Detroit AutoRama 2018
Mooresville, NC - Here she is! Stuart Adams' 1969 "TUX" Chevrolet Camaro Great 8 Ridler Contender! We would like to thank Stuart for the opportunity to build this car and everyone at Detroit Speed, Inc. for all of your efforts in making his dream Camaro come to life. Stuart looked to Detroit Speed years ago to build the ultimate car that looks as good as it performs, something that we are very familiar with here.
Stuart Adams has been a faithful customer to Detroit Speed, Inc. He approached Kyle in 2005 to discuss a build for Detroit AutoRama. Detroit Speed had already built three 1969 Camaros for Stuart, so it was only fitting that the fourth one was also. Tux has been coated with the deepest black that PPG offers. Much like wearing a tuxedo, the paint and body work on this Camaro represents no less than a first class appearance. Stuart's 1969 Camaro is much more than meets the eye. Like every Detroit Speed project, perfection was delivered. There are well into the thousands of custom, hand-crafted details in the design and fabrication of this car, many of which are unnoticeable but to the trained eye. The key to all builds is a strong heart. Tux boasts a Kurt Urban built Chevrolet LS2 with a Harrop supercharger. There are more than a hundred custom billet machined parts under the hood. Along with that, the entire engine has been smoothed, polished, painted, cleared, and buffed to the ultimate finish.
These are the thoughts that Detroit Speed, Inc.'s very own Kyle Tucker had on the project...
"This 1969 Camaro came about innocently like many projects do. Detroit Speed had built three previous First-Generation Camaros for long-time customer and friend, Stuart Adams. The fourth was commissioned to be something more than the previous builds. As a huge advocate of Detroit Speed, Stuart wanted this car to be special in a way that was not only special to him, but could benefit Detroit Speed and all of us that would be involved in building it.
The car had simple beginnings as a green-on-green, base optioned, automatic V8 Camaro Coupe. It had nothing to brag about other than it was an incredibly solid machine and straight survivor. To give the car an appropriate send off, we had some fun taking Stuart to the local drag strip to finish off the white wall tires. We were on to disassembly and logging thousands of ideas to make this 1969 Camaro something more than the dozens of Camaros Detroit Speed had built previously. Ideas spawned more ideas, and soon this Camaro had a build list that would not be the typical two-year build plan.
In order for this car to be top-of-the-line, it needed to be a 1969 Camaro in appearance with an aura of elegance and sophistication. It needed to be very detailed, yet still have the function and performance that Detroit Speed is known for. Soon into the build, the car came to earn its name, "TUX" - detailed and sophisticated, performance-packed and one that would never go out of style. The majority of the 13-year build process was spent in the fabrication phase. There are thousands of custom parts and body modifications, many that are so subtle they need to be talked about and shown to be appreciated. This car is stock but it is not.
We would like to thank the entire team at Detroit Speed that has devoted thousands of hours and ideas to this build. We would also like to thank the group of trusted companies we rely on and partner with in the industry for their expertise and attention to perfection. Most of all, we appreciate Stuart Adams for allowing us to fulfill our dreams and put everything we could into TUX.
We hope you enjoy the beauty of this car. We look forward to showing you the details and ideas that may otherwise not be as noticeable to the eye."
-Kyle Tucker
Owner/President of Detroit Speed, Inc.