Chris Jacobs' All-Carbon '69 Camaro by Finale Speed
you know it's tight it handles it's fast and you've just got so much joy for these American V8s you call the European stuff too but they don't have the bottom end like these things do what are the sounds oh the sound yeah I know it's great pure American Muscle welcome the episode of Jay Leno's Garage the car featuring today 1969 Camaro built by finale speed out of Oklahoma I know it's a Camaro but it's not that Camaro this is all carbon fiber every piece of this body is carbon fiber you're probably saving 750 800 pounds over stock this is one of these bills that's just incredible you know this is the one we all wish we could do the nice thing is if you do have one of these cars well you can just buy the fender and buy the hoodie different pieces or you could get a complete package like this uh Chris Jacobs uh well you won't know Chris could Chris come on in you guys built this car how does it work did the owner come and say this is what I want did you build it on spec and then sell it to the owner how does it come about well you know Jay what's great about finale speed is you've got all those options available the customer comes to us and tells us what they want right we can build them a turnkey car like this 69 that you're looking at or uh we can spec it out exactly how they want so it really you know it's it's kind of a throwback to coach building and the customer tells us what they want and we build their dream car so the customer says a 69 Camaro do you take that donut Camaro or since since everything in here is brand new you're not really using much of it are you well it depends on the condition of the donor car you know if the customer came to us with a really nice Camaro well then their options would be more open but right what we like to do is get a donor car that is probably Beyond repair and pull the parts that we need right off of that car to keep it an original Camaro and then completely rebuild the car and I would guess this is pretty much a no expense spared build on this one absolutely yeah I mean it's not like because some people who I can only afford this which is what most people do but this is what all of us if we if we just won the two billion dollar lottery we put it into something like well we like to think our potential customer pool is a little bit bigger than that you know I mean in the world of custom cars this is relatively affordable I mean you're looking right right I know what I mean what I mean is this is the basis for anybody's got a Camaro as I just said could oh I can't afford it but I'd like to get a little lighter front end I could do this clip sure you can buy whatever a piece and you build this as the ideal of what this is what everybody would want yeah and I mean if you're a DIY kind of guy will provide a roller for you you know we'll put all the pieces together as many as you want and give it back to you to do the drive train and the interior and the rear end and all of that kind of stuff but uh we're we're a full service operation so let's go through it a 69 Camaro is that about right 750 yeah you know with uh with all the carbon pieces in fact there are 32 different carbon fiber pieces on this car Brothers Composites in Wisconsin do all of our carbon work they do a phenomenal job it's beautiful yeah and yeah you're saving about 750 pounds off of stock which brings it down to about 27.50 curb weight yeah and you know it's pretty good some silly shell bucket seat you've got a really nice comfortable racing seat but all TMI interior leather Alcantara really really sporty and functional interior and so what motor why don't you using here you got the lt4 GM performance crate engine okay it's got a 1.7 Eaton supercharger on it making about 650 horsepower okay also 650 pound-feet of torque so uh as I was saying pretty good uh power to weight ratio backed up by the Tremec T56 six-speed transmission ultimate headers flown out through MagnaFlow exhaust well I'm boy I mean it sits nice it looks great and just the weave here is just fantastic yeah you know they they pay a lot of attention to detail you know when this car was first displayed a lot of people thought that this was a wrap because the weave lines are so perfectly lined up between the pieces so flush mounted glass we got some great stopping power with the Wilwood brakes all the way around six piston in front four in the back Forge line three piece Wheels wrapped up in Toyo r88rs it's like when hybrids first came out they'd have hybrid on the side of the car you know yeah big letters uh when this kind of uh raw carbon fiber we just see the weave that's the thing do a lot of people like the carbon fiber painted or most prefer to have it exposed you know we're we're about the exposure we love having the exposed carbon fiber in fact this is the the think the only Camaro 69 Camaro completely exposed carbon fiber car in the world so we love that look right I think that people who you know they want to show off the fact that it is a completely carbon fiber car so I would like a sleeper thing I would love the fact sure you just painted what are the Camaro colors for 69 and oh hugger orange or something yeah that's probably weighs about 3 700 pounds right it's got a small block it's not going to be that fat I mean to me like this is just you know you know you're going to get your doors blown off you know the customer is always right if they want to paint the car we're more than happy to do that for them well hopefully done and now that console that's not stock that's yeah that's how customized TMI interior you've got Billet speed side view mirrors so lots of details on this car and and once again 32 different carbon fiber pieces I wonder if this carbon fiber is strong enough that you don't need a roll bar I mean for Street Youth yeah well I mean Street use yes but again with the amount of horsepower in this car and you know the the Lead Foot that people who appreciate these cars tend to have you definitely want to have that four point roll bar in there for safety and this was uh hand fabricated by the guys at finale speed and I'm looking now it looks all to be Camaro proportions you know a lot of times there's subtle changes right lowered a little bit child but I like the fact that it is exactly as it left the factory quote if you're looking at a picture of this it's exactly a 69 it is indeed these are exact 69 Camaro specs and the way that the carbon fiber is manufactured molds are pulled off of stock 69 components but these are wider fenders there is a mini tub right inside okay so we did not mess with the outside dimensions the uh the space for the wheels are done inside the car uh how many gallon gas tanks same size of stock I believe it's an 18 18 okay yeah all right yeah yeah is the trunk finished as well the trunk is finished yeah let me grab the key so I can open up for you a fan of just the sound of the engine and exhaust being your soundtrack this car has an amazing entertainment system too it's an Alpine head unit you got Moscone amps now those tail lights are not stopped no these are all lead and the way they operate are super cool too they're sequential very bright very trick looking they're bright but they're not you know LED yes yeah not wet tail lights what right yeah those would be a little heavy so here we go all right what do we got here so you got your uh Elite power what is all that that is to the mosconi amps on the bottom there and then the focal speakers and subwoofer system up top yeah it's been all finished you know the the bottom of the deck lid is finished in leather too beautiful to match up with the interior yeah now what would a build like this this is the ultimate everything you have all the greatest stuff what is something like this about 600 out the door 349. well 349 yeah that's not bad yes we like to keep our price point a little bit lower and as I was saying at the beginning we like to work with our customer on exactly what they want build their dream car if they want something a little bit different then that price is going to adjust accordingly and when I say 349 I don't mean to apply to that it's cheap it's not right no it's very expensive it's just that I know a lot of people who have sent we've had them here they've sent cars off to be built and one thing goes wrong the customer this whatever and the build runs four five six hundred thousand dollars a fortune because they're experimenting with your car yes well we tried to make it we couldn't do it well you have to pay for that because you're the customer yeah I mean this about this is it's all been done before correct so it's just a matter well and this is one option if you want to turn cheat car we're happy to do that again you come in you have a design meeting with us you tell us exactly what you want maybe you want a different drivetrain maybe you want a different interior that's going to adjust the price accordingly what's your turnaround time when someone comes in if someone wanted this exact car we could probably turn it around in about six months we have some bodies ready to go right that are that are on chassis if it was something you know because we we have a license with Dodge also to do any Dodge vehicle right that we want so if someone came in like for instance if I came into finale speed I'd say make me an a-body Barracuda right right you know something a little bit more unusual that turnaround time is is probably going to be closer to 9 or 10 months just because we have to fabricate all the molds and what's the most common is it Mustang and Camaro no uh most common would be the charger and the Camaro oh in fact if you were at SEMA you saw the roller 70 Charger that we have here yeah yeah Dodge was so impressed with that car they actually made room in their booth at SEMA to display it next to the uh the SRT yeah now how does that work when you guys copy a Camaro do you have to pay licensing fees to General Motors well we with the Camaro we're going on a customization platform because these are Vin Vehicles right we do have a licensing agreement in place with Dodge right we're working on a licensing agreement with another manufacturer now we've got some exciting new models that should be coming up later this year that we can't give you all the information on but people who are fans of uh 80s customizers are going to be very very happy cool well let's take a look under them let's do it Hood pins of course for that nice racy vibe and Jay I want you to notice something that television isn't gonna show feel how light this hood is oh yeah it's just it's just amazing so there's your GM performance crate lt4 supercharged of course eating 1.7 is this the same motor that's in the ZR Z06 oh ZO6 yes okay okay and it's all
stock so warranty wise you're all all stock in fact finale speed is so confident in the quality of their builds and the functionality of their cars we offer a one-year warranty with every car it's backed up by our partners at C2 and uh hopefully you'll never have to use it but you've got the peace of mind that if something goes wrong you're covered well that's what's so nice about doing a crater you know there's nothing more disappointing one guy does your cam somebody else does it somebody else balances never comes back and it doesn't run and you're all they're all blame you know and who's to fall you don't know who the fault is yeah great installation boy it's nice it's super clean right we relocated the Optima battery the trunk so everything uh that's a big it's in there nice clean yeah and you can see all the inner workings are carbon fiber as well Eddie Motorsports hinges that are overkill for a hood that that's this light and uh you can see that the underneath of the hood is carbon too so this is actually two pieces of carbon fiber that are together same way with the deck lid same way with the roof that's why there's so many carbon fiber pieces on the car and you're really increasing horsepower by adding lightness well yeah I mean you're using that horsepower more efficiently yeah yeah so if it's 600 and something with a slighter body it's really closer to maybe seven and a quarter theoretically based on a stock absolutely yeah cool yep all right well let's uh let's take it for spin sounds great what I notice more than the power is the lightness yeah it does feel a lot lighter you can feel it right away right yeah the cost of this motor you got to pull a proof reliability it's not some for metal car that's kind of yeah and that's the thing you were talking about in the shop you know when you have a bunch of different hands on the mechanics you know there's a lot more things that can go wrong when you got a plug and play crate engine from Jam performance you know what you're getting they did a really great job of uh developing this engine at GM and you know be going in the Z06 if it wasn't yeah I like these Tremec gearboxes definitely this is something that we're going to improve we're going to do a carbon fiber Dash but why is this there because I I don't know I was trying to figure that out too I can't even see my gauge that's that's the problem yeah and we did adjust it up a little bit but for tall guys like us yeah that's this is the stock Dash you still feel it wanting to break loose the sound puts a smile on your face yeah and these are such great engines yeah they really are still got the cam low in the block keeps the center of gravity low all kinds of Power yeah with the built-in supercharger too you know that you know nothing's gonna go wrong with the pulley system on there and you're good to go I was expecting this to be ridiculously loud it's not bad at all I mean we're talking a little extra loud inside here because Daniel sound guy said uh might be too loud but I don't think it is no it's not bad you know the car is completely hush matted also right so you get a lot of the deadening in there and with the materials that we use in the interior helps deaden it too and you know I mean a guy who's going to buy this kind of car is going to like that sound anyway and it's a good kind of balance between stock and custom in the interior I mean obviously having all the upgraded Mechanicals inside but leaving it stock appearing the true the true artists are Masters at doing that kind of stuff where the functionality is modern but the form is your classic look it's got a real nice idle to it too it does have a nice eye yeah Flaming River um column yeah tilt and it's got a good kind of ergonomic too with the center console where your elbow rests shift Windows available probably if you want yeah we did cranks in this one but we can certainly do electric I love that it's that that torque how much low end yes and I love this Tremec gearbox it just sounds like having a new gearbox yeah when you guys second it it's always kind of crunch crunchy but you know yeah they're brand new it's just click click it's so satisfying like a rifle bolt exactly fresh the ratio is great yeah now you don't have any ABS or traction control like this no no really old school but just that endless torque that pulls you along yeah it really is long bands of it which is so great really maximizing the performance of both the the motor and the trans of course the look you know they've got yet driving by people they just this car is car is such an eyeball grabber I put steelies on it with dog dish hubcaps I like that look too we do that on our 70 Charger yeah it looks fantastic but again it's the customer preference right you know of course uh Wilwood would love uh to have their brakes exposed but right I love the old school steelies with the poverty caps on there looks so great on the charger especially this carbon fiber come into any other color yes yes in the in the process of fusing the the strands they can anodize the uh the metal component of the carbon fiber so you know you can go pretty much any color okay I saw a couple of red ones at SEMA some blue green but I just prefer that and you still see the weeds like you do you can see the Wave It's just so it's got the the metal component and the carbon which are woven together so the metal component is anodized it gives it that color for every noise though it sure does definitely hear everything yeah you can kind of hear those the lightness of the panels clicking off each other what's the final rear end of this do you know a nine inch 354 or something like that uh it is um no it is um numerically higher than that I think so yeah I can't remember it might be it might be 373 boy the engine doesn't skip a beat though no it's you know bulletproof yeah and it's funny all you gotta do is change your oil you have to touch it it's you know it's it's the ultimate it's the old school styling with the modern technology so it's what has been the trend for years now I like these side mirrors they're very nice yeah they're uh Billet speed and that's all they do are mirrors they do rear views and side views yeah and uh they do really great work they're cool very industrial looking with the exposed uh rivets they come in Chrome and blacked out yeah it takes a lot of road to get this trans all the way into six I know still good you got three 335 30 18s in the back 315 hit it any gear yeah this is the third year let's see what it does just that sound it makes and the and it throws you back in your seat yeah so good I know kids are born today was like my dad used to drive a gas powered truck then we'll we'll see what happens I my opinion is there's room for both I don't see any reasons to Outlaw one or the other you know well it's not about how long yet it's about to make it financially viable yeah you know if people seem to have embraced it was only maybe 10 years ago when people said it'll take 50 years to give people a switch over to Electric right well that's pretty quick yeah and they've both got their pros and cons but I'll tell you one thing there's never going to be a group of guys standing around in a car show surrounding a Tesla waiting for it to start up well they're well if they're in a drag strip yeah I mean I mean future drags you have electric yeah and then the slower for the old people apartment the gas engine cars yeah I mean that's what it's gonna I mean my Tesla I took it out to that drag strip I put 9.147 at 150 those plaids are insane I know there's not a gas car that can be no absolutely not you're getting full power automatically but my point is that I'm never gonna get that out of a Tesla that's fourth gear bars hitting up the exhaust too yeah be careful you know crack that carbon fiber yeah yeah it's just that little that rubber rubber squealth yeah [Music] sounds so good you're only up around like 48 .92 yeah I know you guys got so much dark yeah anything below fourth gear you got to be breaking the tires a little yeah how did the brakes feel breaks brakes we love Royal Woods we use them whenever the great thing about Wilwood brakes is they're meant for the do-it-yourself guy for the hobbyist because you're always mixing and matching I mean you can buy units that fit right in a you know a Mustang Camaro or something yeah if you're building a hot rod or something everything you need to yeah yeah make it work no Road long enough around here to get into six years that's what I'm saying well very impressive build those guys do a nice job absolutely stop by their shop sometime whatever in Oklahoma you know it's tight it handles it's fast and you've just got so much joy for these American V8s you know I like all the European stuff too but they don't have the bottom act like these things do what are the sounds oh the sound yeah I know it's great it's great it has this pure American Muscle well congratulations and of course if you've got a Camaro 67 to whatever they make the carbon pieces you can you can sort of do it yourself or add horsepower by taking off weight so absolutely there you go 67 through 69 Camaro it's 68 through 70 Charger right we're off for a four inch well thanks for doing it appreciate it appreciate you Jay thanks man I'm gonna drive this some more see you guys next week
2023-05-04 09:04
