This week take a lap through the French countryside in Gabriel Henaut’s 1973 Chevrolet Camaro.
Gabriel grew up under an influential father who also happened to be a mechanic. You know this story; with the seed planted early on in his life, cars were a point of passion for a young boy, and that hasn’t changed since. But like every tale told often, there’s a reason for that. When it results in cars like Gabriel’s Camaro emigrating to France, when the journey and the result are equally intriguing, these are the examples of whatever the Hero’s Journey is for the world of cars that are worth telling.
Growing up, his father taught him how to wrench and shared the tricks that come with experience, but more importantly, he encouraged Gabriel to adopt the do-it-yourself mindset. Getting a license and driving on his own began a longtime love affair with Mk1 Volkswagens, and Gabriel refreshed and restored several early Golfs, but after spending a good deal of time around, in, under, and on the iconic four-banger hot-hatches, he desired something different. Something unique thundering around in France. Maybe something American?
They say forbidden fruit is the sweetest, and a plump V8 from Detroit is about as foreign as it gets in northwestern French. “V8s were just fantasy,” Gabriel says with a small smirk, “You think it’s impossible, until one day you ask yourself, ‘Why not?’ ” So, after colluding with a friend to take a trip to the United States, the search for a machine to quench his thirst for torque was underway in full. In 2013 they flew to Los Angeles to start poking around for something rust-free, but couldn’t pass up the chance to visit Las Vegas while on the West Coast.
On the way out of the city, they get lost in the desert’s stretches of deserted roads for much longer than anyone would want to (which to be fair is not very long), and barely make it to a petrol station before running out of fuel. After topping off the tank agai
