Mini Muscle! 1976 VW Camaro Z/28
Kit cars and replicas are no strangers to the pages of Barn Finds, but if you ask me, this one sort of falls in between the two. Some of you may have seen products from the KAR Manufacturing Company of Monson, Massachusetts before, a business that produced fiberglass bodies for bolting on top of a VW, not an uncommon concept during their years of operation which spanned from 1970 through 1979. One of their offerings was called the Funtastik Camaro, and while they aren’t plentiful in any form nowadays most of the bodies I could find online were based on earlier models of the second-generation F-Body, so I’m not quite sure whether or not this 1976 VW Camaro Z/28 for sale here on The Samba is actually based off a KAR concept. While I’m guessing that it likely is, maybe some of our readers can chime in and help confirm or deny this speculation.
Scott L. spotted this oddity and sent it our way, and we’d like to express our thanks to him for the tip! This one’s located in Ballston Spa, New York, with the seller listing the condition as #1, or excellent, and a close look reveals what appears to be some top-notch work here. The one-piece fiberglass body is painted Mediterranean Blue, a Maserati color, and it also features some additional airbrushing and custom pinstriping. There’s not much information provided about the donor chassis, other than confirmation it is indeed from a Volkswagen Beetle, and that it’s been shortened and features adjustable springs and coil-over shocks. There are also disc brakes all the way around.
This one rates pretty high on the performance scale too, as a VW 2332cc motor provides power, with some goodies attached such as dual Weber carburetors, an electric fuel pump, and MSD Ignition. Plus it looks really good in the engine compartment as well, with mirroring to show off things inside there, and additional bling can be found underneath as LED ground effects lighting is in place.
We just get one photo from the interior, but that’s really all it takes to show that it’s on par in presentation with the rest of the car. The dash layout seems functional and I’m liking both the shifter and steering wheel, plus some components you can’t see are in the sound area, as the seller mentions $4k worth of Stereo equipment is inside. I’m certainly not finding much to fault here, and if this is what you’re in the market for this one may be hard to beat overall. But I was a bit surprised at the asking price, which has been set at $22,500, perhaps a little on the high side for such a novelty vehicle. Or maybe that’s in the ballpark, I’m just not really sure. What do you think?
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Comments
Massive blindspots on this one…
Everyone has their own appreciation for what gets their interests; in this case the owner has some really nice (expensive) work done on something they liked.
GLWTS
Looks like a fun car to drive.
It would look way better if it sat lower, look at the rear wheel gap.
I had to look twice (well, more than that). Those are fake sidepipes on it…..
bt
This Camaro is a stub…
Who and why did someone think this was a good idea???
Clown car?
Eight-year old me loves it! https://poshmark.com/listing/SALE-Muscle-Machines-118-69-Camaro-Z28-Diecast-5efb9840cc9aa2339e7caa1e
Looks like someone with quality skills used a genuine Funtastik kit car and grafted on a newer front and rear end as all other bits are 100% identical to the Funtastik kit.You cannot see any shortcuts in doing so making it look very professional,they are cute blasts from the past the world needs more of.
I usually frown on kit cars but I think this one is pretty trick. With that hot engine it would get a period Camaro off the line and at the 1/8 mile. It probably only weighs 1500 pounds with an estimated 150 hp.
We had a hot 68 beetle that would street race with us from time to time. It was the very definition of “F*** around and find out”. If you took him too lightly, that bug would clean your clock.
Bizarre
This would go well with the Meyers Manx SR :^}
AHAHAHAHAHA! (sorry)
Hah! I knew I recognized this car, it’s only a few miles from me and I’ve seen it at a few car shows. Looking at it in person, I can tell you that it was professionally done and looks good up close.
I have no idea why anyone would put that much effort and expense into something like this, especially when they could’ve just bought a Z/28 in excellent condition and have a car that’s desirable. But I’m not the seller, and sometimes people just want to be different. Either way, this particular kit car was built right, with tons of money and labor invested to make it look like it might’ve been built in a factory.
Hideous!! If you want a Camaro, buy one.
garish, does it have a rake? (get it ‘flat’ again), what’s the WB? (stretch it out a bit) needs a top’n side curtains for round here, 2.3L? may B, like a 3 or 3.8 L even at the weight, they put it in the right spot tho (frnt of rear axel?, transaxle there too?)~
You mean change it back into a Camaro, right? I agree.
Looks like a real life version of the old Deal’s Wheels model kits. I think this one was called Zzzzzzz-28
I can’t un-see this. Thanks for that!
I would not want anyone to see me riding around in that.
This has the look of a car built for the custom car show circuit. I’ll bet the builder has a roomful of “bowling trophies” and at some point last year’s show car is like last year’s race car: no more trophies.
Someone—who likes this sort of thing—will great deal. Other people, diff’rent strokes.
I am a lifetime resident of Southbridge Massachusetts and dated a red haired beauty who lived in MONSON Ma . from 1971 to 1975 . Her father got a golden parachute job working at the MONSON SATE HOSPITAL for the severely retarded and generally handicapped Ma residents after serving a term or tow as Ma state representative of Southbridge , Sturbridge and Charlton is memory serves correctly . We …the girlfriend an I that is , used to laugh at these out of scale monstrosities every time that I let let her drive my 1972 `Cuda 340 4 speed pistol grip shifter after a date back to her house. She especially loved blowing paint chips off of these thing if ever one showed up on the divided highway section of Rt 20 as it was known then at about twice and one half the speed that they could manage to cruise that stretch.
This …whatever it is called brings back some great memories…of the red haired beauty… that was an awesome ride!!!
Apologies to all , sorry about the typos … the 70 year old eyes cannot keep up with the fingers anymore.Strange how the writing looks correct until it cannot be edited after posting it ..that said , it is all true…everyone mentioned is still living and willing to corroborate the comment.
As if driving a stock 1976 Camaro didn’t make you look phony enough…
Love this! Especially how it brings out the cAmArO boys and their ensuing outrage! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Isn’t imitation the most sincere form of flattery?
I love it! I love it when people get creative and do things like this! Now, a lot of things that people get ‘creative’ about is a little weird and sometimes fairly ugly but this is cool! Keep on being creative people!