edmonton sun newspaper write up on the tjin edition camaro +

Tjin Flexes Design Muscle
By Shaun Keenan
Photos by Gene Tjin

Ford might be the featured mark of the 2009 SEMA Show, but with so many new made-in-Canada Chevrolet Camaros on display in various states of tune and finish, itís clear GM has hit on something enthusiasts are truly passionate about.

I thought there would be 50 or 60 at the show, but it looked more like a couple hundred to me, says Neil Tjin, creator of the Tjin Edition RoadShow Camaro SS.

It’s clean, subtle and different, he says. We shaved and smoothed the front bumper and basically cleaned up the rear and sides of the car.î The back bumper is shaved, too, and the reverse lights now sit vertically in tight to the license plate instead of horizontally on the bumper. By getting rid of the gills on the rear quarters, the hindquarters now appear wider.

Toss in a front lip spoiler and vented hood by Revolution Styling, modify the rear diffuser, coat everything in a two-tone green custom DuPont paint job ó the hood, roof, wing, Bumblebee racing stripe, shadow on the front bumper, engine bay, emblems and speaker boxes are a matte green while the rest of the body is glossy ó and have Jeff Stiles pin-stripe it and youíve got the makings of a show winner.

The odds increase with a ground-hugging Z06-like stance by way of a fully digital Air Lift suspension that raises or lowers the car at the push of a button. Pfadt Race Engineering sway bars shore up the handling package while a gorgeous set of one-off wheels give new meaning to the phrase ìcarbon
footprint.î

Sized 22 inches by nine inches in the front and 24 by 10.5 in the rear, iForged has built these three-piece Seneka wheels to spec. They feature a carbon-fibre outside barrel and Tjin Edition logo that looks like it came straight out of a Willy Wonka chocolate bar wrapper sitting next to those purple SSBC brakes.

Tjin’s home shop, Real AutoWorks in Orange County, Calif., is ìbasically responsible for everything except building the motor, says Tjin. Turnkey Engine Supply did that, boring and stroking the LS3 V8 to 6.8 litres before balancing, blueprinting and rebuilding it with tougher JE Pistons internals, then supercharging it with a Vortech kit. American Racing headers and a MagnaFlow exhaust fill out the power mods. Once a bigger fuel pump is installed and Vortech can fine-tune the setup with more boost, they’ll get it to between 900 and 1,000 hp.

Tjin says the original í69 Camaro badges recessed into the front fenders were hugely popular amongst those who stopped by to see the car make its debut in the Air Lift booth at SEMA. At the awards banquet breakfast on day three of the show, the Tjin Edition Road-Show Camaro SS is officially dubbed ìBest GM Vehicle of Show.î

It’s an incredible piece of work, says Tom Peters, designer of the Camaro, “The level of finish on the car and the colours really have a cool look. It was the one car that, unanimously, had all the designers that judged say this is the best car here!”

My favourite parts on the car are the wheels and paint, he says, believing the finer details like the sunken badges, shaved corners and cutting stance of his design are what probably won the judges favour.

They loved that we kept the original lines of the car largely intact, he says. Some of the widebody cars, some of the wilder ones, weren’t crowd favourites because the design had changed so much.

Kudos to Tjin and his team for accomplishing this exquisite build. The real work, however, begins in March 2010 when the Tjin Edition Road Show begins a cross-country tour of the States to show off the Camaro SS (and others).

The tour will make 25 official stops, coming as far north as Chicago and Ohio, to name a few weíre sure about. So, if you want to see one of the hottest custom Camaros there is right now in person, stay tuned to www.tjineditionroadshow.com for the upcoming schedule.

Before signing off this week, I just learned that Shediac, N.B.-based XTreme Motorsports, Canadaís own top tuners and winners of last yearís best overall GM vehicle of SEMA ó the Castrol Top Tuner 1,110-hp Cadillac CTS ó are currently working on a Camaro project that will debut at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Now thatís team spirit.