$400K 1969 Camaro — And Worth Every Penny

After a series of failed attempts, podiatrist Dr. Todd Billingsley approached Dave Lewis at A-1 Street Rods with the intention of building a show stopping and somewhat unusual 1969 Camaro street machine.

“Todd brought us his ’69 Camaro because he was dissatisfied with the shop where the car was and gave us instructions to re-do it from top to bottom,” says Lewis.

When you’re dealing with a high-end shop, “top to bottom” can become a rather costly proposition. And the final tally here came to a healthy $400,000, but the good doctor is thrilled with the result.

For openers, the crew at A-1 totally sandblasted the Camaro body, removed the rear quarters, mini tubbed it, and re-installed new sheetmetal moving the rear fenders outward ¾-inch to clear a gargantuan set of wheels and tire.

Four hundred thousand dollars and two and one half years were spent on construction, and it was worth every penny of it.

“We also narrowed and flush fit the front and rear bumpers and rolled the rear pan (which features a pair of stainless-steel custom exhaust tips). We took all the moldings off the windshield and rounded all the corners on the back glass,” Lewis explained. “The drip rails were also removed. Both rear deck spoiler and front air dam are hand fabricated out of metal. All told, the ’69 was on the rotisserie for three and one half months.”

The Camaro appears to be seamless with everything welded together and smoothed. Credit A-1 technician Jeff Holloway for the labor-intensive fabrication work, while Matt Clark was charged with the final bodywork. Lastly, A-1’s Heath Hardin sprayed the Camaro “full 360” DuPont jet black with contrasting red rally stripes and lots of clear.

L88 Power With A Modern Twist

Powering this beauty is an 11.0:1 compression, Vintage Street & Performance-prepared Chevrolet L88 427-ci big-block. It runs a Crane cam and is fueled by an S&P/Chevrolet Performance Parts EFI with lots of chrome plating. 

Backing it up is an 1800 stall-speed, Lokar-shifted TCI-prepared GM Turbo 400 ordered straight out of the Jeg’s catalog. 

Ride Tech suspension front and rear works in concert with an iPad programmable Air Ride Technologies computerized system. Out back, A-1 installed a narrowed, 3.73:1 geared, Moser-equipped nine-inch rear. Braking comes from a set of 14-inch, four and six-piston Master Power disc brakes at each corner. Wheels and tires are 18-inch (front) and 20-inch rear American Racing five spokes wrapped with 225/40ZR18, and 315/35ZR 20-inch Nitto Invo rubber.

Virtually every component on the undercarriage has been either painted, plated or polished, including the chrome plated Mark Williams driveshaft, A-1-fabricated seamless 3-inch exhaust and custom 17-gallon gas tank with an in-tank pump.

Handcrafted Cockpit

Chuck’s Auto Upholstery (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) lavished the interior with handmade leather seats and a custom dash, with black mohair carpeting. Dakota Digital gauges that can light in four different colors, Vintage Air controls and a killer stereo system by Tulsa’s Car Toys. round it out.

The trunk (which houses the amps, and on-board electronics,) is electrically operated and uses billet aluminum hinges. The ’69’s inner fender panels, engine compartment, and the front radiator core support (which hides a Be Cool four-core-aluminum cooling module,) were also hand fabricated by Jeff Holloway. All parts were ordered through Grand Prix Auto Parts in Tulsa. A-1’s Gary Wheeler, Sean McCool and Matt Clarke were responsible for the car’s final assembly.

”Four hundred thousand dollars and two and one half years were spent on construction,” says Lewis. ”And it was worth every penny of it.”