We happened upon Jayden Gray’s beautiful, nitrous-huffing ’68 Camaro at Northern Nats back in May, and we knew we had to find out more. We tracked Jayden down for a chat about the car and his time on the tools putting it together.

First published in the August 2024 issue of Street Machine

Tell us about your ride, Jayden.

It’s a 1968 SS Camaro running a 406ci Dart small-block Chev with a transbraked Powerglide. It’s mini-tubbed and still sits on leaf springs in the rear. It’s a street-and-strip combo with a nitrous kit, and it runs in the nines with a 150-shot of gas.

I bought it in 2017 when I was on my P-plates; that’s when my old man got me into cars. The body and interior were stock, but the foundations were there; it had a small-block and Powerglide fitted. I raced it for two years before stripping it down and rebuilding it.

What did the rebuild involve?

We spent three years on panel-beating and paint. When you sandblast these old American cars, there’s not much left. We ended up having every panel replaced except the roof and bonnet.

The whole build took about five years, but we had a deadline: I had to have the car ready for my wedding. On my first date with my wife, Zearne, she was in my shed helping me tag parts as I pulled the car apart, so it was fitting to have the Camaro as our wedding car!

We saw you smashing dyno records at Rockynats last year in one of your dad’s Camaros. Is it safe to say the love for American muscle runs in the family?

The first car I remember my dad Donny driving was actually an XY GTHO Falcon replica with a 460ci big-block, but he also owns two 1969 Camaros. His black Camaro introduced me to high-performance cars and led to my apprenticeship at a local performance shop in Cairns. We took that to Rockynats and made 1686hp with a twin-turbo big-block Chevy, winning the competition. We’re actually rebuilding it with a new Turbo 400 trans.

And you have another Camaro that you race?

Yep, I built it with the help of Paul from X-Treme Motorsport. It’s a full-chassis, single-turbo drag car. I built it over a few years to race it at our local track, Springmount Raceway, and have also attended the Kenda Series radial events. Dad was always into show-and-go cars, but racing has always been my thing. I’ve always been into engine building and making power.

We hear you’ve opened your own workshop.

Yeah, we opened Gray’s Mechanical in November last year, and it’s been going well – I’m a bit flat-out! My wife does all the office work and is mechanically minded, so she’s happy to help me out in the back and get her hands dirty. We’re mainly sticking to servicing and repairs, but we’re also taking on performance jobs and aftermarket modifications.

We’re putting a lot of lift kits in American trucks. I’ve got a Silverado 2500 as a tow vehicle, and it’s got big tyres and a lift; you can get away with it by having truck registration on it. People have seen my truck getting around and have wanted to do the same.

How did you go at Northern Nats?

We took the car out on Saturday for its first event and put it on display. I didn’t enter it in the show ’n’ shine and didn’t expect any judges to check it out, but I won the Custom Paint award in the Street class. It was a great surprise!