Sportsman Spotlight: Luke Siebert’s ’67 Camaro

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Luke is winning races and upholding the family tradition.

When it comes to family traditions, car guys have their priorities. That usually means that if you are born into a Chevy family, your first car better have a Bow-Tie emblem in the grille. Luke Siebert is a huge fan of family tradition, and he not only adhered to the family’s brand loyalty, he is literally keeping the family car. Luke told us, “My car is a 1967 Camaro RS that my dad owned in the late ‘80s. He actually sold the car in the early ‘90s, and I was fortunate enough to locate it and buy it back in 2013.”

Lukes dad owned

The car when Luke’s father owned it.

Luke’s dad (Chris Siebert) bought the car in 1988 from a guy named Mike Coffey, who lived in Jones, Oklahoma. Mike had owned the car since 1970, and used it as a street car until 1981. That’s when he back-halved it, and built an AHRA Super Stock class car. Under the hood was a small-block backed by a four-speed. He raced it throughout the ‘80s, until Chris found it and bought it. Luke told us, “My dad got it as a roller, and installed a 408 cubic-inch big-block and bolted a Lenco transmission to it.” Eventually, Mr. Siebert sold the car to a guy who also eventually sold it to another guy.

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The car when Mike Coffey owned it.

In 2013, Luke was racing at his local eighth-mile track when a gentleman came up to him and said that his boss had a black Camaro for sale that he thought used to be the senior Seibert’s old car. Luke got the car owner’s phone number, but waited about a month before he made the call. Luke reported, “Eventually, I finally texted him asking if I could see pictures of the car to see if it was my dad’s old car. He sent me back pictures, and it was absolutely the same car.” Out of curiosity, Luke asked him how much he was asking, and according to Luke, “He immediately shot me prices, one as a roller, and another turn key. Both prices were reasonable.”

With Lenco

The interior when Chris owned the car. The Lenco shift rods are the giveaway.

Luke and his wife scheduled a time to go look at the car, and although skepticism about what they would find filled the traveling conversation, they were pleasantly surprised when they arrived. Luke smiled as he said, “We were walking to the door of his shop and passed by a window. We caught a glimpse of the car, and my wife said, ‘Holy sh**, we are buying it, aren’t we?’.”

The body was straight and had no rust, and the odometer read 36,206 miles. Although dry-rotted, it even had the same Firestone front tires on it that Luke’s dad ran. Once the couple got it home, they started to take the car apart to see what it needed to make it a reliable racecar again. They focused on rebuilding the mechanicals of car rather than restoring the body. According to Luke, “It was last painted sometime in the early ‘80s. My buddy Troy buffed it, and it looks great again.”

Current int

The current interior.

Luke bought the car in roller condition, but he promptly installed a naturally-aspirated, 408 ci LS engine that he built. Inside, is a Callies CompStar crankshaft and connecting rods, along with Diamond Racing pistons. Up top are 237cc cathedral-port cylinder heads, and one of Siebert Performance’s custom-built Holley XP 750 carburetors. When assembled, the engine twisted the dyno to the tune of 708 horsepower. Behind that is a Coan Turbo 400, with a Coan 8-inch torque converter.

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Luke chose to build an LS engine for the car.

Luke had Jerry Taliaferro Race Cars remove the old ladder bar rear suspension, and install a JRi Sportsman coil-over set up with PAC springs. The rearend is a 9-inch with 4.56 gears, and the front end was rebuilt using an Afco low friction bushings and ball joint kit, Moroso Trick Springs, and Afco shocks. The brake system consists of Strange disc brakes up front, and drum brakes on the rear.

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Proof the family tradition will surely continue.

The car is all steel, weighs 3,280 pounds with Luke behind the wheel, and has run a best of 9.90 seconds at 134 m.p.h.

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Are you a Sportsman racer? Do you want to read about other Sportsman racers? If so, click here and check out the rest of our weekend warriors. If you want to be a part of our Sportsman Spotlight, tell us all about your car by contacting us at [email protected]

About the author

Randy Bolig

Randy Bolig has been working on cars and has been involved in the hobby ever since he bought his first car when he was only 14 years old. His passion for performance got him noticed by many locals, and he began helping them modify their vehicles.
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