LSA Powered 69 Camaro -"Lou's Change"

[Lous69]

I just have to tell you about another very positive customer experience.

I decided to buy an enclosed trailer for my car. I didn't even know what to look for when I began my search. I just knew I wanted to find one in time for an already planned trip.

By searching some of the threads on this forum and others, I at least started to understand some of the choices and trade offs.

It wasn't until I started talking to Chad Servais of Becker Custom Trailers in Wisconsin that I really started honing in on what I needed for my purposes.

Chad and I only talked on the phone but he was WAY more helpful than other sales people I called and even the local trailer distributors I visited in person.

I especially appreciated how he answered all my questions with more than yes and no answers.

After I missed an opportunity to buy a trailer Becker had in stock, Chad scurried to find another one for me. Luckily he found one at the factory that had just been built. He then worked with the factory to have some special modifications made before it shipped to me. (Little things like welding in a plate for me to anchor an electric winch to.) Some how he got it all orchestrated with the factory and on its way in time for my trip.

With people like Chad it is truly a pleasure to do business. He genuinely cared about me finding the right trailer for MY needs versus trying to upsell me or convince me to buy something else that wasn't exactly what I wanted. He never showed fatigue from all of my newbie questions.
He never pressured me to buy more than I really wanted. It was a pleasure to do business with him!

Here a few pics of my new trailer taken before it left the factory:







I knew I wanted to have an escape door. This one also has an easily removable wheel well making it more likely that I will be able to open the door on almost any car I decide to trailer.











Even though it's just a big box on wheels I'm really excited.

Thanks Chad!

[camcojb]

That's awesome, great trailer!!

[kwhizz]

Finally common sense has arrived in the Trailer industry......Great Idea with the removable wheel well.........that will save paint chipping and dents on the edge of the door when getting in and out.........

Ken

[Rick D]

Nice trailer, I really like the removable fender as well, I've seen the door before and the removable fender but never together!!

[V8TV]

Wow, that is nice!

[Ron in SoCal]

Can't go wrong with Becker. They are on top of their game!

[Vegas69]

Now all you need is a full detail crew inside and air conditioning. Don't want the car getting to hot.

[HBRod]

That's a cool trailer. Looks nice and simple but the added touches of the removable wheel well, escape door, winch mounting plate are great. Looks like a winner of a trailer to go with your winner of a car.

Rod

[Lous69]

The trailer works great. In a recent trip to Detroit I was able to check several items on my bucket list including a visit to the Dutchboys Hotrod shop, a friend's hanger party and a chassis dyno session with Dave Mikels at Thomson Automotive.

First, the car fits very nicely and my car door can swing wide open with the trailer escape door open and wheel well removed. It could not be any easier to get in and out of the car. There is even a convenient step between the trailer wheels.





My first stop was Dutchboys Hotrods in Kalamazoo. Paul and I have talked via phone and email for some time so it was nice to finally meet him and his father Joe in person. They could not be nicer people.

Their shop is spotless and very well organized. Every car under construction is being built with the same high level of craftsmanship and quality they put into Stielow's cars. I was surprised how much custom fabrication work they do in addition to world class body and paint work. It is no surprise that they are already building an addition to their shop to support their growing business. There is just something about their father and son business story that makes them heroes in my book. Accordingly, I asked both Joe and Paul to sign my car along with the other people I admire and have asked to sign it.







Next stop was a hanger party/private car show that a good friend of mine hosts every year. The weather did not co operate as it was cold, windy and rainy so the car show portion of the party did not fully materialize. Bob Lutz did show up in his ZR1. Bob was very complimentary of the design elements my son Dan contributed to our car. Of course I asked him to sign it too.





The last stop was at Thomson Automotive in Wixom. Dave Mikels was nice enough to meet me there to do some chassis dyno tuning on my car now that it has some shake down miles on it. Dave is a great guy. He got home from his family vacation only hours before meeting me at Thomson. The Thomson Shop is also spotless and full of projects that made me drool.

It was totally cool for me to watch my car being tuned on the same dyno, and by the same guy who also tuned the likes of Red Devil, Mayhem, Hellfire, etc.





The first pulls revealed that my LSA clutch is slipping at WOT up to about 3500 rpm. That really baffles me since the car has been babied so far and it only has 700 miles on it. The car also threw the AC belt for the second time now.

Subsequent pulls were from 3500 rpm to redline.

Dave did not go for maximum possible numbers. Instead, he purposely left some power on the table so I would not have to worry about bad gas here and there or long term reliability.

The bottom line was 581 HP and 571 torque at the wheels.

Here is a link to some video of the dyno pulls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDv...nllqjaOttBF4CA


Of course, I asked Dave to sign the car too.



A great trip overall!!!

Now to figure out why my brand new clutch is slipping.

[LS7 Z/28]

That sounds like an awesome road trip! I bet you had a great time. Thomson's shop is also definitely an impressive site to see in person.