Those of us who lived through the muscle car era little realized how short lived that period of automotive history would last. Mustang, Charger, Barracuda, Road Runner, Camaro.... These were the cars dreams were made of. What caught our eye initially when this article posted a few days back was the unusual step of dropping a Duramax Diesel engine into a '67 Camaro. But when you read the story, it gets even better. This is a story about commitment.
The owner of the car is Dustin Hamm whose parents took ownership of the car in 1970, using it throughout the 70's as a street racer. Eventually, this became Dustin's baby to nurture and transform, and transform it he did, as Maupin writes, "Fast forward to now, it is plumbed and powered with a 6.6-liter LBZ Duramax engine making gobs of horsepower and torque. Crazy idea, right? Here is how it all went down."
When Dustin acquired the car it had been sitting since 1980, outside. That sentence alone says much. This was 2005, and the youth thought it might make a nice high school graduation project for the following year. 25 years is a long time for a car to sit, though, as he would eventually find out.
Hamm initially dropped in a 600-horsepower World Products Motown 454ci small-block engine, rebuilding the four-speed to handle it. “After this, I was hooked on horsepower,” Hamm said.
As much fun as it was to have a powerful machine, he began thinking it could be even more fun having a great looking powerful machine, and in October 2006 he made up his mind to completely redo the car. Because he worked at a body shop he'd learned enough to tackle a project like this, he believed.
Step one is removing the paint, bondo and rust with an acid dip. Things proved to be far worse than he imagined once this first step was taken.
Maupin digs up details of the restoration that may not have even considered. Fabricating a rear chassis, cutting out the stock floor and replacing it as well as differentials, suspension, new floor, wheel tabs and, yes, a roll cage. This was definitely a serious endeavor and it took years. Dripping in the engine is what he called "the fun part." It took dozens of attempts to get the fitment right.
Each step resulted in the discovery of additional issues. For example, with that heavy new engine bearing down on the front end, the oil pan was almost touching the ground. They dealt with it, of course, but they are the problems you run into when "doing something that nobody else has done."
Once the engine was installed and bodywork set, it was time to attend to the paint job, a radiant Viper Red. The finish was a labor of love, and executed with such perfection that he got a promotion to lead paint technician and paint shop manager.
There's still more to the story, and you can see photos of the later stages here as well. Check it out here. Kudos to Artie Maupin for having captured Hamm's passion in print and sharing it at Chevy Hardcore.
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