ATS Project 50/50 Body Kit Development

Body Kit development
When I thought of this project back in late 99, I knew that I would have to really set this car apart from the seas of Pro-Touring Camaros. I thought, maybe we could add some aerodynamic styling cues on the front, and some nice ground effects on the side to make the car look really low. Without a firm idea in my head, I hired a talented young artist named Jason Rushforth. He sent me the very first vision I ever had of the 50/50 Camaro. I decided on some HRE 542 rims, with a front air dam, upper and lower billet grilles, side rocker ground effects with side exit exhaust, and a slight rear ¼ panel extensions.

I highly recommend getting some sort of rendering done of your car to keep you focused on the end product. A Photoshop of another car with some rims cut in, a sketch by a friend, or even a full hand drawn or 3D rendering by a professional artist. That Rushforth rendering hung on my wall, and made me get to the body kit stage we are at now. I needed a more firm picture of the body kit, an amazing styled kit that would not look out of place, or too ricey. I contacted automotive design guru, John McBride. We spoke for months, trading ideas, and plans over the phone. One day he sent me a thumbnail of a stock 68, and the first idea for the kit under that one. Upon seeing it, I knew I picked the right man for the job.

The following is the first 3 versions of the body kit. There is a stock bodied 68 at the top for reference.  From there we posted it up on http://www.pro-touring.com for some feedback, and voting. This was the hard process for us both. We got loads of feedback, and about 70+ different suggestions on where to go from there, none of which were the same. So it came down to me, and my car, and what did I want to see.

I liked the skirting from the front the air damn of #2 I really liked the recess panel of #3 by the intercooler, and the fog lamp locations of the #1 design. The side rockers didn’t grab me, so John went back to the board for some new twists. He came up with 2 exceptional examples that had me up for days on a final decision.

We have the ‘Flared’ version, and the ‘Smoothie’ version.

We headed to Pro-touring.com to have help on the final decision. Again, it was a toss up. Some people liked the Flared car, others liked Smoothie. I loved the Flared look, it was raw, and refined at the same time. I approved it, and John continued on the path.

At this point it was time to start finding a facility that could handle a request such as this. I contacted race shops, metal hot rod shops, and import tuners to try and get this kit made. I was pressed to find a shop that would do the quality of work that I needed for a car such as 50/50. Finally I found Ctek. This is basically a prototyping company in the Newport Beach area of sunny California. I looked through their site, and contacted them about the project. The President of the company had a 69 Camaro himself, so he was gung-ho on the project right from the get go. I had meetings with them, and showed them my concept art that John was pumping out. We decided that it would come here, and be made of carbon fiber. Wayne Due finished up the odds and ends of the chassis, and the car was shipped to Ctek.

John was giving me constant updates, with drawings, and feedback. When completed we had a full color rendering, tight line art, contour line drawings, front and rear side sketches, and even detail pictures to help the modeler sculpt my car. Here is the package we handed over to Ctek. (5 -10.jpg)
Ctek took the car in the modeling studio (where some famous cars such as the 05 Ford Mustang was built) and leveled the car on stands. From there, the lower valance, and grille were removed, and clay, board, and foam were placed on the car to being the process. They would send progress pics, and I would ogle over them for hours, knowing that I was creating a look that people will want to put on their own cars. Below is a series of pics, highlighting the build up stages of clay to the final approved versions.

I would visit every other month to check up on the status, and make changes. If you are interested in getting all or parts of this kit, we are accepting pre-orders.