2010 Chevy Camaro With the Face of a ’69 SS Deserves Better in This Cruel World

Making a modern muscle car look like an old one seldom works out well.

byLewin Day|
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After going out of production in 2002, the Chevrolet Camaro roared back onto the scene in 2010 in the midst of America's muscle car revival. The car hit on what everyone loved best about the nameplate, featuring big engines up front and drive sent to the rear. One owner, however, wanted to bring a little more of the original car's 60s charm to their fifth-gen coupe, and set about a rather drastic remodelling, as reported by CarScoops.

The car is on sale at Classic Car Addict, located in Mesa, Arizona, for the fine price of $29,995.  With just 28,547 miles on the clock, the car features the lower-tier 3.6L V6 engine paired with a manual six-speed transmission. It's good for 304 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. Originally a Synergy Special Edition model finished in Synergy Green, it retailed at a $2,060 premium over the 1LT trim.

However, where the car really gets interesting is in the cosmetic mods done by the owner after delivery. The front end has been treated to a fascia swap aping the design of the 1969 Camaro SS, complete with round headlights, a black grille, and a chrome bumper line. Naturally, the SS badge takes pride of place in the center. 

The only problem is that the much taller front end of the modern Camaro doesn't fit well with the slimmer '69-style fascia. Modern regulations around safety, particularly for pedestrians, have driven this change, and it means that any effort to style a new muscle car to look like an old one is pretty much doomed from the start. Ultimately, the conversion looks okay from some angles, and strange from others.

At the rear, the mods continue, with blacked-out taillights paired with chrome surrounds that go a long way to creating a more retro feel. Chrome treatment graces the rear bumper as well, and the exhaust pipe surrounds get a little of the shiny stuff, too. Inside, the interior has plenty of green accents from the original Synergy Special Edition pack. 

The seats have also been reupholstered with "Retrokits" logos, denoting the manufacturer of the throwback body kit, which also came in a stacked-headlight RS version. The car, or an identically-configured model, can be seen pictured on the now-defunct company's website via The Wayback Machine.

Innovation Retrokits

$29,995 is a high price to pay for a 12-year-old V6 Camaro, even with such low miles. Regardless, Classic Car Addict clearly thinks its worth the money, and goes on for a whole paragraph about the original Transformers movie that featured the 2010 Camaro upon its debut. It seems like an odd choice, given the movie featured a standard 2010 model in yellow, rather than a hacked-up model aping the '69 design in bright green. In any case, bidding on the car's eBay listing ended at $23,601 with the reserve not met.

If you're absolutely in love with the bodykit, this could be the car for you, but many will argue that the humble 2010 Camaro didn't deserve to be cut up and defaced in such a way. It's certainly a polarizing design, and one that could be derided for trying to hang on to a golden past that has long since faded into memory. There are certainly better ways to go about restomodding, after all. Sound off with your scathing or praising opinions in the comments below.

Got a tip? Let the author know: lewin@thedrive.com

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