Heath Till’s 1968 Camaro
When Heath Till scored this ’68 Camaro through a Craigslist ad eight years ago, he was excited to finally have a first-gen Camaro in his garage. It was to fun to cruise and looked okay but just wasn’t up to the performance and finish Heath desired. It finally got to the point where he decided it was time to build the car right, so he enlisted the talents of Harold Chapman, Michael Kaiser and their crew at Customs and Hot Rods of Andice.
Every Camaro rolled out of the factory as a unibody constructed vehicle, but thanks to Roadster Shop, Heath’s car now sits atop a full-length frame with improved strength and geometry. To get the right stance and handling, AFCO adjustable coil-overs are at each corner complemented with six-piston Baer calipers and 14-inch rotors.
Under the hood is a Texas Speed-prepped LS3 boasting 418c.i. and more than 600-horsepower. A Holley intake carries a throttle body topped with a 14-inch round air cleaner and vintage cowl hood seal. A Tremec TKO 600 with a McLeod clutch keeps Heath involved in transferring all that power to the rear wheels, which were designed by Christian Dotson of Dotson Design and then machined by EVOD – a combination that comes up several times in the build.
CHRA worked its magic on the sheet metal by sharpening the Camaro body lines and incorporating second-gen Camaro taillights and a custom diffuser filling the gap between the split bumpers. The front and rear bumpers sport flush side-marker lamps and the front bumper was scalloped and integrated into the functional lower air intake vents. Dotson Design and EVOD worked together on the one-piece grille with circular inset turn signals and modern LED headlamps. The overall look is distinctly first-gen Camaro, yet has been completely refined and then calmed by a custom green PPG shade.
This styling theme carries over inside where there are modified TMI seats and a custom Dotson/EVOD console that houses a short-throw shifter, power window switches, and a control knob for the JL Audio system. Dakota Digital instruments fill the deep twin gauge pods fitted in a custom-stitched leather dash done by JJ’s Auto & Sculpt Garage. JJ’s continued their craft on the seats and door panels, working orange stripes into custom basket-weave leather upholstery inserts, adding a nice contrast to the forest green.
Heath is absolutely stoked about the Camaro and the experience working with CHRA, and he’s excited to rack up miles in the Camaro with his family. “I treasure seeing my kids in the back seat with the wind blowing through their hair, their big smiles, and look forward to the experience of them becoming drivers,” he says. “I wouldn’t change a thing!”
Photos by John Jackson
