Words: Tommy Parry

Cameron – a metal fabricator by trader, a buggy racer in his spare time, and a hot rodder at heart – decided to take the plunge and delve into the underworld of rat rods.

After appealing to his lesser angels and making the ill-fated decision, Cameron grabbed a liter of cola and began browsing the classifieds. With $300 in his pocket and enough caffeine to give a rhino a buzz, he ended his search and hopped in his truck, headed towards the site of a ‘32 Chevy sedan. After dragging it to his in-laws’, he sawed 6 inches off the top and returned to the drawing board to plan his attack.

Despite the manic ambition that comes with lots of caffeine, Cameron remained practical in his approach and decided to add a modern, reliable and serviceable powerplant. To keep it in the family and provide all the grunt he’d need in a 2,200-pound car, he opted for the obvious candidate: an LS1. So he snagged a wrecked ‘99 Corvette with 74,000 miles and got to swapping.

To fit the modern engine, Cameron had to push the firewall forward a solid 3 inches, but mounting the motor to the custom-made frame was a cinch. Building a respectable floor took a little more time and effort, however, and so did the re-arching of the wheel wells.

After finishing the floor tubes. Cameron installed a glitzy set of brown leather bombers. To complement the beautiful seats, Cameron snagged a wood-rimmed wheel to draw the eye to the center of the dash.

Sandblasted and primered, the Chevy’s body looked quite nice from a distance. However, sandblasting revealed a number of defects which Cameron would get a few gray hairs fixing, but at least they matched the Chevy’s primered hide.

Cameron mocked up a fuel cell and installed a pair of ‘39 Chevy taillights, then chopped his grille shell and primed it. With 26 hand-made slats cut and welded to fill the grille, Cameron certainly had his work cut out for him, though it was clearly worth it in the end – what a frightening appearance! People would pull off to the shoulder when they saw this beast approaching in the rear view.

Then the booster/master cylinder and clutch slave cylinder found their homes underneath the dash. Complemented by the modified steering shaft, the pedal box offered Cameron a comfortable amount of footroom, though some of that would have to be credited to the C5 Corvette’s transaxle design.

With a coat of mint green inside and out, Cameron was done with his lengthy build. Stylish, very comfortable and with over 400 horsepower pushing a car weighing a mere 2,200 pounds, there wasn’t anything this monster didn’t offer.

With that platform, Cameron had no choice but to take it to the track and flaunt this pea-green demon. To make it an autocross champ – it would eventually win the hot rod class at Goodguys AutoCross – it needed a little more in the footwork department. Nitto NT05R tires measuring 13” wide at the rear and 11” at the front, Z06 springs and swaybars and a fire suppression system rounded out the upgrade list. With over 10,000 pain-free miles spent on the autocross course and the freeway, this reliable Chevy promises to turn plenty of heads and throw huge plumes of smoke off the rear tires whenever the flag drops.