Reader Brian Kanen sent us a Craigslist link to what has to be the oddest third-gen Camaro we’ve ever seen that was “professionally” built. This car is a so called Cantara Camaro which means that it is a 100% stock Camaro with a bizarre body kit on it that makes it look like a DeLorean or, if you’ve been drinking/huffing paint, a Ferrari. The Cantara kit was made by a company called Contempo that was apparently best known for van accessories and body kits. The seller here claims that this is a rare car and is one of just 50 made.
Rare is a funny word in the car world. There’s Bugatti and Ferrari rare, which means that they’re worth piles of cash and rich people from around the world crave them. Then there’s Cantara Camaro rare which means no one wanted one and therefore no one knows what the hell it is. Somewhere there is probably a guy walking around in parachute pants with a boom box on his shoulder that would slap his mother to get his hooks into this car. With its busted transmission, stock 305, peeling silver paint, cracked windshield, and unstated but expected smell of animal urine inside, this car is worth a little less than the $4500 the seller is asking for it. There are actually comparisons to Yenko Camaros in the sales pitch. We give the guy credit for trying.
I hate DeLoreans, but may actually take one over a Camaro pretending to be a DeLorean.
Scroll down to see a bunch of photos and then hit the ad link!
CRAIGSLIST LINK: A THIRD-GEN CANTARA CAMARO
I’d rather have the GenII Camaro body on the VW chassis……at least it had ‘some’ coolness about it!
Hmmm. I don’t hate it. I’d probably take it over a regular 3rd gen Camaro. That said, I don’t see myself ever actually wanting to own a 3rd gen Camaro, so it would be pretty low on my list.
I’m not really a fan of camaros either but I got this one because It was kinda neat in person. It’s super obvious from the front what it is but from the rear a surprising number of people think it’s something else. Maybe I’m just getting old and am used to these type of camaros.
The firebird variant would have been better, I was hoping the nose on the camaro was similar enough to the firebird to use my knightrider fiberglass nose on this car but they are very very different. I don’t see getting another firebird just to put the nose on so I guess that goes back on the shop wall with the knight industries steering wheel.
Oh come on, Brian. It was made from a Camaro Berlinetta. That means it could have the full digital dash like the Corvette had with the wonderful cross fire injection. It will also have the am/fm/cassette in a pedestal on the console that rotates to face either passenger in the bad ass Camaro of Camaros.
” dealer installed type package similar to yenko”
Yeah……..that was my first thought….
Eh, what would you have called it? Yenko might not have been the best choice for that, honestly. I’m pretty sure I said that the van place built them. I figure if nothing else they know how to lay up and fit fiberglass.
I’m suddenly inspired to build a camaro based Back to the Future time machine.
This is my car.
No smell of critter piss. It’s kinda odd someone else submitted this as I had submitted it back before I was trying to sell it and nobody cared. Ah the internet.
Anyway, as for the car the styling isn’t really for everyone. It’s a neat car to see in person I think. Honestly I hate this era camaro. The doors never work, the tops leak, overall it’s just a shitty cheaply built car. A real poor mans corvette (which also sorta suck in this era I think). They’re fun to drive, but in a trashy Coors drinking mullet wearing sorta way.
My info on the build numbers comes from a guy that’s prolific on the 3rd gen camaro forum who has owned one (possibly this one as it was originally sold over where he lives). That guy has a claimed GT which has a big stupid wing on it and different paint. I rather doubt they built a GT as there were four built he claims. Sure, whatever, it coulda happened.
I never bothered to paint the car or make repairs to it because it’s original paint, a half ass paint job would just make putting it back correct harder in the long run for whoever digs it enough to make it nice. The engine has an aluminum intake and chrome valve covers so I’m not sure if it’s the stock 305. It may have had some work done to it. It sure sounds good after someone stole the muffler.
The body kit is really well built and applied to the car, it has door sill pieces and the fender flares all fit nicely. The hatch bolts up where a stock one would go and is quite a bit lighter being all fiberglass. I think the rear window is from a Fiero.
I’ve had it listed off and on for different prices. If I list it any cheaper I get 2AM mouthbreathers calling to offer me $500 for it. Maybe it’s not worth what I’m asking, it’s going to end up on ebay to let the internet decide what it’s worth anyhow.
The car has problems but I do have another windshield and 5speed that would go with it. I have a 1970 500 cadillac mill as well I could be talked out of, make the car into something that would actually go as fast as it looks like it should. Heck I’ve got a parts car camaro that could also go with it if someone asked nice enough.
To rant a bit, I wager I could pull up to a car show in this fiberglass monstrosity and park it next to a much much more expensive car and have a larger crowd gather around this. I’ve done it in the past with some pretty outlandish cars and it rather infuriates the guys with the restored or restomod 57 Chevrolets, or corvettes, or whatever’s.
As fun as they can be to drive I don’t really ‘respect’ this era camaro, but at least I could run down to AutoZone or similar and pick up any major mechanical part of this car. Not sure you could do that with a Bugatti. Not sure you’d want to park a Bugatti at the mall or on the street either.
It’s funny to see one of these ‘omg it so fugly’ posts on something I actually own. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but figured I’d give more info.
If it helps any, I originally bought it to paint it flat black with wire mesh windows and my mocked up pair of 50cal machineguns mounted on the hood. I couldn’t bring myself to tear it up after finding out what it was, figured there was some camaro head out there that would rather me not do that and take it off my hands. I mean how many times do we all bitch about ‘good lord why did they wreck that (insert whatever car/truck)” ?
This thing still has the original wheels, center caps, paint, interior…pretty much everything as far as I can tell.
There’s rare and amazingly expensive, and rare and reasonably priced. Both may get looks, and both are going to have a ton of people going “damn son, that ride shoulda been swallowed at birth”. If ya like the thing, drive it.
They put wheels on cars for a reason.
There was a few mecum firebirds the were unique
Oh wow, when I first saw the pics I thought it looked like a DeLorean, too.