Popular car mechanic Ben Kleinfelter has presented his latest project – a BMW 540i Touring thoroughly modified to resemble the iconic 1968 Chevrolet Camaro.
Starting his ‘ZMW’ project, he took the Bavarian chassis and put an American muscle car body over it. Both cars had to be cut and welded in a number of places in order for the proportions to come out at least somewhat convincing. The rear end in particular has been redone from scratch and no longer has any ‘BMW family hauler’ vibe to it. The fenders have been flared, the hood shortened and the windshield replaced with a custom version.
Inside, the front seats, console and dashboard are original BMW, but the door handles are traditional Camaro fare.
Powering the Frankenstein monster of a car is a 4.0-liter V8 borrowed from an E39-gen BMW 540i along with its six-speed manual transmission.
The whole conversion has taken 14 months to complete. Kleinfelter says the car is still registered as a BMW and he was even able to get it serviced at an authorized dealership.