Dwayne Vaughn's '68 Camaro was a basket case when he bought it about 10 years ago, with only the roof and the driver's side mirror in pristine condition. In the intervening decade, he has brought it all back together in a Lemon Ice-colored piece of work he intends to make his daily driver.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Dwayne Vaughn credits his wife, Denise, with a lot of help in cleaning and assembling parts on his Camaro project. `Plus, she picked the color,' he says.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The cowl induction hood is an all-metal piece by Goodmark, accented with black racing stripes to match the blacked-out grille. The rocker panels also received the black-out treatment.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The interior was upgraded with a set of power-operated black leather seats from a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am, a GM center console and fresh carpeting.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
An estimated 400 horsepower lurks under the hood. Earl Lauer built the smallblock Chevy V-8 using a truck block topped by a Street and Performance tunnel port injection system. Long tube ceramic coated headers route exhaust to the rear, through a set of Flowmaster mufflers.
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An original GM duckbill spoiler adds to the muscle car flair at the rear of the Camaro. Stashed under the decklid is a big Alpine stereo amplifier.
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The 45-series radials tuck nicely inside the rear fender wells. Vaughn got rid of the stock Camaro monoleaf rear suspension, opting instead for a 1973 Buick rear end equipped with multi-leaf springs.
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Vaughn insisted his Camaro would have a manual transmission, selecting a 6-speed close-ratio unit from a 1997 Firebird. A specially offset shifter was built to allow him to position the lever in the proper place in the console.
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The factory gauges have been replaced with a set of white-faced Auto Meter dials, which look right at home in the modernized dash. Cruise control was added in hopes it would help boost the Camaro into the 20-24 mpg range on the highway.
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Rolling stock consists of a set of Billet Specialties flat-spoke rims that mount 225x45x17 Diamondback radials at each corner of the car. If you look closely, you'll spot the Stainless Steel Brake Corp. disc brakes, also used behind all four wheels.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
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