The Crusher

Passion for the ’69 Camaro

You can’t fault a man for knowing what he likes, and in the case of Chelsea, Alabama’s Mike George, what he likes is the ’69 Camaro. Though only 41 years old, he’s managed to own no fewer than 15 of these cars over the years, but none was anything like his current Camaro. In fact, we can’t think of any other ’69 Camaro that’s quite like this one.

Eight-Year Transformation

The story began when Mike and Cathy George bought a black ’69 Camaro, already in great shape, and campaigned it on the show circuit for a time. The car actually did quite well, but when the couple decided to take the Chevy apart and start over, they probably didn’t know it would be the beginning of an eight-year project.

Advanced Front Suspension Upgrades

Before long, the Camaro was at Janow’s Custom Rods in Dalton, Georgia, where the builders replaced the original front suspension with a new system from Chris Alston’s Chassisworks. This kit incorporates a new front subframe, polished stainless street machine A-arms, a billet aluminum manual steering rack and 2-inch-dropped spindles. The owner also opted for combination air spring/shock assemblies and polished Wilwood calipers with slotted 11.75-inch rotors. These brakes are easy to spot behind the open windows of the 18×8-inch Billet Specialties Bullet wheels. The tires are 245/35R18 Michelins, but you’d never know that to look at them—each is shaved of its sidewall markings. Everything else on this car is silky smooth; why not the tires?

Heidts IRS Rear Suspension

In the rear, the suspension is just as fancy as the front. Janow’s installed a Heidts polished IRS assembly with a 9-inch Ford centersection sporting limited-slip capabilities and 3.73 gears. Looking into the huge 20×12-inch Bullets is a bit odd, as the Wilwood disc brakes are located inboard—a feature rarely seen outside of street rodding, causing some double-takes, as it initially appears the brakes are entirely absent. Everything under the car is either polished or painted to match the body. Many of the painted parts are smoothed and molded together so that it’s tough to know where one ends and the next begins.

Subtle but Extensive Body Mods

As radical as this 1969 Camaro custom build is, its external sheetmetal is, at first glance, actually one of the least-modified aspects of its construction. But that’s not quite true: changes are everywhere; they’re just subtle and tough to spot. By far the most noticeable change is to the rear of the car, where ’71 Camaro taillights take the place of the originals. The roof is shaved of its driprails, and the handles are gone from the doors. Both bumpers are slightly modified and tucked in closer to the body than when new, and the Camaro wears RS hidden headlights, a D80 spoiler and a cowl induction hood that runs all the way to the windshield, eliminating the cowl panel. The rear valance is molded into the rear quarters, and in general the body is just smoother everywhere.

House of Kolor Ultra Orange Pearl Finish

Of course, the sheetmetal you can’t always see is just as slicked up as what you can see. The underside of the decklid is almost absurdly well detailed, as is the metal under the hood. The firewall is absolutely flat, the inner fenders are smooth as can be and the radiator-core support area is just as good. Finally, a sheetmetal engine cover with a mesh grille does just what its name suggests. All of these alterations, inside and out, are buried under many layers of House of Kolor Ultra Orange Pearl—that is, except across the taillight panel, which is now flat black.

One-Off Custom Interior

You’ll find plenty more Ultra Orange inside the Camaro, too—the shade covers the fiberglass rear package shelf, dash and the center console and upper door panels that join them. These hand-formed pieces are incredibly smooth and curvy, giving this custom ’69 Camaro street machine an appearance like no other. Gone is the illusion of a stock appearance: the cabin is obviously and completely one of a kind. But everything orange only tells about half the story of the interior. Paul Atkins is the man responsible for the upholstery work, having spread and stitched hides of black leather over two pairs of custom bucket seats, the door panels and the trunk. The seats carry Atkins’ hard-to-define yet obvious signature look, leaving no doubt as to the shop that performed the work.

Driver-Focused Dash and Controls

The dash contains only a quintet of Auto Meter Cobalt gauges centered in the dash above the Alpine DVD player in the top of the center console. A half-wrap Billet Specialties steering wheel tops the polished tilt column, and Clayton Machine Works door handles and window cranks lend some shine to the black leather door panels.

Award-Winning Results

Thunder Valley Customs performed the Camaro’s final assembly, and with the completion of its efforts, work on the Camaro finally came to an end in March, some eight years after the project first started. Since then, the car has seen precisely two shows, where it took home Best of Show Gold Class from the first and a Goodguys Pro’s Pick from the second. You can bet more awards are on the way, because you can also bet you’ve never seen another Camaro quite like this one. With more than a dozen Camaros under his belt already, we’re not sure whether George will be after a new one anytime soon, but we do know he’ll be hard-pressed to top this later effort. If he can, we definitely want to see it.