1968 Chevy Camaro - Bad Penny

Some people feel that a car can't look good and still be streetable or fast. This isn't a notion I subscribe to. Nonetheless, I didn't want any chrome that wasn't offered on the car back in '68. I also wanted the engine bay to have a clean, modern look. The Camaro was sent to the fabrication and paint wizards over at Best of Show Coachworks in San Marcos, California, where they replaced the hole-filled factory firewall with fresh steel and shot the bay in matching Prowler orange. They also widened the trans tunnel to accommodate the larger T56 and coated the underbelly in a rubbery black rock-friendly undercoat. The air intake was fabricated from four-inch tubing and thermal coated by Embee Performance in Santa Ana, California, to match the headers. The rest of the finishes in the engine bay are just various shades of black and gray powder paints, along with brushed aluminum. Finishing it all off, and giving it a cleaner, more high-tech look, is a set of billet aluminum hood hinges and a radiator closeout, both from DSE.

The only thing left was the interior, but that was going to be easy since I liked how it looked from the day I bought the car. Still, I couldn't help messing with it a bit. The old mechanical gauges were replaced with LS2-friendly electric LED-lit Stewart Warner units. For open track days I have a Racepak G2x GPS data acquisition system, and for safety there's a Safecraft Halon fire suppression system waiting to be installed. The fire system set me back around $400, but that's sure cheaper than rebuilding a burnt-out hulk. A removable steering wheel makes getting over the sidebars easier and Simpson harnesses secure both driver and passenger to the Corbeau seats. The back-seat design was simple since it doesn't exist. With the six-point cage it wouldn't be safe to sit back there anyway, and it cuts down on weight. I also dropped the idea of having a mega-watt stereo system. However, I'm working on an idea to use an MP3 player rather than a bulky head unit. Listening to the engine purr is cool, but it's nice to have some tunes on longer highway blasts. It works out to be simple, functional and in keeping with the theme of the car.

With the LS2 tuned on the chassis dyno, I can finally hit the road and enjoy some quality seat time. She put down 440 hp and 387 pounds of twist to the rear wheels on a Mustang chassis dyno. The fuel-injected engine idles like a champ with just enough lope to let you know she means business. After almost four years of Camaro building I can finally do some Camaro driving, and I plan on driving the wheels off this ride. In addition to hitting the local cruise nights, I plan on flogging Penny around some of the local road tracks and even taking her down the 1320 a few times. My wife has even said that if I up my life insurance enough she'll look the other way if I attend one of the open road events in the emptiness of Nevada. The short version is that I plan on wearing out tires, breaking parts, and just enjoying the ride. Isn't that what it's all about?

'68 Camaro
Owned by Steven Rupp, 42