Introducing… The Belaro
Hey you! Do you have a fourth-generation Camaro? Are you sick of the fact that it doesn’t look like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air? Are you willing to paint some fiberglass to make it look slightly more like a Bel Air? Do you have $5,595?
If the answer to all those questions is “HELL YEAH BUDDY,” then do I have a kit for you!
The Belaro is exactly what the name promises: a Bel Air styling kit for a Camaro.
The 15 piece high quality fiberglass kit is pre-engineered to be assembled in hours, not years!! Notice that the front bumper is part of the front fender (it bolts to the stock 93-02 Camaro mounts ) The hood is a direct replacement for the stock Camaro hood (it uses stock hinges, struts, latch, catch & all the original bolts) 2 door panels cover the curved Camaro doors, and THE BEAUTY PART OF THE DESIGN – Our 1/4 panels snap into the original trunk gap, under the roof, into the doorjam(b – sic) & wheel wells and simply glues OVER the original Camaro 1/4 panels and include all the ’57 Chevy details!
Like 150 trim, Tail Lights, Bumpers, Light Buckets for the Camaro brake, Directional & Back-up Light Sockets.
Couldn’t be simpler, right? Although the coupe is a monstrosity, the convertible approaches non-horribleness:
WHAT’S THAT? You say that you don’t HAVE a Camaro? You have a Mercury Cougar?
That’s right. Save almost two thousand dollars and choose the cheaper Ford kit! Find out more at www.easyrods.com.
The more I look at the Belaro and the unnamed Easyrod Cougar conversion, the more confused I become. Who exactly is the target customer for these things? What’s the appeal? Are the buyers people who are steeped in irony like the Queen’s tea, or are they completely sincere, forthright people who really think these cars look just like their aesthetic inspirations?
I will say this: the first person to race a Belaro in NASA’s American Iron class will have my full respect. Speaking of American Iron, I think I need to see a little footage just to make me feel better about what I’ve just exposed you all to.
Check out the acceleration at 0:40!
More by Jack Baruth
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I'm ambivalent about these kinds of conversions. I was just at the Lingenfelter Collection, which has some of the finest and rarest original Corvettes you can find, and next to the pristine '53s and '54s, there was one of these:
He's also got two CRC conversions that put a '62 style body on a C5 chassis, one of them to match his original '61 Vette.
Based on some of the other cars in the collection (Fiero, Allante, SSR, Bricklin) Ken Lingenfelter isn't an automotive snob, so it didn't really surprise me to see these conversion there, particularly since Lingenfelter Performance sells custom Vettes. Of course Ken's converted 'Vettes are a bit more artfully done than the hardtop Belaro. The Belaro's hood line just doesn't work. On the original '57, the hood doesn't rise as it goes back.
The fins on the Belaro are wrong. They look like the fins on a 56 Packard