Selling your classic car? It's FREE to list your car on Honest John Classics | No thanks

Wheeler Dealer Mike Brewer’s Camaro SS heads to auction

Published 12 November 2019

Wheeler Dealer Mike Brewer’s Camaro SS is up for sale. Despite saying the car was a 'keeper' the TV star is sending is 1968 Chevrolet to auction in December. Brewer found the car just 12 hours after he was challenged by the President of the Camaro Club to find a genuine SS.

'[The club president] said it would be impossible, so I had to prove him wrong. This one was perfect and came with the desirable 396ci engine and four-speed manual transmission,' said Brewer. Having purchased the car in Seattle he transported it home and set about restoring the Camaro and upgrading it for the demands of modern motoring.

Upgrades included stripping and rebuilding the 6.5-litre V8 to increase the power from 375bhp to 410bhp by way of a high-lift sports camshaft, Magnaflow exhaust system, and Hedman manifolds. There were further upgrades to the drive belt pulley system, distributor, plus the inclusion of a stainless-steel fuel tank and rebuilt Muncie M21 four-speed manual gearbox, as well as an aluminium prop shaft.

Mike Brewer 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396ci Manual (5)

Work didn’t stop there and with plans for decent quarter-mile times, the suspension, springs, anti-roll bars and anti-tramp bars were either added, rebuilt or upgraded in a bid to keep the axle located under hard acceleration. Increased power meant better brakes were required to a vacuum servo was fitted along with disc brakes all round, with the front discs grooved and cross-drilled for maximum performance.

Finished as close as possible to Le Mans, blue this car has more than 1500 hours spent on bringing it up to the most exacting standard. If you ask Mike about the costs to restore the Camaro, he admits £40,000 would not be far off.

Gary Dunne, Classic Car Auctions manager, said, 'This is a fantastic car being offered at auction directly from Mike Brewer himself.' Dunne added, 'This really is a superb example of a classic American muscle and one that has been restored by “Mr Car Restorer” himself and the man at the front of the very successful TV series Wheeler Dealers.'

Mike Brewer 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396ci Manual (6)

Mike Brewer's 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS goes under the hammer at Classic Car Auctions sale on December 7 at the Warwickshire Event Centre.

Comments

Les Richards on 17 November 2019

“Mr Car Restorer” ? Hmm. Not quite a true statement since Edd China and Ant Anstey appear to do most of the restoration we see on TV, not counting the many unseen helpers no doubt involved. And they all work for free. Apparently. Much is glossed over (no pun intended) and is lightweight and superficial in detail of the restoration process. Still, it's TV and viewers are supposed to suspend belief when watching. Brewer supposedly finds the cars, strikes the deals (although my guess is that the cars 'find' him for the programme) and at times seems almost naïve with the details of the restorative process - certainly for the 'savvy wheeler dealer' he claims to be. And they are nearly always cars he had a poster of on his bedroom wall as a kid. Must have been a big room... As for the Camaro, in true wheeler dealer mode, it's just another piece of metal, a commodity and everything has its price. Dealers tend not to get attached to cars for the long term unless they really are collector models. Often they just use them for a while and then pass them on. I live near a dealer whose girlfriend changes her car regularly from his stock before its eventually moved on. WD was worth watching when it was UK-based but since it went to the US it's lost a lost of appeal, in my opinion.

Edited by Les Richards on 17/11/2019 at 09:13

Reply | Report as offensive | Link