You may have heard about General Motors engineer Mark Stielow’s 1969 Camaro “Red Devil” before. It’s a fully custom Pro Touring Camaro packing a 7.0-liter LS7 under its hood which is garnished with the cylinder heads, valvetrain and supercharger from a Corvette ZR1. Underneath, it’s equipped with a 3.25:1 nine-inch axle, a limited-slip differential and a full Detroit Speed suspension system. He’s since sold the car, but back in 2012 when it was still around, him and Hot Rod magazine pitted it against a brand new Camaro ZL1 in a time-attack style race.
It should be said that Stielow’s Camaro is more than a just a 756 horsepower restomod. It’s a corning carving monster, with sticky Goodyear Eagle F1 tires, a Detroit Speed subframe and Brembo brakes with drilled rotors nicked from the Corvette Z06. It should stand a pretty good chance at beating the ZL1 around GingerMan Raceway, then. Check out the video below to find out which Camaro prevails in this shootout. It should also be noted that he sold it since the time of this video.
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You all should pay attention to Mark as he is the real deal as a Engineer but yet a Hot Rodder.
Mark is the one guy who in Detroit has more cover cars on Hot Rod and Car Craft than any other engineer or auto maker employee. He has made a string of cars from AWD 32 Fords to a long line of Camaro project cars that are all well know.
He is the one that really know how to make things work and with the backing of GM engineering he will bring things to the 6th Gen you never though possible.
Keep in mind the Z/28 is just what he did when he fixed the Zeta. The new Camaro he has been involved with since the Alpha started.
We had the AWD 32 Ford he engineered at Reno Hot August Nights and with its 650 HP and Indy car like suspension it would do 3 second 0-60 long before the Veyron did.
Never knew Mark when I worked at GM. Seems like I would have been in the same area at the Grounds but then again back then he was probably just another guy that worked on F car while I worked on W’s. He certainly is not a flashy. know it all kind of guy.
But I met him last year on a bike ride. He lived 8 houses from mine. Nice guy. However he moved a few months ago. Never saw all the cars in his yard because I took a different street to my house. Wish I would have though because I would have known some of the guys there and good to see them all again.
Mark has made the rounds as he worked for GM then Summit Racing, Then SLP and I think he went back to GM after that.
He is a engineer not a real show off but his cars do the talking for him.
He is why many of the cars in the GM Performance Division handled so well. I think he did all the suspension tuning on my HHR SS and Cobalt SS. If you have not driven one you have no idea of the changes they made.
This is why I no longer care about originality in old cars. An original collectible or classic is simply a well preserved example of what it is…a RELIC.
Resto-mod/pro-street all day everyday. Keep what made the car great – usually the styling and flair – and update or replace everything that holds it back vs a modern car.
Truly the best of both worlds in my opinion. Besides no matter what you do, a old performance car will always be more raw and visceral to drive and own [modded or stock] vs it’s modern equivalent.
You can only be original once. If the vehicle is not something special then go ahead and do what you want. If it is special and able to be made original then keep it original.
Mine is NCRS and I am slowly bringing it back to how it came out of the factory.
I don’t dissagree (only original once), but where does it stop and what are your intentions. Like you said, the 1st ever produced model that is swiftly swept off to a museum? I get it. Save it for posterity…but it’s doomed to be what it is – Relic of what was the best at that point in time, nothing more.
As such it should be in a muesem, and occasionally driven just so younger generations can experience how older cars sounded, moved and looked as they went about their business. But in my opinion ANY car that sees regular street time and is vintage should be up dated accordingly. It doesn’t need to see the whole “pro street” treatment, but definately “Resto modded” as in better brakes, electronic ignition for relibility and optimized factory preformance, better tires, brighter bulbs, 6-12volt conversions and etc.
With a resto-mod the car is for all intents and purposes the same. Now it’s just the best it can be in the spirit of it’s time – plus far more reliable and safer to operate.
Most times I would prefer the late model cars, but since it was build by Mr. Stielow, who has made some great cars, I would probably choose the 69.
I would really like to see a redo with the even less powerful Z/28. I think even though it loses more power to either of these vehicles, it is set up to be a track car much like the 69 here is set up. I bet it would be a lot closer. The ZL1 is great, but the heft is not its best friend when hustling around a tight race track. With the level of g’s and corner holding being similar between these two examples and knowing the Z/28 is even better, I think it could make up the time the ZL1 loses on the straights just by being able to out handle them.
Still, how awesome is it we can take old school cars add modern tech and rip around faster than the best the modern market has to offer.
I would like to see that as well, but the result would probably be the same. Even with 300 less pounds, it’s still a porker compared to the 69 z/28 and down by even more hp. I bet it would out run the older car in the corners [vs being even like the ZL1] and get reeled back in and passed by the 69 in the straights. For one lap at least…
Over time I’m sure the inherent design deficiencies of the older car would add to driver fatigue and the new car would win overall.
great video, too bad the douche from Hot Rod doesn’t tell what hp Marks car is putting out.