This custom Camaro is a real... horrorshow

You might have seen that Ringbrothers just finished work on a 1,200bhp Chevy Blazer, which they’ve called the ‘Bully’. And, not to be outdone, Ringbrothers’ other newly finished restomod – the Strode – also comes jam-packed with features that seem custom-designed to terrify. 

Such as 1,010bhp. Apparently, a six-speed manual is on hand to control it, which feels like trying to put a harness on a hurricane. And, in case there was any doubt left in your mind, there are at least two roundels affixed to the Strode, both of which feature the ghostly visage of Michael Myers. 
 
No, not the “Wayne’s World, party time, excellent!” Myers (that’d be an eerily specific thing to affix to a car, even if it was the Mirthmobile), but the Halloween, ‘Laurie Strode, your brother is not a nice person’ Myers. The car is even called the Strode, people! Run, hide, kiss various body parts goodbye and curse John Carpenter’s name in the few moments you have left. 

We find that the two remaining pieces of the 1969 Camaro are... well, still a mystery to all but the brothers Ring, apparently. Wherever the two parts may be, they now sit in a completely custom carbon-fibre body. It’s five inches wider than the standard ’69 Camaro, and has a longer bonnet and recessed centre section in the roof, the latter creating a kind of double-bubble roofline that we’re going to try to talk about without mentioning Zagato. Ah. 

And if the body is completely new – and if we’ve established the whole ‘two carryover parts’ thing well enough – it’s perhaps no surprise to find a) independent coilover suspension front and rear, b) six-piston brakes and c) a roll cage in the rear, in case parts ‘a’ and ‘b’ aren’t enough to rein in the consequences of deploying more than 1,000 horsepower. 

As befits an American muscle car, that tower of power comes from the motoring world’s everlasting gift: the LS. In this case, a 6.2-litre LS3 found its way to a little outfit called Wegner Automotive, who thought so much of it that they gave it a positive-displacement supercharger and 1,010bhp before sending it on its way. Must have made an impression. 

As, we feel does the Strode – it might nod a little too obviously to certain horror movies (and indeed other car builds), and its spec sheet suggests it’s little more than a vehicular snuff film. But such fantasies pale like Michael Myers’ mask when compared to the reality achieved here: building what might very well be the ultimate Camaro. And the only jump scare, we imagine, would come when the bill arrives. 

Oh, and in a final, fatal blow to fantasy, Buddy Repparton’s Camaro was actually a 1967 model. And John Carpenter... made much better films. Some of which – like the one with Michael Myers in it – you might have seen.