More than three years ago, while straining to absorb the Detroit area's mammoth Woodward Dream Cruise, we spied something familiar: a blown 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 with a serious '70s rake and multicolor graphics that were as period-correct as a satin baseball jacket with a fondue stain on the sleeve. There was a time, of course, when a 6-71 GMC blower poking through the hood of a first-gen Camaro was as common as today's LS swaps, but this one stood out for more than its classic street-machine stance. That's because we'd seen it before.
We saw it in November, 1979, to be exact. That was the issue of HOT ROD for which it graced the cover. It looked identical, four decades later, to the vision that Tim Marshall and Yer Ol' Dad, Gray Baskerville, shot at the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals that year. When we say it looked identical, we mean identical, right down to the same Dyers Street Charger supercharger, widened rear Cragars, psychedelic stripes, and homemade slapper bars. The Camaro's owner was identical, too: Les Sutak, from Kingsville, Ontario. That was around 2019, and we made plans to follow up with him and his time-capsule street machine.
A few months later, the pandemic hit, and the border to Canada closed. Les lives a few miles south of Windsor, Ontario, so crossing over with our cameras was essentially impossible. That changed in mid-2022, and when the border opened, we hustled across the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to catch up with Les and his supercharged time machine. The car is a true X11-code Z/28 that he bought in 1973 after lusting after it for months. In fact, Les was already driving another 327-powered '69 Camaro, but this one stood out in his town.
"The guy who owned it had Cherry Bomb mufflers on it, and the car already had the stance with the raked rear end and traction bars," says Sutak. "Every day, it would drive past my house, and it sounded amazing. I had to have it." After tracking down the owner, he worked out a trade for his 327 Camaro plus another couple-hundred bucks. His dream ride, however, was something of a nightmare. "It was probably the worst automotive deal I ever made," says Les. "The engine was toast—spun bearings and a cracked head, for starters. I had to tow it home."
That led to a series of seasonal engine swaps over the next couple of years, including a 327 with a Paxton supercharger, but always with the car's original Muncie four-speed and 4.10 gears. It was a daily driver for a couple of years, before shifting into secondary-car mode, driven to the local A&W restaurant, and other cruise spots and larger shows.
"Along with some other guys in our car club, we drove it to the NSRA Street Machine Nationals, in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1975," recalls Les. "With no overdrive and 4.10 gears, I didn't think we'd ever get there."
It was around 1978 that Les got serious about building up the car. It needed new sheetmetal and paint, despite being less than 10 years old. The first attempt at a respray was junk, he says, including the multicolor stripes he envisioned. "The guy didn't use real candy paint," he says. "It was, like, just thinned-out regular paint that ended up looking absolutely awful." An acquaintance from a sister club in Detroit then recommended a young man from the Motor City who was still in high school studying art but was already known to be pretty handy with a spray gun.
"It became his summer project, and I believe he used the money to buy a camera," says Les. "He did a really nice job." In fact, it's the paint job, including the graphics, that the car still wears today. Yes, some of the lacquer has cracked and faded over the years, particularly in the stripes, but the finish has held up remarkably well.
When it came time to redo the engine, the Paxton-blown 327 was jettisoned in favor of freshly built, 0.030-over 302 with a solid-lifter cam and the Street Charger. "Gary Dyer had the kit with the blower, and I believe the low-compression Venolia pistons, too" recalls Les. "I wasn't entirely confident about getting it shipped to Canada, so after ordering the kit on the phone, I drove with a friend to Chicago to pick it up." The blower case was unpolished at the time, but the engine ran well after Les got some help rejetting the twin Holley carbs topping it. He drove back later for a blower drive upgrade, and had the case polished. With the shiny blower back atop the small block, it was off to the 1979 Car Craft Street Machine Nationals in Indy.
"Early arrivals got a chance to drive in groups around the Indy speedway, which we did with the Camaro," says Les. "I guess it was then that somebody from HOT ROD noticed the car. There were some photos taken of it on the track, and we were asked to meet early the next morning for the photos that ended up in the magazine and on the cover."
Les recalls the car was photographed from every conceivable angle, but there was no mention that it would end up on the cover later that year, where it was part of a collage of modified muscle cars that included three other blown street machines—a second-generation Firebird, an Olds 442 convertible, and a 'Cuda. The Olds, by the way, is still around, and was restored to stock specs a few years ago.
The car also shared the cover of HOT ROD's special publication, Chevrolet #3. It was featured along with Scott Sullivan's groundbreaking supercharged Chevy II street machine and a mid-year Corvette wearing fat Centerlines and six taillights, de rigueur for the era.
After the moment of magazine cover-car stardom faded, Les continued to cruise the force-fed F-body, frequenting many events in Canada and the States. While the car's look remained unchanged, he made several mechanical upgrades, attempting to enhance its drivability. What didn't change was the car's '70s-chic stance, created with re-arched rear leaf springs rather than the more common longer spring shackles. The Camaro already had the rake when Les purchased it, but he worked to get the wheel and tire combination just right. That included having a pair of 8-inch-wide Cragar S/S wheels widened to 9.5 inches and wrapped with N50-15 rubber, a look the car continues to wear.
The car hasn't driven much since the '80s, but as Les started to drive the car more, he realized that a few more changes were needed. The engine had become worn-out, so he rebuilt it with a 383 rotating assembly, a hydraulic roller cam, and a set of AFR heads. Externally, though, he kept all its vintage speed parts, including the same Dyers supercharger. In the process, he also swapped the transmission for a Tremec TKO 600 five-speed. Its fifth gear ratio is 0.82:1, which brings the engine's cruising rpm down to around 2,000 rpm at 60 mph. "The car drives really well, and it's very streetable now," says Les. "This new combination really woke it up, and with the 2.87 first gear in the Tremec, the car really takes off."
The refreshed engine and new transmission are the only significant concessions made to a time-capsule street machine that blessedly remains a Kodachrome snapshot of its era. Seemingly within minutes of its cover appearance, nearly every 1969 Camaro in North America was tubbed—and those that weren't all got mini-tubbed 30 years later when the pro-touring movement took hold. This Camaro missed both trends, although Les admits he was tempted over the years to make more contemporary updates. Thankfully, he resisted, remaining content to cruise this period-perfect representation of the colorful and creative street-machine era. As for those satin jackets and fondue parties … well, let's just say some trends are better left in the past.
To kick off the YouTube video series, hosts Kevin Tetz and John McGann immerse themselves in the task of swapping a Gen 3 Hemi into a 1972 Dodge Challenger. And this isn't just any old Hemi—we're dropping a 707-horsepower Hellcat into the car and putting one of Tremec's brand-new TKX five-speed transmissions behind it. The Challenger is also getting a brand new coilover suspension and a brake upgrade. The goal is to make it run and drive like a new Hellcat-powered Challenger, but with the classy good looks of the original E-Body. After you'd done with episode 1, watch EPISODE 2 and EPISODE 3 , then sign up to the MotorTrend YouTube channel for more great automotive content!