June Camaro of the Month: Dave Diaz's 1969 Big Block Beast

Each month, TorqueNews works with the members from the Camaros Unlimited Facebook page to select our Camaro of the Month. The process begins with the members of the Camaros Unlimited Facebook page – numbering nearly 41,000 strong – nominating their favorite Chevrolet Camaro owned by a fellow member of the page. Once five (sometimes six in the event of a tie during nominations) cars/owners have been nominated, the voting begins and when the balloting closes – we have our Camaro of the Month.

For June 2017, the Camaro of the Month is the stunning 16969 Camaro SS shown above, owned by Dave Diaz. We spoke to Dave about his gorgeous classic muscle car and this is his story.

Dave Diaz’s 1969 Camaro SS
I have loved the 69 Camaro since I was a little kid. It was my dream car. This is the second one I've owned and will be the last because I have no plans on letting her go.

I bought the car some 12 years ago out of Florida and it has been an ongoing build since. She has gone through quite a transformation from when I first bought her. She has evolved from a "cruiser" to a wonderful show car and now presently a mean menace on the streets! Hence the name given to her "Bad Kitty".

All Paint and body work was done by Robbie Lawless of Lawless Customs in Slidell Louisiana some 8 years ago and is still looking like a day he painted her. As far as everything else, engine/chassis/interior was pretty much done by myself along with the help of a few good people who are the best in the business.

"Bad Kitty" sports a Big Block Chevy V8, AFR cylinder heads, a Cris Straub hyd/roller camshaft, an Eric Adams built T350 transmission with a BTE torque converter, a Moser 12 bolt rear end with Moser axles, a PST 1350 driveshaft and a suspension setup form Calvert.

Needless to say she is a lot of fun to drive and race. She is a complete streetcar. I drive and race her as much as I can. Future plans are to make her even faster and more deceptive. It's too much fun not to. I want to personally thank everyone in Camaros Unlimited that voted and gave my car this great opportunity to be showcased on TorqueNews!

Congratulations to Shane Rhyne for winning the TorqueNews/Camaros Unlimited Camaro of the Month for May 2017. If you would like to participate in the Camaro of the Month program with your Chevy muscle car, click here to join Camaros Unlimited!