1970 Camaro Build Thread – From GT Racer To Historic Racer

[Steve Holmes]

I wanted to create this thread partially because I think people will enjoy seeing the rebuild of this car evolve, and the work that is going into it, but also to encourage others who have built or are building cars for historic racing to create their own build threads, as we all find them fascinating, and this is what The Roaring Season is about, sharing the ride with other enthusiasts. And we all appreciate the work that goes into building a historic racer.



Kiwi racer Murray Brown had this 1970 Camaro built into a race car in 2000. At the time it was built, there weren’t a lot of places to race it, but several muscle cars were competing in a New Zealand class called Super GT, which was a sort of anything goes style category that allowed for plenty of creative thinking without the hindrance of too many rules. Murrays Camaro was built with a 383ci small block, the body was acid-dipped, and full rollcage was fabricated from mild steel tubing. The trunk lid, hood, front clip, front spoiler, front guards, and doors were all made from fiberglass, from a set of molds created for a similar car built up for Wayne Anderson a few years earlier. A large rear spoiler was fitted, along with Perspex side windows, and 17” x 11” Simmons wheels, and slick tyres. The standard Camaro rear end with leaf springs was removed, and replaced by a 9” with coil-overs and Watts-linkage, although all the original mounting points were retained. 6-pot Willwood brakes with 330mm rotors and 4-pot with 305mm rotors did the stopping.

The Camaro was finished in custom a yellow-mustard colour black stripes over the hood and trunk lid. As you’d expect, it was a bit of a tarmac shredder. Murray raced the car in Super GT for a few seasons, then when a new muscle car class called Central Muscle Cars was formed in 2004, Murray began racing the Camaro there. CMC was a competitive series, but Murray was never too interested in chasing points, he just picked the events he wanted to compete at; sometimes 2 or 3 races a season, sometimes none.