Fun 'n Speed in a '96 Camaro SS

Kenny White • Jacksonville, FL

By Ron Wolf

Fun 'n Speed in a '96 Camaro SS. Life is a series of choices and when Kenny White decided it was time for a new car, his first choice was a Camaro. The styling and performance of Camaros always impressed him, even when his high school buddies were enthralled with Mustangs.


In January 1996, Kenny turned his car choice into reality by placing an order for a new Camaro at Jerry Hamm Chevrolet in Jacksonville, Florida. He satisfied the fun part of his car purchase by ordering all available appearance options while the performance half of the fun and speed equation was supplied in abundance with the SS package. The sales rep at the dealership said his car would be delivered in about a month, so Kenny was ecstatic!


For Kenny, the next 30 days seemed like an eternity. During that month, visions of the new car were constantly floating around his temporal lobe. Finally, the 30 days had passed and Kenny was on the phone to the dealership. His rep informed Kenny that the car had not come in yet and to check back in a week. Another week? Kenny said, “I had everything planned around taking delivery at the end of 30 days as they had promised. I told all my friends at work they’d see me driving my new Camaro on the 31st day and now I’d have to show up with the old car.”

At this point, you might be saying it was naive of Kenny to believe delivery of an ordered car would be exactly on time to the day, but at age 18 this was the first time he had “ordered” a car so he took the delivery date quite literally. After an agonizingly slow week, he was once again on the phone to the dealership. Nope, still not in. They suggested he check back in another week. Well, this was pure torture for young Kenny as he counted the days and suffered the razzing from his friends.

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Finally, the day came when he got a call from the sales rep that his car had arrived, had been prepped and was ready for him to pick up. He told his boss he needed to leave work early because he was feeling “car sick” and bee-lined it down to the dealership. And there she was; a shiny, new, red 1996 Camaro SS that looked like it was moving while sitting still. Once in the car and driving away from the dealership, Kenny felt like a completely different person. He said to himself, “Now this is what it’s all about.”

But that’s not the end of the story. You see, Kenny had modifications in mind for this car before he even took delivery. His plan was to turn it into a street and strip warrior. The car now has 112k miles on the odometer and an impressive list of performance-enhancing goodies.

Here’s the go stuff:

LT1 350ci motor

LT4 Hot Cam Kit

GM Cold Air Induction System

52mm Throttle Body

Hooker Long Tube Headers

Borla Exhaust System

3.77 Rear End

Sub-Frame Connectors

Hotchkiss Lower Rear Control Arms

Aluminum Driveshaft

Custom Computer Program

11" SS ZR1 Rear Wheels

Pro Charger Supercharger

Although the car began its life as a daily driver, Kenny now uses it only as a weekend cruiser and intends to preserve it for the future. Although his current daily driver truck is not an F-body, at least its name begins with the letter “F”. He has been a member of the River City F-Bodies Club for 2-1/2 years and enjoys the new friends he has made in the club and all of the club’s fun activities.

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