of Hermance’s and Hardee’s percep-
tion of the perfect Camaro, they have
developed a truly unique piece that was
selected for the Battle of the Builders
competition at SEMA in 2018.
From the slick, trimless windshield
to the shaved emblems and the super-
sano spotless interior, this car just
screams awesome.
Under the hood is a 7.0-liter LS
engine machined and assembled by Pro-
Motor Engines in Mooresville, North
Carolina. It’s filled with ARP hardware
and a Brian Tooley Racing camshaft
package, and has a FAST intake mani-
fold up top. The 500-plus-horsepower
LS7 pushes the combusted gases out
through a set of Detroit Speed &
Engineering custom 1 7/8-inch headers
and 3-inch 304 stainless steel exhaust,
and the sound is glorious and raucous
with the BTR cam chopping away.
The detail paid attention to this
project is down to the smallest touches;of their other builds, it turned into a
complete restoration plus custom body
panels and modifications that had
never been done before,” he says.
As the DSE team began to restore
the car, Hardee hired a designer to help
change and customize several items on
the car to make it more like his race
car, the 2015 Camaro Z/28. He was
so enamored with the custom work
that the fabricators at Detroit Speed
& Engineering performed that Hardee
shelved the race car plans and made
the decision to go all-out on the show
car configuration, as he realized that
he’d be far happier without worrying
that the car would be damaged by an
accident on the race course.
After the design, Ben Hermance
worked his magic with the vision of
how those customizations should
be applied and the DSE team surged
into action. By turning the Camaro
into a leather and steel interpretationeven the visible ARP hardware has
been treated to a Cerakote to provide
a non-shiny finish. Also, the Detroit
Speed coil packs have been hidden from
view and the firewall has been cleaned
up to give it a classic look. Vintage Air’s
Front Runner HVAC system and Billet
Specialties hood hinges complete the
underhood appearance.
The rest of the driveline consists of
a Bowler Performance Transmissions-
modified T-56 transmission, Centerforce
DYAD twin-disc clutch assembly,
Quick Time bellhousing, and Dynotech
Engineering driveshaft, all of which feed
the power into a GearFX-assembled
9-inch Ford housing with a 3.89 gearset
and Eaton Truetrac differential.
The aforementioned Detroit
Speed front subframe assembly and
QUADRALink in the rear include
JRi double-adjustable shocks, with
each end supported with Baer 6R
braking systems.AN UNLIKELY MARRIAGE