FN Camaro

Some cars receive nicknames, others earn them

- Jesse Kiser

Most of us have nicknames for our cars. It could be a familiar pet name like Black Stallion or White Lightning or it could be more meaningful like The Crusher Camaro, a car literally saved from the crusher. There are also those that earn their nicknames through years of suffering. Take, for instance, David Schardt’s ’70 Camaro, a car we were supposed to feature two years ago: the FN Camaro.

David’s wife, Sherri, coined the nickname after months of setbacks. “She’d call it that about every time we wrote another check,” said David.

Restomods were beginning to push the limits of performance back in 2008, giving birth the Pro Touring movement. For example, as speeds and tire sizes increased, wheels began to break. As president of Forgeline Wheels, participants who ran Forgeline wheels, including Super Chevy Editor Steven Rupp, encouraged David to attend Pro Touring autocross events. This made sense since Pro Touring cars were evolving into true track-capable cars, and Forgeline’s high-performance wheels were a natural fit.

“We fell in love with Pro Touring and I decided to build a car so that when we attended an event we could actually participate,” said David. At the time, David’s favorite car was his ’15 Corvette Z06 but would have to sell it to fund this new project. His compromise was to carry over as many elements from the Vette to a Pro Touring build.

The project started with a restored and driveable second-gen Camaro. Their intention was to perform an engine swap and suspension upgrade and quickly have it roadworthy. The team at Smitty’s Custom Automotive of Tiffin, Ohio, immediately tore into the car.