Long Forgotten Pro Street Camaro Gets a New Lease On Life In Panama

The original snapshot we discovered back in May

Back in May you may remember we came across a snapshot of a Pro Street style Camaro just laying unattended to down in Panama. While it peaked our interest quite a bit, it’s location, current state and the odds of its survival led us to believe the Camaro had just seen better days, and likely wouldn’t be moving under its own power anytime soon. In other words, we thought it was a goner. Well, a short time after that all the forums blew up with everyone on the hunt for more info on the car. To our surprise, after a few months of rumors and ideas circled around the car, we got word that the car was indeed getting a second chance to make not another, but its first pass down the 1/4 mile.

While dirty, the engine bay and front end is entirely brand new. Photos By: Tom

While it was hard to believe at first, this car was indeed built and then never had so much as the key turned on the 540″ Shafiroff BBC – the front end components such as the A Arms, shocks and other various components were still in the packaging taped up for preservation. Surely a ride like this wouldn’t just be left to sit without a good reason, right? That’d be correct, the original owner had unfortunately passed away, leaving a 90% finished Pro Street Camaro project idle for 11 years. Sure, a little surface rust and corrosion is definitely noticeable in the engine bay and other areas, but the car still has zero passes on it. As per the current owner and current builder’s request, we can’t divulge into who’s bringing the car back to life for privacy reasons, but they were courteous enough to give us some excellent pictures, and some info on where they’re going with the car.

As for the body, it’s not a real Camaro body, merely a 2 piece fiberglass Camaro body that has had the roof cut for some reason (to be repaired). The car’s white “Z” graphic across the sides were noted as shockingly similar to the “Z” Pat Musi displayed on both his green Camaro and Firebird, but as of now it seems to just be an imitation of the graphic. Lexan windows will be going into the car after the roof gets the needed attention, along with the unfinished floor. The cage seems to be incomplete as well, and current efforts are being focused on finding out what kind of spec and/or class the cage was being built for.

Quick view of the 9" Strange rear end and 4 link

As mentioned, the car is to be powered by a Shafiroff 540″ BBC that should just need a good cleansing. The Brodix heads, Jesel belt drive, BG 1150 Dominator and MSD 7AL ignition cued us in that the engine wasn’t just a plain jane combo. Oh yeah, it also has a two stage nitrous system. The engine is mated to a Powerglide transmission, and then sent out back to a Strange Engineering 9″ rear-end (gearing is currently unknown). It’s hard to put an accurate E/T guesstimate on this ride, but 7-second passes should be a cakewalk on a good track.

Work on this car is set to kick into high gear as soon as next week. Bringing this car back from the brink wont be one of the easiest things we’ve ever seen done, but it’s definitely a good foundation. If this car interests you as much as it does me, be sure to check back in the future, as we’ll hopefully be able to bring you the car’s build progress as it happens. Other than what we’ve been told, the car’s complete history and where it was destined to race is still a bit of an unkown even for the current builder, so anyone that may even know so much as where the cage was being constructed, please, by all means, speak up!

About the author

Chris Taylor

Chris is an avid drag racing enthusiast. He follows closely anything related to door car series racing and prides himself on finding unique content.
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