DYNAMIC 88
February 3, 2025
THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Canton Racing Products’ Universal 1-1/4 Qt. Aluminum Coolant Expansion Fill Tank
If there’s one thing we can’t stress enough, it’s the importance of keeping your engine cool. That’s why we’re pumped about the Canton Racing Products Universal Aluminum Coolant Expansion Fill Tank. This baby is an absolute game-changer for anyone looking to optimize their vehicle’s cooling system.
A Tough Act to Follow
Though clutches rank below power-adders on the desirability scale, they are every bit as important. In fact, you’d be better off not spending the time and money on a trick blower or turbo kit if you do not plan on upgrading the stock clutch assembly. Sure, it is possible on some applications to improve the performance of your motor without a clutch and pressure plate upgrade, but you can only take things so far. Eventually, the engine will let you know by racing to the moon when you least expect it. Your clutch will likely slip under full throttle, and most probably at the highest load. Better hope you have a rev limiter or things can really get ugly. But have no fear … Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT) has come up with a variety of effective combinations to cater to the needs of performance enthusiasts and racers.
150 TUNER TIPS
Have you ever looked at another enthusiast’s ride and noticed something unique, yet very clever, that made the vehicle stand out or perform better and thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Well, we’ve done some of the homework, legwork and research to provide you with a similar advantage. We scoured the tuning shops and interrogated the pros to find out what tips they have done that our readers could apply to their own vehicles.
Spotlighter
A 2000 EL CAMINO
Chevrolet Didn’t Build One, but Here’s an ’83 With a NASCAR Lumina Ground-Effects Package That Raises More Than Its Share of Questions
Regardless of where high school student Wyatt A.K. Freitas of Makawao, Hawaii, drives his very unique ’83 Chevrolet El Camino around the island, he always gets the same response: “I didn’t know that Chevrolet made a 2000 El Camino.” Of course, we know that they didn’t, but maybe Chevrolet should have.
Author
Bob McClurg
Story & Photography
A Unique Island Ride: Wyatt Freitas’s Custom ’83 Chevrolet El Camino
Regardless of where high school student Wyatt A.K. Freitas of Makawao, Hawaii, drives his very unique ’83 Chevrolet El Camino around the island, he always gets the same response: “I didn’t know that Chevrolet made a 2000 El Camino.” Of course, we know that they didn’t, but maybe Chevrolet should have.
The History of the Chevrolet El Camino
The fact of the matter is that after 28 years of production, the last Chevrolet El Camino rolled off of the GM assembly line in Toluca, Mexico, in 1984. But the end of the El Camino did not keep a company like Fullerton, California’s Lauren Engineering from coming up with their own El Camino ground-effects kit, an unusual sort of assembly that is based on the NASCAR version of the ’00 model Chevrolet Lumina.
A Father’s Gift Becomes a Unique Project
“My father, Philbert Freitas, wanted me to have something nice for my first car, but it had to be something different from all the rest of the guy cars I hang with. A couple of years ago, he found this 65,000-mile ’83 Chevrolet El Camino. The car was in very good mechanical condition, and it had no rust or sheetmetal damage,” Freitas says.
Admittedly, the younger Freitas didn’t show much interest in the El Camino at first—that is, until his father ordered one of Lauren Engineering’s ’00 NASCAR Lumina ground-effects kits; that changed the whole deal!
Customizing the El Camino
Fellow Maui Classic Cruiser member Clifford Figueroa owns a shop in Makawao, Hawaii, where “Figgie” expertly bolted up and bonded all of the Lauren fiberglass body panels to the El Camino’s factory sheetmetal. Then Freitas’s uncle, James Yip Chow, performed all of the painstaking bodywork. In the process, Yip Chow shaved the El Camino’s tailgate and re-located the license plate to the rear bumper area. He then sprayed the light-duty hauler in DuPont Chevrolet Orange and Driftwood Silver.
Eye-Catching Paint and Wheels
Of course, this two-tone paint scheme makes a pretty strong visual statement once it’s teamed up with a set of 15×8-inch Boyd Coddington Smoothie wheels and P215/65xR15 and P225/70xR15 Dunlop Qualifier GT high-performance radial rubber.
Performance Upgrades Under the Hood
Mechanically, the ’83 retains the original 305cid Chevrolet small-block V-8, but it has been upgraded with the installation of an Edelbrock Performer intake, a Carter AFB 4-bbl carburetor, an Edelbrock engine dress-up kit, and Flowmaster mufflers. Of course, plans call for young Freitas to swap out the 305 small block for a big block, but for the time being, the car is sanitary and is being driven daily until the new powerplant is complete and until old dad is totally convinced that the younger Freitas shows the proper care and respect for this unique island treasure.
Keeping the Interior and Adding Audio
The El Camino still retains the factory burgundy vinyl interior. However, no teenager’s car would be complete without a great audio system, so Freitas had Kahului, Maui’s Kamikaze Electronics install a full Pioneer AM/FM/CD setup.
Gratitude for the Team Effort
“This is the greatest gift I’ve ever received,” Freitas says. “I would like to thank Clifford Figueroa for all the hard work he’s done on this project. He’s the master! I would also like to thank my uncle James for the outstanding paint job and the expert bodywork. And of course, none of this would have been possible without my father’s money and support. I owe him big time!”
Looking Ahead: Future Mods in the Works
And now that Freitas is earning his bones with the car, he will no doubt get the “okay” nod to further the Chevy’s list of mods, and that includes the big-block power.
