Words: Tommy Parry

If you’re an imaginative person and you’ve had long-standing relationships with multiple cars, you inevitably begin to picture the perfect amalgamation of their respective best traits. In AJ’s case, he loved the clean lines and strong presence of his ‘67 Camaro, but desired to blend those with the supple ride and impressive performance of his C5 Z06.

After some of the supposedly knowledgeable members of various boards told him that performing some sort of Frankenstein project like this would be impossible, he picked up an aftermarket subframe and a three-link rear suspension setup. However, these purchases never sat right with AJ, and he eventually tore them out to start with a clean slate and prove the naysayers wrong.

Having to make most of these parts by hand would stop some from trying, but AJ has greater persistence than most. Obviously it took a lot of measuring to stuff a C5 frame into a ‘69 Camaro’s body, but the start was facilitated somewhat by a coincidental pairing: The upper pinch welds on the outer rockers measure the same as the inner side of the Corvette frame.

After grabbing another C5 frame to help stretch it an additional 3.5” to fit the Camaro’s body, AJ replaced the outer frame rails with 2×4” square tube and modified it to fit into the Camaro’s outer rocker. This left the bottom of the rocker to be the new floor support, as he kept the fiberglass/wood floors from the ‘Vette. It also required that he install new seat mounts.

Once they were completed, AJ went widebody. With the help of a shrinker, he was able to get an additional two inches out of each side of the rear, which would house his proposed 335-section rubber well. Incidentally, the wheels he chose were C7 Z06 20×12” and 19×10”, front and rear, respectively.

Over these massive meats, AJ decided to suspend a C6 rear subframe. With a TR6070 7-speed transaxle setup, he’d have remarkable traction – even with the abundance of power on tap. The TR6070 is tasked with handling the LSA’s 700 horsepower. This punch comes courtesy of an LS9 supercharger, a cam and pulleys. Keeping it cool is a CTS-V’s fan setup, mounted at a v-angle to make the most of the real estate available.

For a car so exotic, much of the parts are surprisingly off-the-shelf. “Serviceability and part availability were priority one for me. Since I plan to use the car and not have it be a garage or trailer queen I wanted to be able to get parts anywhere in the country I would be as fast as I could and get back on the road. So, I’ve tried to use as many off-the-shelf GM parts as I could,” said AJ.

With an abundance of carbon bits, he’s been able to bring the weight down considerably. If all goes to plan, he plans to strip it down to a slinky 3,100 pounds. The list of goodies includes entire front end, mirrors, most of the interior, door panels, custom rear bumper and carbon ceramic brakes, among others.

There’s still a ways to go, but AJ isn’t slowing down. He’s getting close to the 50:50 weight distribution he’s been after, and when it’s ready, he plans to beat on it. No garage queen, this Camaro should go on to make a name for itself at Goodguys and Optima events across the country. “I plan to track it, autocross it, cruise it, attend shows and go on stress-free road trips. Maybe I’ll even put my garage-built car up against the major shop builds and see how it stacks up.”

That’s pretty ambitious, but with AJ’s commitment, driving skill and tenacity, he might just have a chance to impress a few bigger-budget builds.

To keep tabs on this impressive build, you can visit AJ’s build thread here or visit his Instagram page here.