In 1968 Penske Racing and Chevrolet Engineering built a 1969 Camaro the upcoming 1969 Trans Am season. Sponsored by Penske Chevrolet and Sun Oil Company (Sunoco), the car was driven by Mark Donohue to 6 wins and 2 second-place finishes out of 12 races to win the 1969 Trans Am championship. Both car and driver are legends in any sense of the word.

Fred, from Brooklyn, NY contacted G-Force Design Concepts about building a 1969 Camaro after seeing our work on Fuel and Devious. What started out as a car that "just needed new quarter panels" turned into a full restoration that included replacing virtually everything but the firewall. The original plan to paint the car Velocity Yellow with a black hockey stripe changed when Fred saw the Ben Hermance rendering of our concept for a tribute to Mark Donohue's #6 Sunoco Camaro.

G-Force Design Concepts had plans on the drawing board to build the Sunoco tribute using modern suspension, engine, and drive train. Fred's interest worked out nicely. The project could now move forward with full funding and Fred's agreement to allow G-Force Design Concepts to promote the car for one year. The underlying theme of this build is to demonstrate that you can build a high-profile car with a budget in mind. The car will be mainly street-drive with occasional "track day" events and some drag racing thrown in for good measure.

Powering the Sunoco Twist Camaro will be a GM Performance Parts LS2 crate engine rated at 400HP. Engine management is handled by a Speartech wiring harness using the factory fly-by-wire pedal. AAW supplied the wiring for the electrical system. A set of custom full-length headers will route the exhaust through a pair of Corsa mufflers.

The car will use a GM T56 tranny beefed up to handle the horsepower. ATS (t56kit.com) provided the fabricated crossmember and hydralics for the installation. The rear is a built 33-spline Moser shortened to accept the 12" wheels that fill up the huge rear fender wells built using DSE Mini-tubs. Traction is courtesy of a Tru Trac traction unit.

BOZE Alloys supplied the wheels wrapped in Michelin PS2 rubber with 335/30-18 rear tires for optimum traction. The front suspension retains springs with Koni Classic shocks at all four corners.

Look for this car at major shows in the mid-Atlantic region next year. With the Sunoco theme it will be hard to miss...just follow the crowds.