This self-described “Patina Rod” is a 1970 Chevrolet Camaro RS with a twin-turbo LS 6.0 V8 engine. The car is located just north of my neck of the woods in San Marcos, Texas which is halfway between San Antonio and Austin. The seller is asking $25,000 and claims the car will run 10 second quarter miles all day long. You can see more pics here on eBay.
The heart of this beast is the 6.0 liter LS transplant. It looks natural sitting in this Camaro. With a tune and race gas, the seller has run 9 second quarter miles. Power is transferred to the Perfect Launch 3:73 rear end via a GM 4L80 automatic transmission with a PTC 3500 RPM lock-up torque converter. The seller has spent most of his money on the engine but the suspension was also modified by adding urethane bushings, bigger sway bars, and a 2-inch lowering kit.
The interior is rough to fit the Rat Rod personality and includes a roll bar. The car has surface rust and the front floor pans have been patched. The front seats have been covered and there is no carpet in the car. The seller said that this is a daily driver and one of ten Camaros that he owns. The following picture is the money shot for Rally Sports. It is one of the best front ends ever designed.
I had a 1973 Camaro for my first car but it was nothing like this. It had a 350 cubic inch V8, 2 barrel carburetor, and a 3-speed manual transmission. When you pushed the clutch in the whole front sub-frame would move forward. A set of homemade frame connectors took care of that problem but I put every paycheck into the car to keep it running. This 1970 Camaro is nothing like my old car. It is a beast that looks like a barn find. So, is $25,000 a reasonable price for the patina powerhouse?
IDK, I know for a fact, it’s really tough to turn 10’s, much less 9’s with a car like this. Vintage gassers do 9’s, and they are nothing like this. I’m sure it’s fast, but I’d have to see the timing tower for myself.
check out hellcat killer on youtube, 54 chevy, 6.0 turbo, 10 second class then they drive it home 150 miles! these boys in Texas got going!
I was thinking the same thing, I just don’t see it in this car.
It could be Fast & Furious syndrome.
What the hell, if your already doing 10’s how hard can it be to hit 9’s?
” I don’t have a track slip but I got a video using my odometer and my buddy counting off, 1 one thousand 2 one thousand………”
Going from a 10 seconds to 9 seconds isn’t easy. It’s entirely possible this car can break into the 10 second range. Doesn’t mean it’s deep into the 10s but maybe closer to 11 second passes. Boosted LS can be very impressive with not alot of investment.
No, not easy – but getting that motor to make enough power to do it is not hard at all. Here’s the link to that Fairmont running 9.6 @ 140 on an LS turbo 5.3; he DOES make it look easy.
https://sites.google.com/site/sloppywiki/sloppy-builds/fairmont-3-0
The one thing you can guarantee would take 10 seconds at the track is that’s the length of time it would take to get bounced out of tech. That’s how long it would take for the tech guy to see the roll bar, which is an instant fail. Unfortunately, there are some, mainly smaller tracks that are more interested in selling a tech card than safety, they attract people with cars like this.
This car might very well run in the 10’s. However, its just as likely to run much slower, you never know. Turbos are a crapshoot, done right and the car can be incredibly fast, done wrong, and it’s an expensive, complicated pig. This car has some impressive looking parts wrapped in what’s more than an ugly package. The seller didn’t do himself any favors by starting with such a used up car, that may be a problem if he can’t find a buyer who’s only interest is the drivetrain.
Steve R
Bull sh*t
I was looking online for what times some muscle get on a quarter.,,,
way of providing a reference as to how fast a 9 second car is:
Hmm 🤔..
So this camaro can kick a hellcats butt snd a Porsche modern cars …
A Porsche 911 GT2 RS (the 700 bhp fastest 911 you can buy and one of the fastest street cars you can buy) is claimed to do the 1/4 mile in 10.5 seconds.
The Dodge Hellcat with just under 800 bph best 1/4 mile time is supposed to be around 10.5 seconds.
The Bugatti Veyron supposedly does not even get into the 9 second range for the 1/4 mile.
Check out the Redeye time slips…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cars.com/amp/articles/going-for-10s-drag-strip-testing-the-2019-dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-redeye-1420703398783/
Most of the times you mention are true, but it often takes a couple of dozen runs for an experienced driver to get close to those times. My local track sees Hellcats and Demons almost every Wednesday night, same with exotic European Super Cars, the only two that will come close to magazine published numbers with a novice driver are the Nissan GT-R and the Tesla model 3.
New cars are fairly predictable and will usually run published numbers once a good driver figures out how to launch them. Old cars, like this, which are home built or one offs are a wildcard. There are so many variables there is no telling how they will actually perform. It’s never been easier to get a car to run what the seller is claiming, it’s just that most people won’t put in the time at the track to actually make it happen.
Steve R
check out hellcat killer on you tube, 54 chevy 6.0 turbo in texas, 10 sec class, after the race they drive it home 150 miles away!
This thing runs 10s? Show a time-slip to back up that boast!
The early 1970s models with the Rally Sport front end are my favorite Camaros, but I would have gone a different route with this one. Job one would have been a proper repair of the rusted floorboards. Sorry, but this thing is a cobbled-up hack-job.
10 seconds isn’t out of the question at all. My barely modified 87 Grand National ran high 11’s over 6 years with the stock intercooler and a never opened engine. I have a 67 Cutlass Supreme convert with a 6.0 LS/4L80, cam and headers that made 404 rear wheel HP on a basic tune. Drag calculators (lots of variables, I know) put it at 10.48 at 124 MPH. Mine has way too much converter in it right now, I doubt it is that fast, but a twin turbo 6.0 could run in the tens with ease.
You’ve been there so you know. A well thought out street car can easily run the times claimed in the sellers ad. The problem is, he didn’t show a time slip, which instantly comes across as BS, he also used too many round numbers. That’s what people do when they are lying about how fast their car is. Those that have made a pass know exactly what their car ran, to the hundredth of a second and the exact MPH.
It sounds like many of the people that don’t think a car like this is capable of running the times claimed have spent time in the staging lanes of a track in a long time. On any given Wednesday night there are at least half a dozen street cars driven to the track, running DOT tires and full exhaust that wouldn’t turn your head if you pulled up next to you at a stoplight that run mid-10’s. It’s not that hard if someone is smart and willing to put in the time and effort to dial in their combination.
Steve R
I seriously doubt this car runs in the 9s or their would be paperwork to prove it in the photos. Anyone would be proud to show it. My issues with the vehicle is for 25 grand, I want complete floorboards, decent paint and a car that looks nicer than that. I can buy a roller, put in the same motor, tranny and rearend and still not pay that kind of money. Lov that year Camaro but that one needs too much ch to make it right.
Around twenty five or so years ago at Carlsbad Raceway there was a ’70 Torino GT that ran low nines at a trap speed over 140 miles an hour. Big car with a monster motor Ford under the fiberglass hood, someone said it was at least 540 cubes but….the first hundred feet were an absolute battle of man versus machine, hard launch pulled the front wheels got sideways off the gas back on more problems…off and on it seemed then that big Ford squatted and took off with amazing speed, one of the fastest cars there that seemed to have little in tech inspections. Car could of been an eight second car if it werent for the horrendous launching issues and would have not impressed to well in eighth mile runs. So I believe it when I look at this “farm truck” inspired Camaro. No doubt it could run very hard,, you just never know and he’s giving away a secret that this thing can really move. Just be careful in it,, it might be your last ten seconds.
I hate to do this, but… DANG, some of you are ignorant!
A) WEIGHT COUNTS MORE THAN POWER.
That Camaro is going to be LIGHT compared to a Hellcat or most other modern cars. Factory curb weight for that whip was 3300 pounds; an SRT Hellcat weighs 4500. An aluminum-head LS motor with twin turbos may well weigh a bit more than the OEM running gear, but the interior is stripped; I bet this weighs no more now than it did the day it was born.
B) POWER COUNTS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE
Well-built twin-turbo 6.0 liter LS motors don’t have to worry about warranties or emissions regulations or noise limits or any other nonsense. In other words, a well-built twin-turbo 6.0 liter LS will pull the wings off of a blown 6.2 liter Hemi. 800 horsepower is easy – EASY – and a thousand horsepower is not hard. Hot Rod Magazine built a similar motor that made 1500 horsepower; you can buy 1000 horsepower crate motors.
C) TIMING IS EVERYTHING
With good tires and gears and a fat 300-pound mook like me at the wheel, that Camaro needs 625 horsepower to get into the 10s. 850 horsepower puts it into the 9s. There’s a guy who runs mid-9-second quarters in a Ford Fairmont – a FAIRMONT! – with a turbocharged 5.3 liter LS that he drives to the track; look up Sloppy Mechanics Fairmont if you don’t believe.
I didn’t look it up but that sounds like a lethal Fairmont! There was a time when an 850 horse monster was strictly a trailered race car, even 600 depending on the engine,,, unheard of on the street for obvious driveability issues. The lightweight crazy AA/fuel altered race cars were extremely quick and hardly went in a straight line, sort of I guess. Nowadays there’s street machines capable of running tens, in the nines, even lower. It’s crazy stuff, unheard of years ago for a street machine that was actually capable of going down the block with mufflers.
Beautiful Chunk. Lol No argument here.
I have to say, I have learned a lot from all of your posts here. Very educational for someone not too familiar with quarter mile racing.
10s ? Must have been on the first trip through the traps, because I’m sure there’s no sanctioned track official, hopefully any tech person that would let this car run again, just for safety reasons. I’d damn sure give it a shot if allowed by the track. I know this because some of the stuff I’ve built over the last 25 years has looked just as ratty😁 Stay safe folks
Reminds me of something that came from RoadKill. Freiberger, Finnegan and duct tape.
A lot of car guys hate patina, err, rust, I kind of like the patina on an original paint car, but it’s more like primer peeking through the tops of the fenders, etc. This is not patina, the only neat thing about this exterior is the front end, and that still looks crappy. $25k? Baahaahaaa, rotsa ruck.
I am out on this one. My first car was this 70.5 RS. Loved it. I am about the show more than the “go” so unless this drivetrain is well worth $23,000, the car itself is not worth $2,000 with all that it needs. Steve R, lot’s of good safety points. Should have started with a more solid car. Put enough power in it and watch it disintegrated in less than 10 seconds = NOT good !!
I have seen very cool patina. This is NOT an example of that. My opinion.
My favorite Camaro and i owned a 70 and half RS in the 80s. Bought it for 1k and it had a 283 that had been retrofitted with all the old 350 bits. The car was fast, soumded awesome with the straivht pipes, could chirp the tires at highway speeds when you stomped on it and it still got ok gas mileage. Probably mt favorite car. The previous owner had painted over the original maroon with corvette yellow, which i thought paired well with the tan interior.
The listed car is missing the awesome comsole and the equally killer upside down u shifter. Wish i didnt let that one get away. Sure it wasnt hermetically sealed numbers matching blah blah blah but it was a kool car nonetheless.
Needs paint but as far as doing 10’s or 9’s on the track I say Bull!!!! I can’t remember the sports announcer that was known for the statement “Let’s go to the video tape” but let’s!!!
Agree with the skeptics about this running 9s and that it wouldn’t pass tech. Seller James is also a dbag with his comments about “no dreamers and tire kickers and don’t waste our time,” as this thing is ugly and way overpriced. Pretty sure you could do way better for $24k.
I wonder if he can fit a few more wheel weights on that wheel? Has the right side turbo filter ever been cleaned?