Furious Fritzy – David Jacobsen’s 1968 Camaro
The coil covers on the LSA engine in David Jacobsen’s 1968 Camaro say “Furious Fritzy” in honor of David’s father, Fritz, a longtime racer and hardcore car guy. Fritz’s racing endeavors resulted in David spending a lot of time at the track growing up, firmly establishing his interest in performance cars. As a kid, his favorites were ’68 and ’69 Camaros, particularly Super Sports, though he was never able to own one back in the day. “I waited until I was in my 50s to be able to afford to build one,” David says.
David connected with Dan Pearson and his team at Straightline Customs in Burnsville, Minnesota to do some work on a ’64 Corvette project a few years ago. The results were so impressive that David started talking with Dan about his longtime dream to build a first-gen Camaro. Their ideas clicked and before long Dan located a clean ’68 body in California, shipped it to Minnesota, and started work on a ground-up build.
“I envisioned a car that drives like a modern muscle car,” David says, and to that end a Roadster Shop Fast Track chassis with independent front and rear suspensions was fitted under the car. This allowed for modern performance elements like rack-and-pinion steering and 14-inch Baer disc brakes, not to mention the big Forgeline 18×10- and 19×12-inch wheels wrapped in sticky Nitto 265/30/18 and 345/35/19 tires.
Those massive rear tires offer plenty of grip but can easily go up in smoke thanks to 975 horsepower generated by the Whipple-supercharged LSA engine from Wegner Automotive. The engine is augmented with proven components like a Holley Dominator ignition and Ultimate headers and backed by a Tremec T56 six-speed transmission.
There are a surprising number of subtle mods on the body, including shaved drip rails, steel front and rear spoilers, custom floors and inner fenders, flush-fit glass, a custom rear valence with exhaust cutouts, and a beautiful billet grille by Alumicraft. After being massaged straight and precisely gapped, the Starlight team coated the body with a custom-mixed BASF charcoal metallic finish with copper stripes.
Straight Stitch Upholstery worked its magic inside, covering modified Corbeau seats and custom panels in black leather with copper piping and stitching. Custom dials from Classic Instruments, a Budnik wheel atop the Ididit column, Vintage Air, and a padded roll bar all help the modern performance vibe.
The finished Camaro proved its potential in Des Moines, making several strong passes around the Goodguys CPP AutoCross track while looking stunning in the show area. The brawn of modern muscle carefully blended with refined classic beauty – seems like great combination to us!
Photos by John Jackson & Terry Lysak
