638-Horsepower Corvette ZR1 Motor Meets 1969 Chevy Camaro

What we have here, then, is the ultimate Camaro, one that goes by the name Jackass.

The engineer/grease monkey/nut job in this case is General Motors engineer and Pro-Touring car-building legend Mark Stielow. It took Stielow 20 months to create Jackass, and predictably then, Jackass is something more than your average engine-transplant hack job. The fabrication appears first-rate. And lest you think big-motored Camaros are only about ripping though the quarter-mile, consider that Stielow started building first-generation Camaros to compete in Brock Yates' One Lap of America event. And it's early Camaros that have built Stielow's reputation. All have had silly names such as Mule, Thrasher and Red Witch.

So Jackass also gets the wheels, tires and monster carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes from the ZR1. No, those pieces are not technically available to your average car builder. One would need a VIN from a ZR1 to get them out of Service Parts Operation, so get one of those first.

The motor, which Stielow says makes about 511 hp at the rear wheels on a Mustang chassis dyno, sits low in a bolt-on Art Morrison subframe. The transmission is a Tremec T56 transmission from a Viper.

How much does all of this wicked Camaro goodness cost? "Well, I can tell you it's cheaper to just buy a ZR1," says Stielow, who since the disbanding of the High Performance Vehicle Group has taken a job as engineering group manager in the hybrid vehicle division.

Oh, and the color? That would be the always-sassy Daytona Yellow, which was a standard Camaro color option back in 1969.

Inside Line says: Now this is our kind of hybrid. — Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit