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Speedtech Builds Karl's Camaro!
Funny how this industry is. Where else can you start a project, decide to go a different direction, then come across another guy that wants a project like yours and takes it on to be his own, promising to take really good care of it. It's like a win win big warm and fuzzy family, right?
Such is the case with this new Speedtech ExtReme Camaro build. Some time ago we started a 69 Camaro project for a client. With big changes at work and being clear back on the east coast he decided a different route was more suited to him, but was stuck with the dilemma of selling his partially built '69 Camaro to the right person. Just so happens a local fellow had a '68 Camaro he was building but had a bad itch for a '69 instead, and heard about the car here for sale. Low and behold, the car stayed in our build shop and is now under way again. BTW the '68 is for sale now :D. Here's the car when it came to us some time ago. As a clone it looked pretty nice but that was on the surface and reality check showed it was a little ugly according to disassembly media blasting. https://i.imgur.com/kZWTpES.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CnR9CdL.jpg https://i.imgur.com/hgNOERe.jpg |
This is only part of the issues we found, including patches all over.
https://i.imgur.com/mMKCj28.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2gtek8g.jpg https://i.imgur.com/JKrQ84S.jpg https://i.imgur.com/zbDajjR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/5KbvwXr.jpg More coming soon... |
The body was so messed up on this car that we considered doing an entire new aftermarket body. In the end it turned out more cost conscious to replace what was needed and salvage what we could. It's really surprising what was under the paint and what appeared to be a fairly straight body, the previous "Bondo Sculptor" did a great job hiding it all. Here's a list of the new sheetmetal we put on:
https://i.imgur.com/aMa5d5b.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lRf4Cti.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gHiQCE3.jpg https://i.imgur.com/hv0pN95.jpg https://i.imgur.com/mKUAL5U.jpg |
Test fitting the fiberglass interior pieces. These came from 3 different product manufacturers, Modern Classic Interiors, Fesler, and Marquez.
https://i.imgur.com/FUhw6EB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6gcEkcP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lE1Aouw.jpg |
Wow Ben looking good!
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How's the fit on Door panels? I haven't had much luck finding reviews on them.
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Back to the body work. Along with the new sheet metal we're doing a couple subtle upgrades like shaving the drip rails. This is one of those design cues that really smooths the visual flow of the car.
https://i.imgur.com/5nFiynR.jpg |
As we roll through the visual design plans on this car it's going to be a great blend of subtly bold, if there is such a thing. The exterior colors will be charcoal gray metallic, black, an accent of silver and maybe just a tiny splash of red. Nothing new right? But between the unique exterior stripe design and the interior layout we're anticipating this car will still jump out in a crowd and even with low key colors will create a decent level of boldness.
Here's a copy of the interior rendering I put together. Karl's always had a dream of driving a Camaro in the Silver State Classic as well as doing some Pro Touring events so we're setting up the interior to be able to easily exchange a proper race seat for the normal street driver seat. This OMP seat we'll be using has a cool design sewn in so we've decided to play the rest of the interior off that. With an SSC legal cage Karl doesn't see any folks climbing into the back so we're making the rear seat functional in a different way. The back rests will be opened to expose the 12" woofers, having the speaker grille follow the upholstery pattern. The lower seat portion will open up via seat belt type straps to reveal storage compartments. The package tray will sport a contoured layout for the speakers and the trunk will have fairly simple and smooth upholstery matched panels. https://i.imgur.com/gIHk2uG.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NuAyCCD.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BLtz4ue.jpg https://i.imgur.com/o0oSqxj.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RqQtPpQ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/FXOOEsH.jpg https://i.imgur.com/SArkuNJ.jpg |
I love the rendering for the interior, nice design. The project is coming along nice.
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Thanks!
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A little more progress on the dash with new vent openings, and mounts for the hidden stereo equipment and battery out back.
https://i.imgur.com/W4dSxJB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/zn5p127.jpg https://i.imgur.com/zyMzz46.jpg |
And a couple fiberglass parts going up front.
https://i.imgur.com/fRhi2cZ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/bMrebmh.jpg https://i.imgur.com/0Baj0MS.jpg |
Love the new dash assembly. Awesome execution. Whose hood is that? I like the vents a lot.
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Don |
Thanks Dave, and Yep, Don's correct.
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I like it , can't wait to see more
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The work continues with the Camaro, at this point Robert is getting all of the body lines and gaps fitted and matched while Jeremy reconstructed part of the firewall for the triple master kit and finalized the rear package tray. A full rendering and the start of the final body work are on deck!
https://i.imgur.com/RGNPsD7.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wqQHhxA.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gkBesyM.jpg |
Wow.
Very nice and I love the package tray. |
This is turning out killer!! <LOL --- an old reference only Blake will get>
Funny how many of these Camaro's are little more than bondo queens -- all dressed up but underneath is just a mess..... Seen this dozens and dozens of times. |
Thanks Marty!
Greg- Lol! Yep it is Killer. Yeah, it's sad that so many cars have short cuts and slap together builds. I'll bet a good portion of the cars that roll through auctions are like that. I used to think that it was the cheap work of the shops but I now see that often it's the owner wanting a million dollar car on a fast food budget and bondo bandits are the only compromise. Luckily many of these cars circulate into the hands of folks that have the budget to bring them to shops where we can start fresh and do it right this time around. As the guy that gets to take the pics I really enjoy seeing that happen, and knowing another muscle car will be done right and good to go for years and years. |
Another factor is some cars (like mine) were repaired by collision shops in the 70's when these cars had nothing beyond daily driver value and zero aftermarket parts availability. Getting the car on the back road quickly was the first priority with low cost being the second.
One of the old timers I know told me how a place he worked would bang out the dents with a slide hammer, big mallets and other rough house tools then lather on the bondo like frosting a cake. When it was dry they would file and sand their creation until it looked close enough. The car would be sent to him to spray and ship out the door. If they did replace a panel, lap seams and mud were the name of the game. At several places he worked in that era it was all about speed and the bosses would fire guys who weren't fast enough. Either way it still boils down to quality taking a distant second place to quantity. :bang: Thankfully shops like yours and several others actually care about the cars they build and the customers they serve. Thank you for that and thank you for sharing some really nice work. :) |
Great point of view, thanks for sharing. Whatever the reason this sort of work takes place, we're grateful we're in a position to help take these cars to a higher level of build and restoration and preserve and improve a bit of our country's automotive history.
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Speaking personally, but I feel my opinion is shared on this topic... I would like to give a big thank you to your team, the other builders / shops, suppliers and individuals too numerous to individually name who make this hobby possible. Especially to the ones who push the limits from time to time and share their findings with the masses.
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Amen to that.
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We've been distracted a bit with prepping for the Good Guys show in Scottsdale this weekend, but I wanted to share this shot too until we get back on the car full throttle. Jerem'ys building some inserts for the hood, and notice he's using a hexagon mesh. The same mesh will replace the factory grill and you'll see that pattern throughout the car. More coming soon!
https://i.imgur.com/k2SR4Os.jpg |
Karl's Camaro is now in the body shop area getting the sheet metal worked out. For those not so familiar with what it takes to achieve a high end finish on a car this photo does a great job of illustrating the hours that potentially go into it. Even with brand new 1/4 panels it's almost surprising how ripply the metal can be. You can see some slight manufacturing impressions in the sanded areas and some more prominent areas got a little hammer and dolly and a skim coat of filler to be worked to get that show perfect laser straight finish. More coming soon!
https://i.imgur.com/kecvGC1.jpg |
Nice progress. There are hours invested in hanging quarters properly and even more hours in making them show car straight.
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Love the hood. Can’t wait to see it finished
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Thanks fellas!
Key body work is now done and then it moved over to the paint booth for the first spray of primer. Next up, lots and lots of block sanding... https://i.imgur.com/VJtWf8Q.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tlwG2iq.jpg https://i.imgur.com/37EAbyP.jpg |
All that prep work really pays off. Karls' car now wears a fresh new hue, the same charcoal gray metallic his Ford Raptor wears. Next up- cut and buff for the smooth as glass show car punch!
For those of you near Nevada, we're doing a vendor booth at the big Mesquite motor mania car show this weekend, Jan 12-14th. We'll be doing demonstrations on how we cut and buff on this car right at the show. Stop by and check it out! https://i.imgur.com/kRquk37.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZI3jni7.jpg https://i.imgur.com/0dx8Xd3.jpg https://i.imgur.com/j5xgNri.jpg |
Love that color!! Had it on an F-150 and loved it.
Might cruise up and say hello this weekend. |
we will be at the Mesquite car show all week end
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Ouch!
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I'm here for my Mayo clinic clean out.... so I hope it's not an OUCH!! |
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Now on to wet sanding... and wet sanding... and wet sanding... ;) Bob's moving right along on the cut and buff and it looks incredible! For other outer visuals here's also a pic of the front Forgeline wheel with a black chrome finish. The rear wheels have a similar positive offset look except the center mounting pad area is more concave.
https://i.imgur.com/kb7e0V5.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NgBVrph.jpg |
Really love watching this build
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Karl's Camaro
Love the Black chrome
Bob |
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