Justin Casey's 1968 Chevrolet Camaro
They say that variety is the spice of life, and that sentiment is especially true for those who must always be in possession of a project vehicle. Justin Casey of McKinney, Texas can attest to that, and luckily for his family’s sake, he holds interest in all types of cars and trucks so his passion for customizing doesn’t get repetitive. Ever since his father helped him build his first custom project, a 1969 Chevy C10 pickup, Justin has moved on to take on new opportunities with much more modern vehicles. His last two builds include a twin turbo Cadillac CTS-V and a Jeep Trackhawk—two far-off models from that old C10 but still very impressive. Well, someone took notice of Justin’s Jeep and made him an offer for it that he could not refuse. This sale didn’t leave him forever short one vehicle, but it set him up to put the proceeds from the sale towards the purchase of a new project that would benefit the entire family.
“I spent months contemplating what I could build, and eventually sat down with my wife and showed her pictures of different vehicles and gave her options of what we should buy”, Justin says. “I hoped her influence would help sway me into the direction of one of the few options I presented. I narrowed it down to a 1970 Chevelle, a 1967-1968 C10 or a 1967-1978 Camaro. Eventually, she decided that she liked the first gen Camaro platform the best.” Justin didn’t just pick these three vehicles out of a hat—he thought long and hard about them and imagined what he could do with each one. “I had a million ideas from a block big block pro street car to a 2JZ swap with a TH400, but after the birth of my two kids, I have stepped back from taking part in any sort of racing or other highway shenanigans.”
Justin had a solid prerequisite list of what the family Camaro would have once it was completed. The car had to have cold blowing AC, big brakes, all the creature comforts that modern the Bluetooth enabled mobile entertainment system offer, and it had to ride and handle like a newer sports car. “I basically wanted a brand new ZL1 in a classic shell”, he admits. But before he got too far ahead of the process, he began his search for an ideal candidate car to start work on it ASAP, but he was looking for something very specific.
“I either wanted a car that was through the paint and body phase but didn’t run or a decently restored car that I wouldn’t mind tearing apart. I couldn’t bring myself to tear down a true Z28 or SS numbers matching car and take that opportunity away from someone who wanted one of those.” Justin ultimately found a car three hours away in Park, Texas that had a newer 350 installed instead of an original 302 that would ultimately determine if it was a true Z28, but that really wasn’t a make-or-break characteristic. While in town, Justin purchased the car on the spot for $33K on July 2nd, 2021 and picked it up two days later. “I took my kids to watch the fireworks in the car on the 4th, and the following day I started ordering parts for it.”
Without wasting any time, Justin already had an engine swap kit from Holley on the way, as well as a Terminator X system, transmission crossmember and trans swap kit from Bowler, headers, engine mounts, a T56 Magnum, Tilton clutch, a Quick Time bell housing and so much more. “Boxes began piling up quickly, but work and the kids’ activities consumed the majority of my time”, Justin adds. “Typically, I try to do all my car projects myself, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get this car done in a timely matter unless I enlisted some help. This is when I reached out to Eric Pierce at Pro Touring Texas to get on their schedule.”
Eric was briefed and understood exactly what Justin wanted for the car. He also had an idea of which parts needed to be ordered to keep the project rolling. Eric happened to have a TVS2650 blower sitting on the shelf, which was one of the items Justin wanted. From there, Pro Touring Texas took care of the engine and transmission swap, rewired the entire car, and got the base tune done in time for Justin to pick the car up and drive out to Rocky Mountain Race Week. “My best friend and fellow hood rat, Alex Bailey, planned on taking the 1,000-mile road trip but unfortunately the ‘too good to be true’ engine I bought from another friend turned out to be just that—too good to be true”, Justin admits.
With the Camaro sidelined, Justin scheduled another appointment at Pro Touring Texas for another round of mods, which included an LS power plant, a new rearend, a full coil-over suspension, subframe connectors, custom wheels, brakes, an interior overhaul, as well as other odds and ends. “We got the car to put down 781 RWHP at 12 PSI”, Justin says. “It’s a respectable number, but the engine was built to handle much more, so the next day we had Wegner on the phone to get a smaller pulley for more boost.” Meanwhile, the crew at PG Upholstery sound deadened the entire car, installed new TMI seats, modified the console to accept the Holley controller, and worked in a custom headliner, sun visor and stereo to give Justin all the modern amenities he was after.
Fortunately for Justin, the crew at Pro Touring Texas knew to keep on moving in the direction they had started on. “After blacking out some trim pieces, working on some lighting modifications and minor paint work to bring everything together, I now have everything I dreamed of”, Justin exclaimed. “It’s a 1,000 RWHP, 6-speed car that I can beat the sh!t out of and not worry about damaging pristine paint that doesn’t need to be washed every time I drive it. My wife Kristen and two boys Jarren (8) and Locke (4) are looking forward to spending time cruising around in the Camaro that we dubbed Miley. We called her that because she’s a little bit like Miley Cyrus—she’s loud, sounds good, looks good, but she’s just a little bit trashy. This is the first project that I’ve completed that I truly believe will be around for several years.”
