1968 Camaro Time Capsule Gets Turbo LS Treatment
Old-school Camaro has only 1,000 miles on its original odometer and wears the same crazy paint it originally got nearly 50 years ago.
The ’70s were a crazy time for muscle cars and their paint jobs. The panel art seen cruising the streets and especially at the drag strip, was colorful and loud. While the style is no longer with us, there are a handful of survivors out there.This Camaro in particular has a couple of other neat traits.
Hot Rod brings us the story of Jon Kelly and his 1968 Chevy Camaro. According to Kelly, it has only 1,000 miles on its original odometer. The low mileage is because it’s been a racecar since it was initially purchased. Additionally, it wears a magnificent paint job that was done in 1971. Make no mistake; it is not wearing any sort of dress up or restoration; it wears its heritage loud and proud.
The story of this car and Kelly starts long before he became the owner.
“When I was a kid—starting when I was about 10 years old—my dad bracket raced the car. Then when I was a young teenager, he sold it,” says Kelly.
After nearly two years of searching, Kelly finally located the car in Nevada. He made the transaction happen and became the owner of his dad’s car. Then, the time for modernization hit the table.
Kelly and an assembly of his friends prepared an L33 5.3-liter, LS-based V8 for this car just weeks before its presentation at LS Fest. The L33 is similar to the iconic truck LS but has an aluminum block and higher compression. Just putting this engine in wouldn’t do it for Kelly, though.
“We slammed a bunch of BTR valvetrain in it. It’s got stock rockers still, stock bottom end. The pistons haven’t been touched. Stock ring gap. We just slammed it in, and we’re running 25 pounds of boost on it right now,” says Kelly.
The 107-millimeter On3Performance turbocharger sits dead center in the front of the engine bay. Supporting the massive power output from this beast sees support from a Ford nine-inch rear end, a Holley EFI system, and bigger injectors, of course. Transferring the power from the engine to that Ford rear end is a Powerglide transmission. The result is a mind-melting 1,100 horsepower.
We don’t have to tell you that an 1,100 horsepower car is fast. However, we can tell you just how fast it is! This heritage laden 1968 Camaro put down a blistering 5.4-second eighth-mile pass at 129 miles per hour. We can only imagine Kelly and friends will continue to squeeze even faster passes out of it.
Overall, this is a fantastic story—what a remarkable happy ending. To get your childhood auto centerpiece and make it into a blistering fast LS-swapped monster is truly a romance novel in our eyes.
Photos: Hot Rod
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