights, custom license plate surround and rear valance. Super smooth black metallic paint is accented by a single burnt orange metallic stripe. As beautiful as the exterior of this car is, the interior is no second placer. Custom leather upholstered Recaro seats feature a two tone perforated pattern, huddled around a trick custom center console and control center featuring billet toggle switches and billet beauty ring around the leather shifter boot. If that wasn’t cool enough, the custom billet machined aluminum gauge housing was designed to resemble a ’59 Chevy dash while Autometer screened the gauge faces specifically to match the Camaro’s theme.
This unique ’69 Camaro has appeared in several magazines as well as being displayed SEMA 2006 and 2007. This car has also won awards at every show it has attended including the Goodguys Fab five. Amongst all the beauty and changes made to this car, one outstanding fact remains- it was all done, start to finish, in only 10 months.
