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Camaro "AWD SS" at SEMA
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Posted On: 10/31/2011 12:19PM
SuzyBruisy

Don't let your eyes fool you: the AWD SS actually started life as a '68 Camaro, not a 2010. Nor was it originally a convertible! To make it a roadster, the roof was chopped, the rear seats chucked, the front seats moved back 11 inches, and the windshield lengthened and raked to give it that long lean look. Rearward sheetmetal from the '10 was grafted in, and it was given a widebody treatment and ground effects. But the real marvel of this creation is its drivetrain. Powered by an 800-hp LSX 376 crate motor topped by a Procharger running 20lbs of boost, the AWD SS uses most of the drivetrain from a 2008 Trailblazer SS to put power to all of its wheels. I talked to builder John Wargo of The Custom Shop in Illinois, and he said one of the greatest challenges was accomodating 4-wheel power to the classic muscle-car stance and fitment he was after: that rear end was actually shortened to accomodate the deep-dish Forgelines he wanted on the rear, and although it's hard to tell at first glance, fronts and rears are actually exactly the same overall diameter, 28.1", to keep from eating up the driveline. The show hasn't even started yet but I can say for sure this is one of the more unique builds on the floor this year, and it was already getting swarmed. Hit the jump to take a closer look!

Comments (64)
Avatar By: iammercy
10/31/2011 12:20 PM

I can comment!

 
Avatar By: rc1320
10/31/2011 12:38 PM

that car is gross

 
Avatar By: germ89
10/31/2011 1:05 PM

not to happy with the front end but badass.

 
Avatar By: Mbeezy3405
10/31/2011 1:15 PM

gross is an understatement.

 
Avatar By: ___nes___
10/31/2011 1:22 PM

All types of ugly!

 
Avatar By: skeela
10/31/2011 1:29 PM

1) the front is horrible 2) The engine balance the awful design

 
Avatar By: Spyke383
10/31/2011 1:51 PM

Why ruin the 68? why not start with the 2010?

 
Avatar By: usnrocker
10/31/2011 2:10 PM

because everyone else ruins the 5th gen?

 
Avatar By: SuzyBruisy
10/31/2011 2:11 PM

Hey! You guys all know perfectly well that if I'd written that this was ugly, you would've called me a hater and said it was awesome.

 
Avatar By: dgaf88
10/31/2011 2:18 PM

This car is a complete disaster.

 
Avatar By: TasakiDog
10/31/2011 2:42 PM

Horrible! The front end looks rediculous! This is such a waste of money! Wtf?

 
Avatar By: future_driftking
10/31/2011 2:54 PM

give me the motor and the wheels. u can scrap the rest

 
Avatar By: ___nes___
10/31/2011 4:09 PM

Jen there's no deffending this one, it's just horrible.

 
Avatar By: krush454
10/31/2011 5:20 PM

Okay, is anyone else just rippin angry about the trend of making old cars look new, and new cars look old? How many modern era Camaros have you seen made to look like a 69? how many 69's have you seen made to look new? how many new GT500s have had the " Eleanor " Treatment? PLEASE God of cars, let people stop this! if you want to turn a 50 years old collectable into a 2 year old sports car that just rolled off the lot, sell the classic to someone who values its natural style and engineering and go buy your new car. RANT OVER!

 
Avatar By: iTurbo
10/31/2011 5:29 PM

lol i'm sorry, i get where you're coming from, jen. but i would have agreed with you if you would have said that this makes you want to vomit at the thought of the death of a 68 camaro to give birth to a...2010 awd with a body kit.

 
Avatar By: gold94corolla
10/31/2011 6:47 PM

oh gosh, why'd they ruin a 1968 just to make it look like another fail 2010 concoction.

 
Avatar By: KrashingV8
11/1/2011 3:30 AM

I love it! Its different, and shows creativity. Stop hating on this guy's idea. If he loves it all the more to him.

 
Avatar By: timpalass
11/1/2011 10:41 AM

This is wrong in so many ways.

 
Avatar By: LexiRyda1991
11/1/2011 10:49 AM

Honestly, the car looks like a train. I love the way he has made every detail clean, but the parts and customizations he chose are not right. The only people that have successfully made a 60's, 70's car look new are Dodge (Challenger), and Ford (Mustang) And even they have done a few epic fails. This is upsetting that someone could have had this car as a classic but then again, no idea is complete garbage.

 
Avatar By: 2kGTSaleen
11/1/2011 11:44 AM

Wow....im speechless, they took 2 perfectly good camaros, and ruined it with...this...one of the ugliest "custom" ones i have seen so far

 
Avatar By: M45lover
11/1/2011 11:44 AM

*BARF. Way to ruin a classic Camaro.

 
Avatar By: PhysX
11/1/2011 12:01 PM

Im not big fan of muscle cars but it looks alright i would drive that but hate the hood its too much

 
Avatar By: D-Love
11/1/2011 12:19 PM

It's a SEMA car it is supposed to be over the top. In my opinion if you take the ground effects off it would look a lot better. I never really liked ground effects, to me thats cheating. The fact thats its all wheel drive makes me want to drive it like I stole it.

 
Avatar By: Shelby_HEMI
11/1/2011 12:31 PM

Why on earth would you do this to a legit '68 Camaro? Isn't there a kit you could pull this off on for a lot less money?!!

 
Avatar By: Jager1
11/1/2011 12:36 PM

It's to tall, to short, to square to much motor in to little space, absolutly no sense of proportion. The paint work looks good. Sorry dude, why bother. If this is what GM guys think looks good, then I want my bail out money back! A face only a mother could love.

 
Avatar By: ChrisStdly23
11/1/2011 12:48 PM

anybody notice the intercooler looks like its not even on there stable? look slike its about to fall off; can't believe they destroyed a 68 to look like that. if anything you make the ugly new style look like the 68's

 
Avatar By: dmans21
11/1/2011 12:51 PM

I guess they made it tall to fit the huge truck transfer case underneath so you wouldnt have a huge hump in the floorboard or something.

 
Avatar By: 77cobraIIinvegas
11/1/2011 12:52 PM

Just goes to show, with a lot of work and numerous ideas on customizing, You Can Ruin Anything!

 
Avatar By: os101king
11/1/2011 1:11 PM

... just because you CAN... doesn't always mean you SHOULD.

 
Avatar By: kabirvdutt
11/1/2011 1:12 PM

Wooowww.......................now thats a monster I would love 2 have !!

 
Avatar By: BlueBomberShell
11/1/2011 1:20 PM

Wow! That is one fugly car! Props on the drive train but thats it.

 
Avatar By: SS_Durango
11/1/2011 1:20 PM

FYI: The 2010 rear clip was salvage from a wrecked 2010 and the Front clip and firewall was pretty much all there was of the 68. I am close friends with the owner/builder of the car. It is deffinetely a wild crazy over the top idea!! Judging by this forum I was right it my thoughts... you'll either hate it or you'll love it! I just can't wait for good weather so I can go for a rip ass all wheel drive ride!!

 
Avatar By: gtpboost
11/1/2011 1:34 PM

Powertrain gets a big thumbs up! And while I can appreciate the work that went into this because I have been in the biz I cannot appreciate this car asthetically. The hood, the 'ground effects" and front air dam are hideous. SS_Durango thanks for at least confirming what I figured, that is was made from clips of wrecked cars. To have done this to a whole restorable '68 would have been a crime. I have to commend it appears this shop can do great work, but leave the design work to someone else. When we'd do some customer cars we would have to talk some out of doing things that were just fugly because we did not want our shop associated with a fugly car no matter how technically well it was executed.

 
Avatar By: legalese77
11/1/2011 1:39 PM

An AWD 'vert that has to wait for good weather to drive? A definitive answer to a question that nobody dare ask.

 
Avatar By: 88mercury
11/1/2011 1:49 PM

absolutely horrid....maybe a 10 year old would fancy it..

 
Avatar By: trill77monte
11/1/2011 2:24 PM

im not really feeling this one...nice motor though!

 
Avatar By: pt_piranha
11/1/2011 3:18 PM

Sorry, this thing is Fugly... They went from bad to worse!

 
Avatar By: ImGoinRCn
11/1/2011 3:23 PM

Don't like it at all...sad to see that they ruined a classic instead of a new car...

 
Avatar By: vega427
11/1/2011 4:15 PM

Oh look! Yet another blank check build gone wrong. Yawn.......

 
Avatar By: protodelorean
11/1/2011 4:30 PM

The technical term for the front valence is "fugly". The asymmetry of the Procharger doesn't belong on anything supposed to be of this caliber of show car, much less sticking THROUGH the hood. And why take a car full of fantastic curves and replace the interior with a bunch of flat panels that look like they started life as a sheet of plywood from Home Depot?

 
Avatar By: Danielroque02
11/1/2011 4:31 PM

It looks like crap... doesn't give me that old school look or that new school look

 
Avatar By: StreetDemonzCC
11/1/2011 4:48 PM

Fugly is a good term to describe it.

 
Avatar By: 8550capri
11/1/2011 6:26 PM

what a pos! Holy crap that thing is ugly. They probably complain that imports have to much stick on glue on crap as well. Ruined 2 potentially nice cars with with 1 pos. Nice job!

 
Avatar By: 80-zcamaro
11/1/2011 6:36 PM

I am sure that there was a lot of hard work and talent gone into this car but I can honestly say that I don't like it. Why make a 1968 Camaro look like a roadster when that is a whole other animal and why make a 68 look like a 2010? To me they just ruined a classic muscle car.

 
Avatar By: CrimsnBring98
11/1/2011 6:46 PM

I love Camaro's. I hate this car.

 
Avatar By: Mustagon
11/1/2011 6:59 PM

The drivetrain mods are amazing. The body mods are atrocious.

 
Avatar By: EmperorJJ1
11/1/2011 7:24 PM

^^^ this... couldnt have said it better myself

 
Avatar By: 99SSCHEVY
11/1/2011 9:41 PM

I THINK IT WAS A COOL IDEA TO PUT THAT OLD SCHOOL FROND END ON IT UNTILL THEY PUT THAT REALLY FUCKIN UGLY ASS RICE BURNER BOTTOM OF THE FRONT END.THAT JUST RUINED THE WHOLE THING.IT SUPPOSED TO BE AMERICAN MUSCLE RUNNING ON GAS NOT AN IMPORT RUNNING ON SOY SAUCE.

 
Avatar By: jivepepper
11/2/2011 6:46 AM

Yuk!! I wonder how it performs?

 
Avatar By: Spyke383
11/2/2011 7:25 AM

It's like they asked a group of people what they want to do to a camaro then put all the ideas on one car

 
Avatar By: hetuislegend24
11/2/2011 7:26 AM

Where are the pics of it transformed lol

 
Avatar By: wflores
11/2/2011 8:14 AM

I love the old 68-69 Camaros, but not this one. Front end looks too chunky, the ground effects are way out of scale, the interior dash looks stupid, and why put the new crappy chopped taillights instead of the better looking old ones???? The two things I really like are the motor and the wheels.

 
Avatar By: drive777
11/2/2011 10:17 AM

thats pretty B-A

 
Avatar By: c_schriver17
11/3/2011 2:49 PM

blah blah blah....can you drive it for what it's meant for?

 
Avatar By: PhilliPhil83
11/3/2011 10:36 PM

Looks like something you'd see on Cake Boss.

 
Avatar By: mrdsalvato
11/4/2011 7:35 AM

There is only so much money you should throw at a car and then it looks like this. What a wast of cash.

 
Avatar By: pitchblack15
11/4/2011 1:56 PM

it's a win. showoff of the year award.

 
Avatar By: Donology
11/4/2011 6:28 PM

Hi SuzyBruisy! Thank you for all that you put into your work. I appreciate it very much....... The car is ugly.

 
Avatar By: dragorphan
11/5/2011 6:38 AM

This car is the reason that abortion should be keep legal.

 
Avatar By: JoeCool6972
11/5/2011 7:17 PM

Morons destroyed a classic car. They should be shot.

 
Avatar By: SomersetMan
11/6/2011 4:45 PM

I've just had a great idea: lets take a classic muscle car, make it look like it's modern bastard of a child, when we could've taken a front end from a trashed classic and grafted it onto the 2010, making the whole build easier and saving the classic we see before us. Somebody, please! Put that thing out of it's misery!!!

 
Avatar By: VaShay
11/27/2011 8:54 PM

While the initial idea of an all wheel drive Camaro is a nice idea, the newer body style Camaro would have clashed less all around rather than the out of place ground effects that don't look like they belong or the 69 front end attached to it. Besides, why put all wheel drive on a Camaro if you aren't going to give it any ground clearance? This Camaro is an oxy-moron in itself.

 
Avatar By: Anwazi
12/2/2011 11:18 AM

wise man says, don't put all your accessories on at the same time.

 
Avatar By: MopTop
1/1/2012 7:39 PM

that looked like a lot of work to just create a hybrid of vomit

 

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