If you want to make sure your car gets noticed, make a lot of tire smoke.

Like many car guys, Tim Collett gets his passion for Chevrolet products from his father. He tells us, “My passion for Chevys started pretty much when I was big enough to go out to the shop and help my father with his race cars, one of which was a 68 Camaro. My father raced on a ¼-mile oval dirt track, and eventually started racing U.S.A.C. Sprint Cars. He was good enough to win several championships in the late ’60s to late ’70s.” Like we said, Tim’s passion for all things Chevrolet and especially the Camaro, started early, and he still has that passion to this day.

Under the hood, the enigne is treated to Roto-Fab covers, a GM strut tower brace, and a Magnuson Supercharger.

As we hear all too often, a tough time in someone’s life tests their mettle, and that test came to Tim in September of 2010. Tim says, “My father got real sick from liver failure, and a week later he was diagnosed with Cancer of the liver.” But, like most good fathers, the Sr. Collett told his family he wouldn’t stop being himself.” During one of those conversations, Tim’s dad told him that the new fifth-generation Camaro could not be released soon enough. Tim and everyone in the family knew what he meant. With a somber heart, Tim told us, “My father passed away on October 10, 2010, just two weeks before taking delivery of his new-generation Camaro.” The senior Collett never got a chance to fulfill his dream, but Tim was not about to let that stop him from paying tribute to his father. “I purchased that 2010 Camaro SS, and built it as a tribute to my father, and vicariously live his dream for him!” Tim continued, “My father was and still is my hero who taught me the values I live with to this day. He is a Vietnam Veteran, two-time recipient of the Purple Heart, a 30-year career Navy man, and a very proud father.”

The Victory Red Camaro has been treated to some very extensive exterior mods, including an APR carbon fiber front splitter, GM rear diffuser, side skirts and a ZL1 front bumper, and finally, a Motorsports Performance Design Z-Force hood. The list of parts enhancing the looks of this Camaro is longer than we can list.

Under the hood, the mods just keep coming. The engine is built on an LSX 376 B8 block, with a forged rotating assembly made up of parts from Callies and Manley. Spinning inside the block is a Brian Tooley custom-ground Stage III camshaft, and the LS heads were polished and ported by Donny Rickman. Tim feels that you can never have too much power, so a Magnuson TVS-2300 supercharger delivering 14-pounds of boost was installed, along with a 150-shot Zex nitrous kit. Finally, a set of Kooks 1 7/8-inch headers with a 3-inch Flowmaster exhaust spills the sound and fumes out the back.

Inside, the interior was treated to custom leather, an outrageous sound system, a Hurst shifter.

When it came time to upgrade the interior, Tim had Jim Goheen cover the seat frames in custom-stitched leather, using red perforated suede centers with white leather bolsters. He also sanded the center console, and painted it a combination of white and red. The rest of the trim panels and other plastic trim have all been painted to match. To make sure his ears are properly working, he installed a Pioneer head unit with a 6.5-inch display, an Alpine amplifier, and a multitude of speakers.

Tim agrees that although his dad was never able to see his Camaro, he is sure that “pops” is proudly watching as Tim does his best to honor his memory, “In essence, you can say that I built this car with guidance from my father who taught me everything about Chevrolet and Camaro’s. I know my pops is smiling down on this build, knowing everything he taught me was well done.”

Do you want to read about more Home-Built Heros? All you need to do is click here. If you own a Home-Built Hero, we want to hear about it. Since we’ve started the Home-Built Heros series, we have received more than a few candidates, but we are still in need of more. If you want to see more cars built by you the readers, send us a few pictures of your car showing the enigne, interior and exterior, along with all of the pertinent information, and we’ll make you Internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].