The sun has set and the time has come to heed the call of the asphalt playground. The roar of the engine echoes through your head as you bear down on the accelerator. Your left arm is one with the steering wheel while your right has meshed with the transmission. Man and machine are now one. Your heart pounds and beads of sweat pool on your skin as an explosion of green light casts across your intense gaze. You release the clutch, wrench the shifter, and mash the throttle in one precisely synchronized motion. The tires scream and the ensuing plume of white smoke fades out as you catapult from zero to infinity in the blink of an eye. But you don’t dare to blink as your eyes are firmly fixed on the prize ahead, crossing the finish line in first place.
In order to be that one enjoying the celebratory bottle of champagne (or can of beer) at the end of the race, it requires one part skill, one part luck, and one blazingly fast ride, like GMP’s 1/18-scale 1969 Drag Camaro. Not only was the 1969 Camaro an extraordinary muscle car, it was also an accomplished race car. Mark Donohue drove his 69 Camaro Z/28 to six victories and the SCCA Trans-Am Championship in 1969 while drivers like Dick Harrell, Wally Booth, Dave Strickler and Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, among others, each found success in their 69 Camaro’s competing in the ranks of NHRA and AHRA sanctioned drag racing.
For their latest Street Fighter project, GMP took their 1969 Trans-Am Camaro mold and merged it with the old-school Pro Street look which is a popular premise with many of today’s restored 1969 F-bodies. Dressed in a classic Cortez Silver with black racing stripes on the hood and decklid, the Drag Camaro features the same slammed stance and flared fenders that are characteristic of the other Camaro’s in GMP’s Street Fighter series, but this one showcases several new tricks, like a blown powerplant punching through a cutout in the lift-off “fiberglass” hood and a set of accurately rendered Draglite wheels shod in no-name scuffed slicks out back and skinny drag tires up front. This Camaro also features a blacked out taillight panel, shaved door handles, and a rear spoiler delete, giving it the look of one clean, mean, street fighting machine.
Stuffed beneath the lift-off hood is one helluva cool supercharged 572-ci big-block coupled to a heavy-duty 4-speed manual transmission, a lightweight carbon fiber driveshaft, and a 12-bolt Posi rear. Fully wired and plumbed with simulated braided lines and red and blue painted fittings, this monstrous motor features aluminum heads and gloss black “572 Chevrolet” marked valve covers shouldering a massive blower that mounts a pair of beautiful 850-cfm carburetors below a finned scoop. Running a pair of custom tube headers and a 200-shot Nitrous Oxide system, it’s a setup capable of producing well over 1,000-hp in real world applications. The surrounding engine bay is accessorized with other vital components including an aluminum radiator, a detailed brake master cylinder, a remote mounted oil filter, and a high-performance ignition box.
The interior of this pavement-pounder is purpose built without any luxuries like carpeting or cushy seats. In their place is a 10-point chrome-moly roll cage and competition bucket seats with carbon fiber backs and 5-point racing harnesses, in addition to a custom fabricated aluminum instrument panel, a competition short throw shifter, a blue NOS bottle and fire extinguisher. Concealed inside the opening trunk is an aluminum fuel cell, assembled with a racing-style fuel filler neck as well as the appropriate fuel lines and anodized fittings. Also located in the Camaro’s trunk is a heavy-duty battery which is detailed with painted battery caps, a tie-down strap, and the proper cables.
GMP
#G1800314 1969 Drag Camaro
Cortez Silver w/Black Stripes
Photography & Review by Dave Nicholson
Like Mark Donohue and “Grumpy” Jenkins, GMP knows what it’s like to be in first place, and its “outside-of-the-box” models like the 1/18-scale 1969 Drag Camaro that have made GMP a leader in diecast replicas. Even though my sample had some minor alignment issues with the front edge of the lift-off hood and right side of the decklid, I have to give this Street Fighter two enthusiastic thumbs way up for its impeccable paint quality, level of detail, and of course, its originality. With a limited production of only 1,000 copies, it’s no surprise that as of this writing, GMP has sold out of their inventory and the remaining online dealer quantities are quickly disappearing. Supercharge your collection and order of these awesome Drag Camaro’s before it’s too late.
Happy Collecting,
DetourDave
