This Dual Dually 1974 Camaro 454 Is the Perfect Ice-Skating Machine When Hell Freezes Over

1975 was one of the saddest years in Camaro’s history; the model – launched just eight years prior – had to completely cut the ties with the days of muscle cars gone. Yes, technically, the car was not a ‘true muscle car.’ Still, the Z/28 package was the Camaro pass into whatever secret society of tire-smoker idolatry we could think of.

However, one particular car from that year makes the nameplate proud and does the Z28 justice, even though it lives in Finland. That’s where winter, Santa Claus, and ICE-cool piston addicts dwell, living in a secret harmony familiar to only a few select gearheads. Picture this: a 1975 Camaro 454 V8 with a six-speed and dual duallies is the perfect car for drifting.

Its owner, Pekka Palmgren, isn’t a discriminative type of lead-footed anarchist; he pledges equal allegiance to all surfaces known to tire, from tarmac to dirt to ice. The Camaro has a set of track shoes for every event (and for every season), and because it’s still winter, the ruffian pony car now wears the studded ice rubbers.

The owner is the perfect definition of a car enthusiast (according to Finnish standards) who will flat-out over any surface, in any condition, all year round. However, this man is extra special because his toy of choice is the yellow ’75 Camaro that’s been modified ever so discretely.

In 1975, precisely zero Camaros were fitted with the iconic 454-cubic-inch (7.4 liters) V8 that saw the light of the ignition spark for the first time in 1970. In fact, throughout its entire 12-year-wide span, the second generation of the illustrious Chevrolet never carried the biggest-block powerplant from the bowtie arsenal.

In full disclosure, the Camaro and the 454 V8 weren’t made for each other in stock form, but that’s the beauty of it: just because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean it can’t be done. The Fin’s recipe is so simple, it’s genius: get the ailing body of a derelict ’75 Camaro, throw a 1991 Suburban-sourced big-block, frown upon it, and rebuild the engine from scratch.

That happened in 2010, and the Camaro carcass was paid for with an old motocross bike, so you can imagine it wasn’t in the best of shapes. You can watch the story – as told by the owner – in the second video below. Still, the idea is this: the big motor is a jigsaw puzzle of various performance parts. As it turned out, the block wasn’t exactly stock in that Suburban.

A four-bolt-main gen 6 block with an Eagle cast steel crankshaft, Speed Pro forged dome pistons, peened and port heads, and Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap gap intake, topped with a Holley 850 double-pumper carburetor, and a hydraulic flat tappet camshaft. As such, the massive motor puts out 404 horsepower (410 PS) and ‘over’ 443 lb-ft (600 Nm). All that goes to a six-speed Tremec manual gearbox and to all four wheels mounted on the rear axle.

This is where it gets interesting: the Camaro morphs into a dually when it goes ice-skating, hence the pair of wheels on each end of the axle. Ironically, the engine was required on duallies back in 1991, so we could say this is a match made in heaven. But this is Finland, and what other people might consider as being out of this world is just another regular day for the cool Scandinavians.

The beauty (or atrocity) of this Camaro sits at the front, where the owner has adapted the suspension for drifting (the control stock arms have been relocated for higher camber and caster angles). And, to complete the masterpiece of mayhem, the front also received a double shot of adrenaline in the form of dual wheels.

This setup is valid only for ice drifting, and the studded skinny rubbers are installed for improved grip and extended tire protection. The wheels are custom-made (better yet, homemade) from two regular narrow wheels bolted together. The gearhead cut out the center of the outer rim and bolted it to the internal one.

The interior is as spartan as it gets, given the car’s purpose, but it’s there that we find the secret of the Finns' motoring mastery: they’re born into it. This gearhead reveals that the child seat between the two race bucket seats is for one of his daughters. It is my understanding that the other rides shotgun since there’s no other option. I can only imagine what educational opportunities a deserted dirt road presents to a Finnish father, and I fully support that.

The second most striking feature of this unholy Camaro is the ’small’ rear wing (the owner’s description) atop the deck lid, sitting about as high as on one of the two NASCAR legends of the 70s, the Charger Daytona and the Road Runner Superbird.

The suspensions are all heavily modified, front and rear, to cope with the tremendous forces exerted on the car’s body when going sideways on a frozen lake at full throttle. Precisely for that goal, the car shed whatever weight wasn’t vital for its high-speed operation (the bumpers are gone, the interior is bare metal and seats, and the trunks hold the battery and a fire extinguisher).

If you’re curious, the Finn also occasionally takes this hell-bent Camaro to the dragstrip. Its first quarter-mile run wasn’t something to write home about – primarily because of the tire-spinning overkill laid down on the track. In August 2016, this Satan’s Camaro ran a 13.93 at 107.5 mph (173 kph), with a 2.63 sixty-foot, and with the rear wheels fighting for grip all the way into third gear.