Deep in the heart of Dixie, in the blue collar town of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, lives the Angelle family. The Angelle family has it in a bad way. These boys love to collect, restore, and modify all makes and models of GM cars. Jed Angelle, the youngest of this trio of brothers, is no exception. Among his collection of Chevrolet vehicles is this finely crafted '68 RS Camaro, disguised as an RS/SS. It's not a race car, it's not a Pro Street car-it's simply a "get in and go" street machine.
Jed's other first-gen is a numbers-matching '67 Camaro. "We followed all the rules to keep it that way." This time around the rule book was tossed in the trash.
When the '68 was purchased eight-plus years ago, to say it was a basket case would be an understatement. The rear quarterpanels were rotted through and through, and along the edges of the back glass, cancer had taken hold and eaten away much of the metal. No doubt, Jed's work was cut out for him, and over the course of eight years he did just that. One thing he did want us to know is, "Well, if you think you can buy all these so-called bolt-on parts and they will bolt right up, well, you are in for a treat. Thank God I have a milling machine and a small lathe at home in my shop."
Those machines were put to good use during the many late-night weekends spent working on the car after doing the 9-5 daily grind.
The mill is a GM 2001 small-block that has been bored 0.030-over and still retains its stock crank and cylinder heads. The machine work and assembly of the engine were done by Camaro Concepts in Houston, Texas. The all-important eye candy sticking through the hood is a Weiand 6-71 blower topped with twin Holley 600-cfm carbs. The 8:5:1 compression engine is running a cruiser-friendly 4 psi of boost. Yes, we said cruiser-friendly, because along with the blower is an A/C system from Vintage Air, power steering, and power brakes.
The interior is a full custom mix of '84 Camaro seats covered in doeskin-colored leather with Mercedes carpets (if you can believe that). The interior was done by George Jones (not the country singer) Stichin' Interiors in Baton Rouge. After eight years, late-night thrash sessions, and paycheck-by-paycheck financing, the Camaro came together and attracts far more attention than his numbers-matching '67.