Pro touring is a wonderful path to take with your classic car. Restomods are nice too, but if you want a fully modern vehicle in a classic car body, pro touring is the way to go. And this 1967 Chevrolet Camaro is one fine example of what you can do with the right upgrades.
As much as I like the first-gen Camaro, I've always felt that it wasn't aggressive enough design-wise. At least not until 1969, when Chevy rolled out one final facelift. Well, this beefed-up drop-top solves that problem.
Sure, the fact that the stock Camaro came with the RS package that adds the hidden headlamps was a big plus, but the owner picked all the right ingredients to turn a somewhat mundane pony into a road-legal beast. And yes, there's not an inch of chrome on this car, it rides on large, modern wheels, and it rocks a big intake on the hood.
It also sports that murdered-out look that makes every classic suitable for the Batman franchise, but this Camaro isn't black. The owner went with a dark and metallic shade of gray, which I think looks even better. And it's actually an authentic Camaro color from the past called "Son of a Gun Gray Metallic." That's a mouthful, but boy, does it look cool.
The car also comes with an interesting story. The owner has had it for about 25 years and has made several swaps under the hood. That came to an end when the Camaro caught fire and left him confined to a hospital bed. While unfortunate events like this usually end up with the car sent to the junkyard, he didn't give up and pursued his dream to create the ultimate Camaro.
He went all-in and changed everything but the outer shell. And not only does it ride on a custom chassis, but every single component under the skin is of the modern variety. It has power windows, power door locks, navigation, and a state-of-the-art audio system. Plus, race-spec components too keep all the oomph in check.
And as you might have already guessed, it's far from stock under the hood. But it's not powered by your regular LS crate engine either. The owner went for the range-topping LS9, essentially the same mill that motivated the C6-generation Corvette ZR1.
A supercharged beast displacing 6.2 liters, the LS9 is already plenty powerful in stock form at 638 horsepower and 604-pound-feet (819 Nm) of torque, but this mill got a few beefed-up internals. The car hasn't been dynoed yet, but the owner claims it cranks out at least 750 horses. That's about the same as the C7-gen ZR1 and more than any Camaro that ever rolled off Chevrolet's assembly line.
And yes, the supercharged LS9 sounds amazing and launches the Camaro into neck-breaking sprints. But you know what's really cool about this car? The fact that it's a convertible. Because you don't see that many pro touring drop-tops out there.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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