Camaro Billet Gas Cap – SEMA 2010 – New Parts

First Gen Camaro Parts from SEMA 2010

Some of the displays at SEMA are overwhelming. Too many colors on banners flying everywhere and every part in the catalog cluttering up the booth make it hard to find anything, let alone the cool new parts for your first gen Camaro. Then I found Marquez Design.

I noticed the billet gas caps above shown elegantly in the mostly black booth filled with just the right number of slick looking original designs for late-60′s to early-70′s muscle cars and trucks. With the LS and LSX crate motor’s reliability and stout performance filling the engine bays of go-fast-turn-hard g-machines and pro-touring rides that never were real RS or SS Camaros, the LS badge fits perfectly.

I asked founder and cheif designer Pascual Marquez about how he got started and he walked me over to the center billet Camaro taillight above.

Back in 2003, Marquez was an admin guy that likes cars. Bored with his job and filled with desire, he created Marquez Design and put out his first Camaro taillight. That’s all it took. As orders poured in, part designs and product lines were added, but his commitment to quality never did.

I checked out the Marquez Design website and found info on all their parts and that if you need it, the Marquez crew will build your entire car too. Look for continued success from the self made, hard working Marquez who turned a passion for cars and a never quit attitude in a very successful business.

Drifting + Pro-Touring = RTR-X (aka The Game Changer)

This is a Mustang for all car enthusiasts, old hot rodders and young tuners alike…its the “Game Changer!”

If you like American Muscle, you’ll dig the Dynacorn ’69 Mustang fastback shell, Art Morrison custom front subframe,  individual throttle body/injected 2011 Mustang GT 5.0L 32Valve engine with 6 speed trans and Pro-Touring style.  If you like Drifting Imports, you’ll dig the slammed stance, 50-60 degree steering angle, 7000 redline, aggressive Japanese wheels sized 18×10 front and 18×12 rear with 7″ lips and Street Drift style!

Meet the ’69 Mustang “RTR-X”!  The coolest project car of 2010, due to intro at the 2010 SEMA show in Vegas later this year.

This is the answer to my “Pro-Touring + Hellaflush” Dreams!  Remember this post I did last year?

The creative mind behind this Street/Drift Mustang is Sir Vaughn Gittin Jr (ok, I added the Sir), Formula Drift points leader and “RTR” Mustang brand owner.  But you’ll also notice the “Team Need For Speed” logo in the bottom right.  This is a collabo between Vaughn, Speedhunters.com and the Need For Speed brand.  Andy Blackmore of the Speedhunters.com/Need For Speed family has helped Vaughn put his Inspired Ideas on paper (or computer screen). 

RTR is Gittin’s new brand of Mustang, I think it stands for “Ready to Rock!”.  He has 2 models so far, the RTR and the limited RTR-C.  The RTR is based on the 2010 Mustang GT and receives suspension mods, wheels/tires/brakes, and aggressive body mods with a unique paint scheme.  The RTR-C is a super limited edition (I hear only 10 will be made this year) Carbon bodied version going for a cool $135k! 

This Mustang that I’m stoked on has been named “RTR-X”, X for Extreme I presume. 

 
I love this angle.  Injection horns protruding, fender flrares bulging, wheels flush and super wide.  It has huge visual impact and stance!  Perfection, if ever I saw it in vehicular form.

So what were those inspired ideas?  Hear Vaughn in his own words: 

“The vision was pretty simple: build a badass ‘69 Ford Mustang that was aggressive, slammed, functional, unique, and would perform on both the track for drift and the street as a daily-driver. Oh yeah… and had the potential to put some decent times down on a road course. Easier said then done. Especially the “unique” part, as people have been adding their own personal flair to classic Mustangs for a very long time.”

Dig the LED tails and extra tall duckbill spoiler with green pinstripe and tucked rear bumper.

The green highlights are pureVaughn Gittin style.  Check out the green accents on his Formula D drift Mustang below.

 Vaughn’s Falken/Monster Energy sponsored 2011 Mustang.

 Dig this amazing interior!  Again, this is new technology with Drifter flare and American Muscle all at the same time.  PERFECT!!!

This picture sums up Vaughn Gittin Jr.  Super cool to all people, even little kids interrupting an interview and always stoked!  When I think of Vaughn I think of him screaming at the top of his lungs, usually on the roof of a Mustang.  LOL 

I think this car will set a new standard.  That is Vaughn’s goal and I think he’ll achieve it.  I hope it inspires other Pro-Touring and Drift car builders. 

So, I wanna know what you guys think of this car.  Is this car a “Game Changer?”  If Vaughn can build it like these renderings, it will be a Game Changer for me.  Let us know and do yourself a favor and follow the build over at Speedhunters.com.

Hechtspeed

Check out the first debut photo from SEMA 2010

OneLap Camaro Wins thanks to a Red Top Optima Battery!

We spotlighted the 1st Gen Chevy Camaro RS sponsored by Optima Batteries a couple months ago in a blog (click the link to check it out) when it was being prepared for the One Lap of America 8 day long grueling competition.  The One Lap (it used to be called the Cannonball Run) of America makes the race cars drive themselves from track to track (3500 miles total) and then expects them to race hard at the track.  That’s right, no trailers.  How did it do in its first year at the race?  Keep reading…

Here is the updated livery for the One Lap event.  Looks just like PCK Studio’s rendering/T-shirt. 

This Pro-Touring built Camaro RS won its class, which is called American Vintage.  This was its first One Lap race, so the fact that the car won its class (which competed against a 1981 Camaro that has run the event 20+ times before) is really a big deal. 

This is the Katech prepared 427ci LS7 Corvette Z06 powerplant to propels the OneLapCamaro.

The team of James Shipka and car owner David Pozzi had a pretty crazy 8 days.  At one point David became dehydrated and had 9-1-1 dialed on his cell, but James convinced him to keep on going, they were very close to taking the points lead.  Then to add to the craziness, the alternator took a dump.  Luckily, the Camaro was fitted with a Red Top Optima Battery.  It got them 25 miles on the battery power alone.  In their efforts to figure out the problem, they started the car over and over without a hitch.  Wow! 

It’s been a winning past year for the OneLap’Maro.  It also won the 2009 Goodguys Muscle Machine of the Year.  I personally dig the solid red color versus the red and silver livery.  It just looks so much cleaner, but I get the sponsor thing.  Shoot!  I’d run whatever color a sponsor wanted if I was in the same spot. 

A well purpose-built Camaro, a tenacious crew and one Red Top Optima Battery makes for a winning combination, no doubt about it.

I’d really like to attend the One Lap of America competition at one of these days.  It’s on my growing bucket list.

Hechtspeed

Goodguys Giveaway Boss Snake…Hsssssssssssss

Had to share some pictures of this year’s Goodguys giveaway car.

I’m working on a story about last years winner. The guy was in Equador when a buddy pulled the winning key. Funniest thing is that same friend qualified to win THIS car in November at our home show in Scottsdale.

So check out the “Boss Snake”.  We caught a glimpse of the Snake in Scottsdale for the first annual Spring Nationals where the RPM Hot Rods guys and another magazine were shooting. We snaked (haha) the picture in that sweet AZ sunset light. My man Swanee’s every bit as good as Ken’s shots below. Here’s some more info:

Goodguys 2010 Grand Prize Giveaway BOSS SNAKE

Bay Area photographer Ken Phuong (www.spotninestudio.com) stopped by the Goodguys world Headquarters last week to photograph the all mighty BOSS SNAKE 2010 Grand Prize Giveaway Car. The photos will appear in a future issue of the Goodtimes Gazette but we wanted to give our loyal web readers a sneak peak at just how awesome this car really is!

Built completely in house by RPM Hot Rods (rpm-hotrods.com) and designed by Kaucher Kustoms , The BOSS SNAKE features a 770 horsepower Jon Kaase built 520 cubic inch Boss Hemi,  Ride Tech suspension featuring Chris Alston components, PPG Goodguys Yellow Paint, Custom one off Intro Wheels, Baer 6 piston brakes with 14 inch rotors, Classic Instruments Gauges, Custom Interior by RPM, Custom exhaust by RPM and Stainless Works, Custom Flowmaster stainless exhaust, a Tremec Magnum 6 speed transmission, Centerforce clutch and hundreds of intricately fabricated parts and pieces by RPM.

How do you win this car? Click here for complete giveaway contest rules!

Pro-Touring Engineering from Detroit Speed

One of the best things about the expansion of hot rodding is the availability of aftermarket parts. The only downside, especially if you own a 1st gen Camaro, might be too many choices! After you’ve decided to make your ride turn as hard as it accelerates, you probably hit the web for discussion forums and communities like MyRideisMe.com to ask friends, “What’d you use?” Unfortunately, there’s general wisdom about opinions, how’s that go?? I know it finishes, “Everyone’s got one…”

Left to make the choice alone, how do you chose? Would it matter to you if the supplier was owned by suspension engineers from GM?  Enter Detroit Speed Inc.

The bright blue colored Camaro’s prominently labeled, “Test Car” caught my attention at the 2010 Goodguys Spring Nationals first thing in the morning. I saw “Detroit Speed” discretely sticker’d on the fender, so walking through the supplier pits, I saw Detroit Speed and stopped in to find out what “test car” meant. I talked briefly with Kyle Tucker, president and husband of the husband and wife owner team. Kyle told me to go see Stacy to learn more about the cars and get a ride.

Ride?!

Stacy’s a name that could be a man or woman, so don’t make my mistake and assume the driver’s a man! Over at the autocross, I met Stacy Tucker, Kyle’s wife, co-owner and driver of her 1969 Camaro above.  Happily surprised, I asked, “Can I have a ride!?”

That’s when I learned first hand about Detroit Speed. Looking back, Stacy and Kyle were both working 9-5 at the General as suspension engineers, but were always auto enthusiasts. With a hobby focus, they built a 1969 Camaro called “Twister” filled with custom parts engineered with knowledge they both learned as mechanical engineers at GM.

Twister grabbed immediate attention and questions like, “Can you do that for my car?” After hearing that question several times and checking what was available in the market, Stacy and Kyle decided to both leave the relative security of GM and start Detroit Speed 9 years ago.

Stacy’s Camaro features Detroit Speed’s hydroformed front subframe and quadralink rear with mini-tub. If you’re scratching your head, “What’s that?”,  check out Detroit Speed’s website. Their products are featured by vehicle model and Stacy’s ride shows off the 67-69 Camaro parts. Very cool! There’s parts for Camaros/Firebirds, Nova’s, Chevy II’s  and A-bodies. Soon, they’ll add the blue oval to their inventory with parts for Mustangs.

On the track, Stacy pushes her car to the limit and nearly beyond.  She takes this same car to the mall and grocery shopping, so all that experience helped her keep it off the wall! Unaffected, Stacy came back a lap or two later and set her best time of the day.  Later, she added some un-needed ballast in the form of yours truly!  Fact: It’s alot faster in the car! (My mom’s cringing as she reads this story… It’s ok Mom, we had our seatbelts on!)

So when you’re shopping for parts, ask the vendor, “Who engineers your parts and how are they tested?” That question’s easily answered by Stacy and Kyle.

Before parts hit the track, DSE uses a host of modern, high tech gear like a Romer arm CMM machine. CMM machines digitally measure 3D spaces like the underside of you 60′s ride using a robotic arm. After careful measurement, parts are designed in 3D then tested using finite element analysis (FEA) software named Cosmos. FEA’s another modern digital trick ensuring the strongest, lightest part design possible before the parts are actually built. In fewer words, it’s digital “trial and error”. You get more trials, quicker, at a lower cost.  The alternative to FEA is building a part that’s stronger than needed and you know what that means: Heavy, and probably more expensive.

I couldn’t write fast enough to catch the other test equipment available at DSE including a Shock dyno and steering dyno so that every part gets fully tested for fatigue in their lab.

Now based in North Carolina, you can find Detroit Speed “testing” all over the country at Goodguys autocross events. Based on the Stacy’s smile (not quite as cheezy as mine) I’m not sure this is all work.

I hope to see more of the Tucker’s and their small, but possibly growing fleet of test cars, don’t you?

When engineering meets careful design and lab testing, then finally real world abuse, your decision about what parts to choose should be alot easier to make.

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