Automotive lust in America means blown Camaros. You know, like the red '69s on every cover of Car Craft. A big BDS 10-71 supercharger sticking through the hood and massive M/T drag slicks under tubs in back. Let the rest of the world dream of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and dinky little British two-seaters. In this country speed doesn't look like that.
It looks like this.
This is the Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) "HPE550" supercharged 2010 Camaro SS. That's right, it's a blown Camaro. The first blown 2010 Chevy Camaro. And that makes it the very newest version of a true American icon. Ranks right up there with the Beach Boys, buckets of deep fried chicken and our incomprehensible Internal Revenue Code.
Be proud of it. We Americans invented the greatest car ever: The loud, tire-smoking, V8-powered, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive muscle machine. And we should celebrate the accomplishment just as John Hennessey is, by building more.
Badass to the Bone
While we're at it, let's throw a shout-out to the original Camaro tuners of the world. Fire up the Google and check out the accomplishments of Don Yenko, Joel Rosen (Motion), Dana, Nickey and Berger, because you can't throw gears in this orange monster and not feel their legend.
HPE's owner, John Hennessey, feels it. He even paid homage to Supercar Camaros of the past with the HPE550's Yenko-like graphics which really tie the car even more to the 1969 Camaro, as if it needed any more help in that direction.
Still, this 2010 Hennessey Camaro SS has a sinister, planted-to-the-pavement look no Yenko ever did. Dropped more than an inch in front and a little less than an inch in back, the HPE550 rolls on oversize two-piece HPE wheels fitted with 275/40R20 front and massive 315/25R20 rear Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires. Think about that for a second; Hennessey put the stock Camaro's massive rear tires on the front and then bolted even wider meats out back. The result is the kind of visual impact that usually only comes when someone actually whacks your eyeball with a hammer.
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