1969 Chevrolet Camaro Fenix: How to Match 1,180 HP of LS7 Power With Bentley-Style Luxury

The first-gen Camaro lasted for only two years, the shortest existence of any Camaro generation made since. From 1967 to 1969 it battled the Ford Mustang for supremacy in a segment that didn’t even really exist before these two came along. And that should have been it, and the model should have disappeared from the public eye once its replacements came along.

It didn’t. The first gen Camaro is still around today, one of the most significant pillars of the American custom car industry. So many of them roam the streets and specialized shows across the country that you could be tricked into believing there’s a factory out there somewhere rolling out 1967, 1968, and 1969 Camaros in the most insane of shapes.

This long list of customized and exquisite 1969 Chevrolet Camaros increased by one this February, after something called the Fenix was shown in its full glory at the 2023 Grand National Roadster Show which took place this past weekend in Pomona, California.

The project is the work of an Arizona-based custom crew called Driven Speed Shop. These guys remake anything from Chevy Blazers to Pontiac GTOs, and brag about being capable of performing anything from casual repairs to full-blown customs.

The base car for this project was, obviously, a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, and it had to be modified as per a design created by Sean Smith. That’s the same guy responsible for penning a bunch of Kevin Hart’s rides, including the 1987 Buick Grand National known as the Dark Knight, or the 1970 Dodge Charger driven by (and later gifted to) Vin Diesel in a couple of Fast and Furious movies, The Fate of the Furious and F9: The Fast Saga. Among many others, of course.

Like most of Smith’s ideas, the Fenix keeps the vibes of the original car, but somehow manages to capture them in a package that has little to do with the base car. It also packs immense amounts of power, and an interior so luxurious you could easily mistake it for some European car.

We’ll start from the outside, where the designer went for an understated look. At least, that’s what he tells us, because from where we’re sitting, the Fenix is anything but.

The body is not wrapped in some flashy color meant to make your eyes pop out, but is draped in a custom mix of PPG silver paint that gives it class, coolness, and power in one fell swoop. Contrasting Liquid Champagne and satin Charcoal Grey can be spotted here and there, adding to the car’s wow factor.

At the front, a pair of brand new headlights sit to either side of a wide radiator grille made from billet aluminum, and above a bumper that’s invisible to the eye as it’s been integrated into the car’s body (the same thing happens at the rear).

It’s right there at the front where the car’s aero bits begin, and they do so with the help of a front splitter whose design was inspired by the winglets passenger jets are known to have. More winglets can be found on the rocket panels, and at the rear a trunk spoiler, 3D-printed into existence, completes the system meant to keep the car on the ground when going fast.

Why would a Camaro need extra, integrated aero bits? Because the thing is immensely powerful, that’s why, and even if it’s doubtful anyone will ever use this car to its full capabilities, aero elements do need to be there, both for looks and functionality.

How powerful? No less than 1,180 hp, coming from under the hood from a Chevrolet 427 LS7 V8 engine. In its stock form, the unit is capable of generating about half that (570 hp), but this one was not left as is. It got beefed up by a crew called Wegner Motorsports by means of a supercharger and other tweaks, and dyno-tested to the said immense figure.

The LS7 is worked through a Tremec T56 six-speed transmission and sends its power to the ground through multi-spoke HRE wheels, sized 18 inches at the front and 19 inches at the rear, and wearing Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires.

Supporting the entire car is a 10-gauge boxed steel Roadster Shop-made chassis of the Fast Track variety. It was gifted with all the required hardware to make it suitable to handle a 1,180-hp machine, including Roadster Shop front suspension, Fox fixed valve coilovers, and Baer braking hardware.

All of the above would have meant nothing without an interior to match, and the Camaro Fenix is nothing short of spectacular in this respect. To create it, Smith says he took inspiration from Bentley, Aston Martin and Porsche, so what resulted is nothing short of luxuriously delightful, and a total opposite of what the 1960 Chevy originally had on – in fact, we’re told, not a single thing from the original Camaro remains on this build.

A combination of black and white dresses the custom seats, steering wheels and door panels, and good chunks of them all are in leather. The lower part of the dashboard comes in something called Liquid Mercury to further contrast a color combination officially described as Charcoal Grey and Creme.

The 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Fenix is one of the first new custom muscle cars of the year, so it’s bound to catch some attention and get people talking. You should know though, that at least for now, the car has an owner, and it’s not for sale. So the best chance of getting a first-hand experience with the Fenix is to be on the lookout for upcoming custom shows and announcements of the car’s visit there.