Looks amazing guys!! Love the details.

I LOVE the fab work, absolute masters at the WORK you guy's do....

BUT!! Damn i hate body kits (even if its not a kit...) i HATE aero of any kind on Camaro's. To ME it just kills the car... It looks like Darth Vader's ride.... When a car is taken to that point, i just dont understand the purpose of starting with a Camaro. Might as well start from scratch and build something thruly unique. I know you guy's at RS are apable of such a task and it would surely be kickass!!

Again, love the hand work, just not the style, and i mean it in general, not just that particular car. I'm trying to foresee this style in a few years and trying to sell that car too... Finessed lines, tucke'd bumpers, pans, small scoops/ air intake new rr spoiler style are ok in my book, but anything that protrudes the body or is a major change (like the rear extractors and such) to the original lines i have a little difficulty with... I guess its cause i see too many Honda's with wings and such on 'em and it makes me think of these... Maybe its age related? Then again, im only 40 so...

Love the wheels on the car tough!

Just to make sure we're cleanr, i didnt mean any offense or bashing, just sayin'


Lead.

Thanks Josh - This one started really after we thought we had come close to being finished! After the car was shown at SEMA, with the new chassis and the other details we had added, Ben really wanted to alter the look to something other than just a black '69. Something more aggressive that gave more than a hint of the car's potential.
We bounced tons of ideas back and forward (there were 13 versions of the rear spoiler before we settled on this one, for example!) until we got a package that really gave the car it's own identity.

Thanks everyone :thumbsup:

No offense taken. (and thanks!)

That's the great thing about this hobby though is the mix of styles and opinions therein. For every owner that loves the stock lines of a '69 and wouldn't dream of messing with it, there are owners who see the potential for modification screaming from every line.

For this car though, it was on a different trajectory from the day a 2000hp Nelson motor was installed. The 'purpose' of starting with a '69 Camaro, plain and simply, is that is what the owner wanted. As builders, it would be a pretty dull looking shop portfolio if all the cars came in and went out looking the same. No matter what vehicle we start with, someone is going to get upset if you do anything other than a factory restoration. If the owner was worried about resale, he would have probably bought a Porsche.

As a shop, a build like this gives us a chance to stretch our design and fabrication 'legs'. The guys working on the car enjoy it because there are unknown elements that are genuinely a challenge to create, from a design standpoint it is a rewarding challenge to gather hundreds of elements and generate something the owner loves, we can be proud of as a shop and hopefully inspire others down the road. Personally, building something unique is truly more satisfying than building a clone of what everyone else finds 'suitable' or 'acceptable'.

As mentioned before, no offense taken. The owner of this car, ultimately is the one we are looking to please.

Very well said!!:thumbsup: If I had the skills, there is something from almost everyone of your builds I would find a way to copy. Now how about some updated pics of that Firebird?

and if I had the money I would be right there with you

yeah . all tools down, go find a different hobby

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3666/9...7c9dd118_b.jpg[/QUOTE]

I just want to know what the headlight part # is ???
the rest is really nice love it

OMG LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!

I always enjoy your builds, I love the different elements that you take from different eras as well as different vehicles and incorporate them as if the vehicle came that way. Never to "tacky" always with the right amount of "taste"! I have incorporated a few of your "ideas" in my own builds, I look forward to ALL of your builds and thank you for continued inspiration....now back to our regular scheduled AWESOME BUILD!!!!

:thankyou:
And in the theme of today, another bump for a 'pre-sema' thread :bump:

This Camaro build we were not necessarily trying to keep quiet since most of the details had been revealed previously, but it took quite a plot twist toward the end.

The plan the whole way was to keep this car in line with his theme of every car he has being black. Given the amount of new details and unique modifications done to the car, we were concerned they would get lost if the car went black again. Either that or many would not even know the car had really been changed since the 1st time round.

Thankfully he ended up agreeing at the last hour and we did the complete 180 we were hoping for!

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/...600cddcb_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8395/...de939aa4_b.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5611/...4c8cd8af_b.jpg

Fiberglass bumper final fitment

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8132/...706ae495_b.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5611/...f984cf58_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7561/...7489d461_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8395/...e499bf61_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7496/...60ae24a8_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7573/...b1d6325c_b.jpg

Awesome job!!! I need a garage that's bigger and heated, and more $$$. Already have the car ;)

Chris I remember when I came to the shop at least 18 months ago and you guys were doing reassembly. It was black back then (and the Charger was top secret in metal fab).

I was shocked when I saw this car on the SEMA floor. What a transformation! You guys killed it ... :thumbsup:

Good grief. Sweet!

I'm amazed at how understated the car looks in person compared to the photos of it in bare metal!

Nice & clean.

Any details on the color?
Is it a standard white or a color on any current productions cars by chance?

oh the suspense, cant wait to see this finished with color!!

GM Arctic white

Out the booth and back in again for the black tailpanel

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...6f8e390f_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/...ee4ac6eb_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7546/...c1717e41_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7543/...43bf8323_b.jpg

Final assembly

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7484/...2d6c14c1_b.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5611/...213429c9_b.jpg

One of the machined details we added to the car, it was on the rear quarter glass as a vinyl decal on the original car, sums it up pretty nicely:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/...cd178093_b.jpg

One detail we wanted to adjust was the grille opening itself. We wanted a slightly deeper, cleaner look to be incorporated with a waterjet honeycomb mesh.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/...3d3986e9_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/...8a183bd5_b.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/...ce251242_b.jpg

With the addition of the twin recessed scoops on the hood, we wanted a machined bezel for each opening that picked up on the more aggressive, contemporary details we were adding on the car.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7498/...a7ff799a_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...f88f71a3_b.jpg

New honeycomb mesh we created for the large opening below the bumper. Fun fact: the lower honeycomb pattern is a slightly different (taller) shape than the vertical grille above. The lower one sits on a 45 angle and the upper is vertical. The taller pattern on the 45 then looks the same as the pattern on the vertical even though both meshes are at different angles.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/...ab8e79eb_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7490/...fa723446_b.jpg

This car makes me want to paint mine white.:idea: :idea: :whistling: :whistling:

Oh the amazing creativity ! I'm sure u can be taught to weld and fabricate , but to come up with some these very creative ideas , I believe someone is born with a creative mind not taught ! IMHO ! Look forward to seeing MORE ! Thanks

The creativity on this Camaro is really good. I'm impressed with how this one is turning out.

Why wasn't the Charger given similar details?

That's an easy answer. As with any shop, it's all about what the customer wants and most importantly how much the customer wants and doesn't want to spend. It's no more different than one individual wanting a full-on, highly customized car with one off wheels, etc and another wanting just a simple, "as it came from the factory" restoration.

The Roadster Shop just keeps teeing it up and knocking it out of the friggin' UNIVERSE.

:smiley_smack:

:confused59: The details on that Charger were insane!

Thanks for checking out our builds and all of the positive support. It was really hard keeping some of these underwraps for the past few months. Chris will be posting more and more of the "behinds the scenes" type stuff over the next few weeks as time allows.

Thanks,
Phil

I'm not sure why you are hating on the charger for lack of details or fabrication. (I think this is your 2nd or 3rd post about it now) There is an insane amount of detail in this car that maybe you do not see. Most of it is on the subtle side to enhance the looks and lines of the original body. At least 75% of the body was completely built from scratch or drastically modified. I think the center of the roof was the only thing left untouched. The interior is 100% hand fabricated as was the engine bay, trunk, entire chassis, belly pans, etc... Every part on the car was either built from scratch or machined specifically for this build. The only store bought items on the car are the tires, brakes, and basic mechanical parts. Everything else is a 1-off piece. We will start a build thread sometime next week to show all of the design, detail, and fabrication that went into the Charger.

Wouldn't it get kind of lame if they did the same thing on every car? Seems like you're kinda hating on the Camaro. I get it if you're saying you love the work and the details, but personally like Chargers more and therefore would like to have seen them used on that build. Though I gotta tell ya, if that's it, it's not coming across that way and you're just sounding like a hater.

FYI

I was wondering what he was talking about myself. :buttkick: I just figured maybe he didn't notice the one-off wheels, custom interior, custom rear tail, etc. Don't know how he could have overlooked it, but maybe he did. I think Stevie Wonder could see the amount of work that went into the Charger. :goggles:

I have no complaints on the fabrication. While I haven't seen it in person, for what I've seen on here is top notch. Probably way better than what I could ever do. However, the end result makes it look like it's a Mopar for someone who doesn't want a Mopar. Personally, I like what you guys did to the tail lights and the hockey stripe down the side. But, since this thread is about this Camaro and you'll be starting a thread about the Charger later, I'll hold off on any further comments about the Charger in this thread. Or, we can discuss it in pm. And yes, I own a Charger, so I can see what body mods were done to it.

Pictures only tell a small part of a story. If you have not seen any RS car in person then I would reserve any and all judgement. They are one of the best shops in the industry. Also, you do not know what the owner requested RS to do, they may have wanted it to look untouched, although it is very far from it. I don't think everyone likes every little thing RS does, or any other shop for that matter, but you know what they say about opinions.

It looks Sweet! I love seeing what you guy's are going to do next.

I'm sure RS will be happy to build you one just the way you'd like it.

Yeah, they're like a$$h......uhhh, nevermind.

Hahaha, for a small nominal fee.

I have to disagree with you. There is no doubt that RS is one of the best shops out there. It's shops like these that are the trend setters. They're the ones that's going to get the media coverage, and it's their ideas that are going to get copied by lesser shops that will ultimately lead to the creation of parts that you, yourself will stock on your shelves for the local car guy to put on his ride. Now, if you see an idea that doesn't look right, or a concept car that looks dull, are you going to let shops like RS know what you think, or are you going to be a sheep and let them steer the industry in the wrong direction for the next 5 years until a better concept comes along? Just to remind you, your pocket book and way of life is on the line.

Personally, I think it's great that they done a Mopar, and a Charger in particular. Imo, the Mopar aftermarket has been stagnant the last decade. Parts that the Camaro and Mustang guys take for granted now, are just now trickling down to the Mopar guys. Looking at your Mopar section in your online catalog, as I'm sure you know, it's quite small compared to Ford and Chevy. While I myself and only one person, there are several thousand with Mopars that have the same opinions as I do, and the same taste in parts as I do. Since I maybe a possible future customer of yours, as a representative of the retail aftermarket industry, are you really sure you want me to withhold my judgment? Or, would you like me to come on here and say "Hey, I like the tail lights you did on the Charger. Someone should mass produce those.", or "Hey, the Camaro'ish interior in the Charger doesn't fit the Mopar lifestyle. How about coming up with something different?" so that they could work on another style that would get the Mopar guys excited, and if we're lucky, maybe get a few custom parts on the market? This is the only reason I'm speaking up, is so you guys know what I, and other Mopar people like me, are looking for and what we like. Custom B bodies don't get built everyday.

While you are free to voice your opinion, this is, of course, a public forum, firstly we dont build these cars to gain cool points from the Mopar lifestyle (whatever that is) or any particular group of people. It is not a traditional build. There are plenty of forums for those who get precious about coloring within the lines for a traditional 'resto mod'.

The customer is the one who came to us to build what he wants. Depending on the project, we have varying levels of input as to what the final product is. We choose to open these builds up on here so others can possibly benefit from seeing the 'how' or be inspired by seeing what is involved and goes into these type of builds. This isn't market research. Bottom line is the customer is the one who we are aiming to please.

Secondly, again, we welcome opinion, but lets keep this on point. This is a thread about the Camaro, yet here we are discussing your personal opinions about a completely different car. There is a time and a place...this is neither.

:topic:

Around here (Lateral G) - YOU post up a build thread of YOUR stuff... IF people like it - they'll say so. If they don't, they won't post that they don't. Why? Because it's your car and you get to build it anyway you like. Lateral G is a great website because it's about showing your hopes and dreams - showing your work - and discussions about how to do "X" or where to find "X" etc.