George Laschewski knew exactly what he wanted when he decided to restore a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.

"I wanted a car that was going to be worth something in the end," said Laschewski. "A lot of places take short cuts, you spend $20-$40,000 and wind up with nothing. Everybody charges about the same - there might be about 10-15 percent difference between shops. It's still a lot of money, especially if you wind up with junk. I took it to Rich Bickle and Kevin Laatsch at Muscle Up because they know what they are doing and they care about what they are doing."

Laschewski, an Ottawa, Canada resident, knows a little bit about cars and restoration considering how many he has in his current collection.

"I've got a lot of cars right now," said Laschewski. "I really can't remember how many I have. I probably have more than 20 right now."

The latest of these is a Muscle Up Performance creation - a stunning 1969 Camaro that Laschewski bought car on E-Bay and had it shipped to the Muscle Up Performance shops in Janesville, WI.

"Kevin (Laatsch) had done a Mustang for me and I was very happy with his work," said Laschewski. "I thought it would be nice to get a Camaro done by him as well. Kevin is an expert fabricator. Everything is Class A. Kevin knows what's proper and what isn't."

The core of the bright red beauty is a Muscle Up Performance full frame chassis replacement. The new, bolt in replacement frame allowed Laschewski to outfit the car with QA-1 shocks and a Wilwood braking system giving it a significant driving and handling upgrade from the original stock suspension package.

Meanwhile, the 'git' is provided by a 5.7 litre LS-2 Chevy engine that Laschewski estimates puts out 400 horsepower at the wheels.

"I bought the engine from a guy in Miami," said Laschewski. "I got it with a six-speed transmission. He was going to put it in a hot rod he was building, got it all new including the driveline from GM. Then he decided he didn't want it, so I bought it and had it trucked over to Muscle Up Performance in Wisconsin."

Once in Wisconsin, the staff at Muscle Up Performance did a restoration on the Camaro's body topping it off with a brilliant flame red paint job. After the body was remounted on the Muscle Up full frame replacement chassis, a set of Chip Foos Nitrous wheels and performance tires were bolted on giving this Camaro plenty of attitude.

"Everything on the outside of the car is finished," said Laschewski, a building systems engineer by trade. "I still have to put the interior in the car and wire it. I decided to bring the car home and finish it myself. That's tougher to do these days. I'm 54 and I just don't have the energy I used to have. I can't do the 16 hour days every day of the week anymore and then come home and work on my cars. Now, I work on computers all day long and then I come home and try to put in a couple of hours on my projects when I have time."

Laschewski indicated that while he's eager to finish his 69 Camaro, he's already looking forward to his next project with Muscle Up Performance.

"I have a 1953 Chevy pickup truck that I have already talked to Rich about sending down there and having them re-do it," said Laschewski. "They do great work. I know when I send something to them, it's going to get done right."

To see a 10 image photo gallery of this car, please click on the following Muscle Up Performance link - Once there, click on any photo to enlarge.

http://www.muscleupperformance.com/photog/thumbnails.php?album=10