Jackass on Edmunds

[fleetus macmullitz]

Originally Posted by Ummgawa

Is it just me or is the writing of the article just a little bit tinged with the "stare down your nose at the dumb asses" building the funny old cars.

The engineer/grease monkey/nut job in this case is General Motors engineer and Pro-Touring car-building legend Mark Stielow. It took Stielow 20 months to create Jackass, and predictably then, Jackass is something more than your average engine-transplant hack job. The fabrication appears first-rate. And lest you think big-motored Camaros are only about ripping though the quarter-mile, consider that Stielow started building first-generation Camaros to compete in Brock Yates' One Lap of America event. And it's early Camaros that have built Stielow's reputation. All have had silly names such as Mule, Thrasher and Red Witch.

So Jackass also gets the wheels, tires and monster carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes from the ZR1. No, those pieces are not technically available to your average car builder. One would need a VIN from a ZR1 to get them out of Service Parts Operation, so get one of those first.

The motor, which Stielow says makes about 511 hp at the rear wheels on a Mustang chassis dyno, sits low in a bolt-on Art Morrison subframe. The transmission is a Tremec T56 transmission from a Viper.

How much does all of this wicked Camaro goodness cost? "Well, I can tell you it's cheaper to just buy a ZR1," says Stielow, who since the disbanding of the High Performance Vehicle Group has taken a job as engineering group manager in the hybrid vehicle division.

Oh, and the color? That would be the always-sassy Daytona Yellow, which was a standard Camaro color option back in 1969.

Inside Line says: Now this is our kind of hybrid.



maybe its just me.

Very Cool Charlie, very cool indeed.

I agree with you Jim, less would have been more in this writers case. I'm referring to the words you highlighted in the bold type.

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted by indebt69

What gauges are those?

They look like SW Performance .

[InsideLine]

Ummgawa and WaterCooledNelds:

I wrote the stories on Jackass for Edmunds and let me assure you that I certainly did not intend, in any way, to look down my nose at Mark Stielow or anyone else involved in this form of car building/enthusiasm.

I'm absolutely floored by the car. That's why I wrote the stories for Inside Line, where we almost exclusively cover new cars. Understand that I used the term nutjob only in the context that, in the general car-enthusiast world, sticking a ZR1 engine (and brakes, etc) in an old car and spending more-than-ZR1 money to do so is, well, pretty nutty. That's part of the appeal of it for me. That's all I meant.

And I only wrote that the fabrication work "seemed" first rate, because I didn't get a chance to crawl around the car myself. So that was certainly not meant as a dig but as a compliment.

I talked to Mark after the story came out and he seemed happy with it. I hope Charlie and everyone else involved with building what is no-doubt a pretty remarkable car is too.

Daniel Pund
Edmunds Inside Line

[Rhino]

At first I wasn't sure what to think. After I made it to the end, it left little doubt. The last line of the article:

Inside Line says: Now this is our kind of hybrid.

[fleetus macmullitz]

Originally Posted by InsideLine

Ummgawa and WaterCooledNelds:

I wrote the stories on Jackass for Edmunds and let me assure you that I certainly did not intend, in any way, to look down my nose at Mark Stielow or anyone else involved in this form of car building/enthusiasm.

I'm absolutely floored by the car. That's why I wrote the stories for Inside Line, where we almost exclusively cover new cars. Understand that I used the term nutjob only in the context that, in the general car-enthusiast world, sticking a ZR1 engine (and brakes, etc) in an old car and spending more-than-ZR1 money to do so is, well, pretty nutty. That's part of the appeal of it for me. That's all I meant.

And I only wrote that the fabrication work "seemed" first rate, because I didn't get a chance to crawl around the car myself. So that was certainly not meant as a dig but as a compliment.

I talked to Mark after the story came out and he seemed happy with it. I hope Charlie and everyone else involved with building what is no-doubt a pretty remarkable car is too.

Daniel Pund
Edmunds Inside Line

Daniel,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us...

Around here and a few other places, it's just a normal train of thought to put the LS9 into something at least 36+ years old.

[z4me69]

69 camaro =ls9 = insane ummmmm eeerrrrrrr crazy we wouldnt have it any other way hmmmmm why did they put that motor in a new car anyway lol

[Ummgawa]

Originally Posted by InsideLine

Ummgawa and WaterCooledNelds:

I wrote the stories on Jackass for Edmunds and let me assure you that I certainly did not intend, in any way, to look down my nose at Mark Stielow or anyone else involved in this form of car building/enthusiasm.

I'm absolutely floored by the car. That's why I wrote the stories for Inside Line, where we almost exclusively cover new cars. Understand that I used the term nutjob only in the context that, in the general car-enthusiast world, sticking a ZR1 engine (and brakes, etc) in an old car and spending more-than-ZR1 money to do so is, well, pretty nutty. That's part of the appeal of it for me. That's all I meant.

And I only wrote that the fabrication work "seemed" first rate, because I didn't get a chance to crawl around the car myself. So that was certainly not meant as a dig but as a compliment.

I talked to Mark after the story came out and he seemed happy with it. I hope Charlie and everyone else involved with building what is no-doubt a pretty remarkable car is too.

Daniel Pund
Edmunds Inside Line

No harm no foul. Thanks for the reply, dude , and welcome.