1968 Camaro Z28

1969 Boss 429 Mustang

1969 Charger

For those of us who came of age in the 60s and 70s, it was a magical time. Detroit was producing American Muscle Cars that are highly treasured to this day. In addition, great rock and roll bands were cranking out hit after hit, all without pitch correction or computer-generated music.

Around 1970, my brother, Larry, bought a 1968 Camaro Z28 with the 302 c.i.engine and Muncie Rockcrusher 4-speed manual transmission. The car he bought was not stock. The previous owner had worked this car over, and it was a beast. It suffered traction problems coming off the line, but hit second gear just right, and it would lift the front wheels off the ground. This boy, a teenager at the time, was in love!

It took until 2002, but the boy finally bought his own Camaro, a 1995 Z28 Camaro Convertible. The engine is called the LT1 engine. It was built on the famed Chevy 350 motor, but it had some differences. It was fuel-injected, featured reverse-flow water cooling, and had aluminum heads. In stock form, it was rated at 275 horsepower.

Wes was not satisfied. He wanted more! The car was repainted, the carpet replaced, and the seats were reupholstered. All of that and more made her look great, but Wes still wanted more... more power. So, he pulled the engine and set out to rebuild it. While working on it, he sent the heads and intake manifold to Lloyd Elliot for port-and-polish work. Back at home, new performance connecting rods and pistons were installed. The 52mm throttle body was replaced with a bigger 58 mm model. A bigger cam, roller rockers, and springs were put in the head. Of course, exhaust headers were part of the upgrade. All this work, and more, got an engine that produced, in stock form, 275 HP, producing 417 HP and 425 foot-pounds of torque, verified with a dyno test.

Video of dyno test.
Turn sound on.

Besides the engine work, the original GM 10-bolt rear end was replaced with a Moser 12-bolt and 3.73:1 gears. Other suspension upgrades were made to put all that power to the road. Working on the car was fun, but the real fun came from driving. Wes' first road trip was in 2009, from Louisville, KY, to Colorado Springs, CO—17 hours, with only potty breaks and sandwich stops. In 2016, He made another road trip to San Francisco. This was a 7,000-mile route completed in 10 days, with stops at popular sites across America. Wes has also taken the car drag racing on nearby tracks and has driven it at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY, and at the Corvette Museum Road Race track in Bowling Green, KY.

Video of Wes driving his '95 Z28 Camaro on the NCM Motorsports Track in Bowling Green, KY

Video from inside the car as Wes makes a couple of runs at London Dragway in Somerset, KY

Video of a run at London Dragway.