Chevrolet needed an answer to the Ford Mustang. The year was 1967 when they finally released this answer in the form of a beast that was easily capable of defeating the Ford 289 V8. 1967 goes down as one of the best years in automotive history. In fact, some would consider this year to be the official start of the pony car wars that has ensued since.

From that time onward, GM and Ford have taken turns kicking each other’s rear ends. No matter which side of the camp you’re on, you have to admit that neither one has reigned supreme the whole time.

General motors needed a car that was light weight, decent at taking corners and had a considerable amount of power to compete with the venerable (not to mention highly popular) Mustang. The Corvette had already been around for over a decade by this point, but they have always been in a class of their own. GM needed something new, and of course, I’m talking about the Camaro (and Firebird).

This particular ’67 Camaro belongs to a restomods.com reader, whose name is Michael. He said, “We bought the car in 2009 as a gutted out ex drag car hull. Everything except for the trans rebuild was done in my little crowded two car garage. The build took four years and my wife got a crash course in welding, assembly and lots of wet sanding.”

You know what I call that? A labor of love…

Drivetrain and exhaust:

The parts list and amount of work that have gone into this car is tremendous. And ya gotta love the fact that Michael and his wife did the work together in their two car garage. But, I guess if my wife wanted a specific car that needed a bunch of work, she’d be learning some stuff too.

Where should we start? Ah, yes – with the go fast goodies under the hood. I’ve never met a gear head who didn’t at least have respect the aluminum block, fuel injected LS1 powerhouse from GM. After all, these motors are capable of producing some very respectable numbers.

To be honest, 405 horsepower is just the tip of the iceberg concerning how much power these little V8s can crank out. To help those ponies get to where they are needed the most, Michael opted for a General Motors 4L60E 4 speed automatic transmission.

I’m told that the motor and transmission are pretty much new, with less than 500 miles on them, as well as all of the accessories and components that are needed to make it all work flawlessly.

Helping the engine breathe better (and sound excellent), are a set of ceramic headers attached to a Flowmaster exhaust system. If you’re curious how she sounds, check out the video I’ve included. Closer to the end, he gets on it a bit. If you’re a traditional kind of gear head, like I am, I’m sure it’ll bring a smile to your face.

If not, you may want to question your loyalties to this hobby…

Anyway, rounding out the engine work is the necessary engine management system with a custom tune. This is where things tend to get a little complicated in the world of fuel injection, as well as why some guys stick with a carb. But when done right, the engine runs smooth and injects a very precise amount of fuel into the combustion chamber. And, once you’re done with it, and the car runs flawlessly, you’ll likely never need to change the setup again.

Unless, of course, you need more power…

But, I digress.

Body, brakes and suspension.

As you can see in the pictures, the body work that was needed to get this pretty car back on the road was extensive. And it looks like Mike’s wife did a lot of the work herself. It is, after all, her car.

One of the downfalls about having a car whose primary use is racing, is that a lot of damage can occur to the body. Because a straight and dent free body doesn’t make a race car any faster, a lot of the time damage goes uncorrected. At least until someone who cares about the car gets a hold of it and begins to fix the damage, as was the case here. So over the course of a few years, the body has been fixed, painted, wet sanded and upgraded to the beauty that you see today.

Notable features are the front bumper deletion and the Rally Sport kit which is complete down to the headlight door motors. This, I might add, looks awesome.

Michael wanted some meatier tires out back in order to get the car to hook up bit better. He performed a mini tub, and narrowed the 12 bolt rear end to allow for the larger 17”X10” Raceline Legacy Billet wheels sitting underneath the rear fenders. While on the subject of the rear end, he chose to install a very street worthy 3:55.1 gear ratio.

As we’ve learned in the past, this gear ratio is perfect for the street and the strip. It lets you perform some hard launches to accelerate quickly while still allowing the car to drive on the highway without burning up too much gas.

Having 400+ horsepower is great, but if you can’t stop, you’re screwed. Michael installed disc brakes on all four wheels, with cross drilled rotors.

The “other” car:

This feature just wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t at least briefly speak about the other car in the family. The other one is a ’68 Camaro with a lot of the same work done to her – with a few key exceptions.

First, the engine is a bigger 6.2 liter LS3, with a custom ground camshaft and ported heads. He chose to go with an automatic transmission in this beauty, as well. The only difference this time around, is that he went for the 6L80E, 6 speed auto. He said that the body is the only part of the car that is still original. Everything else has been upgraded in one way or another.

One thing is for sure, this guy knows his Camaros. I’ve only met a handful of other guys who’ve built two different first generation Camaros with this much detail. And now, I can add another one.

So, which do you want first? The good news? Or, the bad news?

The bad news? Okay, well, the 1968 Camaro is not for sale. Sorry, but that’s his baby.

The good news, is that due to upcoming retirement, the 1967 Camaro is for sale! He’s got countless man (and woman) hours into her, and well over what I’d consider a fortune invested into parts. But wait, there’s more! She appraised for more than his $46,000 asking price. How much more? Well, you’ll have to head on over to the forum to ask him.

If you have any questions, or want to know the exact parts list, shoot him an email ([email protected]) or come on over to the forum to say hi.

More photos of the car: