For guys who grew up with Honda Civics and Nissans, a V6 is not a step down at all – for many it’s a step up...

SEMA is the Speciality Equipment Manufacturers’ Association show that’s held in Las Vegas each November.  And it’s exactly that – the exhibitors show special equipment for production automobiles.
 Although European cars are included, as are motorcycles and off-road vehicles, it’s mostly for the American performance car industry. And every year for the last five or six years I’ve gone to SEMA with a car that we have built, like the 1000-horsepower Toronado, my ’55 Buick with 650-horse V8, the EcoJet – a jet-powered bio-diesel car – and a ’32 Ford with a Corvette engine.

This year, because of the economic climate, we wanted to try something a little more practical and something a little more fun as well. Everyone is familiar with the big-block Camaro but with the Government looking over General Motors’ shoulder we wanted to build a car that was a little more responsible, a little bit lighter, and something that’s got a bit of gas mileage as well.

I had this idea because, whenever I read the American performance magazines like Car and Driver or Road & Track, although they liked the power of the big V8 Camaro, they all seemed to like the handling of the entry-level V6.

My idea was, why not take a V6 and put a couple of twin-turbochargers on it and bring the horsepower up to the equivalent of the V8: 425bhp. By doing that you get a vehicle that’s lighter and will handle better, and when you’re not on the turbos you’ll be getting almost 30mpg.

I did not design this car, I let the designers and engineers do what they do. General Motors gave the car a custom look: it’s got a different hood, it’s got a different front end, the rear-end treatment is different. Unlike so many American cars of the past that had hood scoops all over the place, these are actually functional. The ones by the rear wheels actually cool the brakes, the ones in the hood really do get the heat from the turbochargers out from under the car. It’s got a Brembo brake package and has been lowered and the suspension stiffened.

 I’m very impressed with the build quality of these cars: I think they really do match the Europeans in terms of panel gap and also the interiors have been upgraded. General Motors seems to have learned its lesson and it seems to be a leaner, more vibrant company. The engineers seem to have come to the forefront now, whereas the accountants and the other guys have taken a step back, and I think that’s a good thing.

The car was very well received at SEMA. We got a lot of crowd reaction when we unveiled it. I would like this twin-turbo V6 to be the muscle car of the future; it would be an excellent starting ground for the next-generation Z28, because the big V8 is heavy and it does tend to plough on a little bit. But this light V6 and 425 horsepower – well, that’s pretty impressive.

It’s interesting that, for those in my generation who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, nothing less than a massive V8 would do. But when I talk to guys in their 20s and early 30s, they grew up with trick Honda Civics and custom Nissans and all these kinds of tuner cars from Japan – so to them a V6 is not a step down at all, for many of them it’s a step up.  

I do think we just need to get out of that big V8 mentality.When you go back and look at muscle cars, although everybody talks about the Hemi Cuda, they weren’t very nice cars to drive. The one that everybody really liked was the Barracuda or the Challenger that had the small 340 cubic-inch V8 – small for America, anyway – with the four-speed transmission. It’s the one they went racing with and it was the 
one that handled.

I’m hoping our SEMA car also handles well. I haven’t run it on the track yet but I know the standard V6 with the six-speed has got very good write-ups just because of the lighter weight, and our car as I said has custom springs and a handling package.

Even before our creation, the Camaro has been grabbing headlines. For the first time in anybody’s memory the Camaro is outselling the Mustang, there’s a waiting list and people are paying list price for them. It’s a desirable car. And which version is the big seller? The V6…