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Mail: CHP Rides, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048
You Can Drive My Car
Drop the top, turn up the tunes, and stab the throttle, and the fun is everlasting. Mike Pelata makes a regular habit of doing just that behind the wheel of his '69 SS Camaro, clocking more than 2,700 miles driving up and down the eastern seaboard last summer. Mike informs us that during his weeklong escapade the car drew more than its share of attention. Considering the amount of detail gone into his pride and joy, it's easy to understand why. The outer skin was sprayed with Mystic Green, and inside rests a pair of front buckets pulled out of a '96 Camaro and recovered in original houndstooth. Under the hood is a 383ci small-block, delivering an estimated 375 horses through a 700-R4 overdrive automatic, and it rides on 16x8 Rallys wrapped with Goodyear rubber. Now that he's back at home the ragtop isn't relegated to sit in the garage, but instead gets a daily workout as Mike's only source of transportation.
'69 Camaro SS
Mike Pelata
Allen, VA
A Family Tradition
Not many hot rodders can make the claim Bob Swindell does. The '62 you see here has been in his family since new. Bob's dad was a new-car salesman at Downtown Chevrolet in Oklahoma City. When Bob's grandfather needed a car, he bought the Impala from his son. Fast-forward to '99, Bob gave the B-body a much-needed and well-deserved upgrade including a 355 small-block, a T-56 six-speed, a special trans tunnel, and the dark charcoal-gray paint with light gray-outlined teal flames. Bob often wonders what his granddad would think if he could see the glistening '62 today with twice the power, twice the gears, and more than twice the fun. We think he'd be proud.
'64 el camino
Rick Coleman
North Aurora, IL
Diamond In The Rough
There it sat alongside a rental property with a big, mean dog chained to it. But even in its battered condition, Rick Coleman wanted the '64 El Camino. Rick went on to explain, "I gave him $700, he kept the dog, and I got the '64 El Camino." Returning home with nothing but a shell of an old Elco, his wife thought he'd lost his mind: "This is what you bought?" But as soon as Rick finished adding the new sheetmetal, chrome, stainless, glass, paint, and 350ci powerplant, he tells us she's changed her opinion by enjoying the weekends together cruising and hitting up the local car scene.
'62 impala
Bob Swindell
Oklahoma City, OK
Smokin' Deal
Some say Jesse Fisher is going through a midlife crisis. But this firefighter knows there is no better way to spend some off time than to burn the hides of his '02 Z28 Camaro on a deserted asphalt lot. Adding to the punch is a pair of Flowtech headers, an American Thunder after-cat system, a Textralia clutch, UMI suspension parts, a Hurst Billet Plus shifter, and a custom tune from a Predator programmer. On the corners are 17x8- and 17x10-inch Smoothie IIs with 245 and 285 Kumho Ecsta 712s for added grip. So far he's won two First Place trophies, and he says there's much more to come. Some things just get better with age.
'02 z28 camaro
Jesse Fisher
Oshkosh, WI