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 ATS Project
50/50
Chassis
Body Kit
Cool Images
Complete Specs
History
I got bit by the car bug pretty early on in life. My
father had owned a 1940 Ford coupe that he used to race
and cruise back in the early 60’s. I saw my first 1968
Camaro when I was the ripe old age of 17. It was a
rusted, primered shell of a 68 that was for sale near my
pizza delivery route. I slowed down to check it out and
fell in love- It had the raised rear end, 15” Cragar S/S
rims, and a bug catcher scoop sticking out of the
primered hood. They only wanted $1200 for it, so I took
it to my local Midas where the bad new was revealed.
The car was a rusting hulk. The 350 was tired,
leaking, and smoking. All the rubber was shot. The front
fender was from a 69, and was bent to fit. The hood was
from a 70, and was cut to fit. Needless to say, I did
not get that as my first 68 Camaro. Fast forward to 97
where I saw an ad for a cherry 68 Camaro. I went to the
address listed to have a look, and was dumbfounded to
find an amazing rally green 68 Camaro on a used car lot.
We haggled, and I brought home a very clean car.
Over the next few years I had 4 engines, 3
transmissions, 2 suspensions, and a paint job go into
the car. The last configuration of the car had 17”
Cragar S/S wheels, an LT1 fuel injected engine from 94
Corvette, a T56 six speed from a Camaro, Baer brakes,
Global West suspension, and some Cal-Tracs hung under a
12 bolt rear. It was a fine example of a Pro-Touring
car. I got quite a few emails asking how the T56
conversion was done when it hit me- I need to re-make
all the brackets and parts that helped me install this
in the first place, and American Touring Specialties was
born. As I started to develop the T56 kit, I found
better ways to make the crossmember (old versions has me
hacking up old turbo 400 units) and modifying the
hydraulics to bolt to the pedal was getting more
refined.
Cars just like mine started to pop up all over the
country as the Pro-Touring wave took hold of the nation.
I needed a change. Mark Stielow was about to debut the
Thrasher, and I wanted to do something big. I had always
wanted an old Art Rasmussen corvette frame for my car
with an LS1, so I began to search for him. Turns out he
died of an aneurysm and was no longer in business.
Determined, I searched out a used version. When there
were none to be found, I gave up. Then Wayne Due
surfaced on a then unknown board called Pro-Touring.com
Back then it was a 1st gen Camaro site, with a very old
board and a few featured cars. He was re-releasing the
Rasmussen frame with some revised geometry. We were back
in business. I had an idea to mate a Wayne Due Subframe
with a custom back halved car that held a T56 corvette
transaxle. It would be a masterpiece. The first plan
called for 87 Corvette front suspension, and a T56
transaxle with a custom made IRS for the rear. I began
taking measurements from C5 corvettes to see what would
fit in my 68. I found that the rear seat, trunk and
trans tunnel were going to be removed to fit this rear
setup. I tried selling my 68 complete as a running car
to finance the new project.
When I found the perfect 68 project in Arizona later
that year, I had to buy it. I got cold feet about
selling my car, and looking at a primered shell of
another one had me thinking twice about going through it
the project. I ended up selling the LT1/T56 combo, and
front and rear suspension to a guy in the SF bay area
with a blue 67 convertible. We swapped it one weekend
and ran out of time, so my car did not get any rear
suspension. I had to make a support with casters to get
it to Wayne Due’s shop. I ended up selling the AZ
project to a fellow PT member in New York. From there I
purchased a C5 corvette chassis from Bowling Green, KY.
Turns out I got a factory emissions test vehicle, and
the car had not seen pavement before. It was on a
chassis dyno for 500 hours, and then plasma cut in half,
the ECM taken out, and the wiring harness main plug cut.
It was then sold to me. Before I got it the chassis and
engine sat on pallets out in the rain for a few weeks.
It then got to see the rainy state of WA, at Wayne Due’s
shop. When my car arrived Wayne got right to work on
telling me this thing will not fit. He told me that if I
want to cut it up and try it, it’s my car, and my money.
So cut it up he did. See the chassis page for more:
Chassis
Body Kit
Cool Images
Complete Specs
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