Steve Ellingson’s Camaro is more than a head turner.  It has a tendency to inspire double takes wherever it goes.  When Steve brought the car to our shop to have a custom trailer hitch installed, we weren’t quite sure what to make of his ride.

At first glance it appeared to be a 1969 Camaro Z/28.  As it turned out, we weren’t entirely correct. 
Steve’s pride and joy started life as a 1997 Camaro Z/28, that is until he took it to Todd Brown, owner of Late Night Auto in Orting, Wash.

Todd stripped away the late 90’s body panels and replaced them with a combination of aftermarket and original pieces from the iconic 1969 Z/28.

What you see pictured above is lovingly referred to as a Franken-Camaro.  Besides the retro body modification, the vehicle is mostly stock, except for a set of low profile tires and over-sized rims.

The most recent modification to the car is the least obvious.  Hidden behind the rear bumper, tucked beneath the rear floor panels of the hatch is a custom trailer hitch fabricated especially for Steve’s car by Torklift Central.

To help completely conceal the hitch and avoid diminishing the car’s ground clearance and underbody airflow, Torklift Central’s engineers developed a license plate bracket receiver hitch insert.

The insert grants access to the trailer hitch through the rear bumper.

When the license plate is in place, you wouldn’t notice Steve is rocking a custom trailer hitch unless he told you so.

Big thanks to Steve for coming to us to fabricate a trailer hitch that lives up to the coolness of his Franken-Camaro.  We’re always happy to put our custom fabrication expertise to the test on classic autos (even if most people will never see it).

Steve’s Franken-Camaro is ready now to Get Out and Go hauling with a Torklift Central custom hitch.  Rated at 200 pounds tongue weight and 2,000 pounds towing weight, every trailer hitch we engineer is overbuilt to exceed the hauling capacities of the vehicle*.

Intended for use with a cargo tray, bicycle rack and small trailers, Steve’s hidden hitch ads yet another unique and functional element to his car.

 Torkift Central Custom Trailer Hitches

  • Partially or completely hidden design 
  • Designed to complement the aerodynamic contours and under body airflow of vehicle
  • Does not effect ground clearance
  • Made from high impact powder coated aircraft grade aluminum, stainless steel and steel
  • Lightweight
  • Manufactured in Kent, Wash. U.S.A.
  • Lifetime Warranty