It’s no secret that Michigan men love their muscle cars. It’s why the legendary Dream Cruise on Woodward swamps traffic for an entire weekend every summer.
The folks who keep muscle cars running today are true mechanical artisans. I recently took a drive in a 1970s Camaro vehicle, pieced together by a family friend named Roger.
He told me about how the frame was retrofitted from one car, the engine from another and the coveted Camaro body from yet another.
While his handiwork might offend old-school Chevy purists, you have to give the man some credit. He did all the work himself and resurrected a muscle car from nothing but a frame: a minor miracle for those of us who haven’t changed our own oil.
Why would he spend hundreds of hours creating a car ex nihilo? Because, as he told me, he used to drive Camaros back in the ’70s and wanted one for himself.
But even rusted shells of classic Camaros cost thousands on Facebook Marketplace. Running models from the 1970s cost anywhere between $15,000 to $30,000, depending on the condition.
That means obtaining a gas-guzzling muscle car likely requires a do-it-yourself approach.
It means buying up project vehicles, spending the man hours swapping out engines, welding structural components, wiring it up, and then fine-tuning it all to get it road-worthy.
He has a welder, an engine left, and the necessary tools—plus the skills and experience—to do all the work himself in his garage.
For those not familiar with taking the engine out of a car, a special hoist is needed to lift the 450-pound-plus explosion chambers, the beating heart of the vehicle. He keeps one engine on a stand.
It’s science and art to ensure everything fits and functions as it should, finding the right combination of fuel to air, knowing what to cut open and what to weld, connecting coolant and electrical lines the right way.
The resulting muscle car is more than the sum of its parts. Roger calls it his toy, affectionately named the “Gas Hole” for the gallons of gas it gulps down with its thirsty carburetor, at 10 miles-per-gallon.
The newer muscle cars might be faster, tuned up, or torqued higher. Those looking to buy an exciting car these days might even be looking to abandon combustion altogether, with various Tesla models offering driving modes like “Drag Strip” and “Insane.”
But, price aside, all the electrical components, the environmental standards—the fuss—are barriers to tinkering and modification.
We’re going to see fewer and fewer “frankencars” on the road in future years as the last modifiable cars rust out behind barns and the skills needed to overhaul them are lost to time.
Until then, watch out for home-engineered muscle cars. The owners will gladly tell you about what it took to get them to lay rubber at the drop of the accelerator.
If you see one, ask to take a ride and enjoy the smell of the carbureted engine. Experience the thrill through the eyes of a machine assembled by a true enthusiast, the master motorhead.
Brendan Clarey is deputy editor of Michigan Enjoyer.
