The return of the Chevrolet Camaro was a long awaited and joyous occasion for mullets and non-mullets alike. Another true Pony car had returned to the graze the American fields of highways, byways, and your local streets. In SS trim, the modern Camaro has a 6.2L naturally-aspirated V8 engine which produces 426 hp and 420 ft-lbs of torque. Those numbers are wonderful. Any vehicle that rises above the 400 hp mark is doing something very right. The stock Camaro has its problems however. It has awkward body lines, a surprisingly mellow exhaust, and it weights as much as a WWII Naval Destroyer (minus crew). Thankfully there is a company out there that has been working their magic on muscle cars both past and present. Hurst Performance Vehicles pulls their gun out of the holster and rams it on the shift knob for the perfect pistol grip.

The Hurst Performance Series 5 Camaro takes the SS to new supercharged heights.

Let’s get right to the heart of the Hurst. The Performance Series 5 starts with the SS then adds a host of go-fast goodies. The Hurst Camaro wears 20″x9″ wheels up front and 20″x11″ wheels in the back. They are polished alloys with a custom Hurst look. The paint job for this particular vehicle is a stylish white on black and gold scheme which really plays into the Hurst heritage. A Magnaflow cat-back exhaust produces wonderfully sonorous tones from the rear of the vehicle. A coil-over adjustable suspension system and sway bar kit help keep the vehicle stable. The interior features contrasting stitching on the leather upholstery as well as prominent Hurst logos throughout. Right where you expect it to be sits the Hurst Pistol-Grip shifter. Back outside, on the rear of the vehicle sits a subtle spoiler that adds to the existing lines on the Camaro. The really exciting part of the car sits under the hood in the form of the Magnuson supercharger.

A press of the gas pedal quickly turns you, the driver, from Joe Boring into the Road Warrior. The supercharger whine is loud and addicting. More power is quite often a good thing, and the Camaro is no exception. Hurst estimates they have bumped power up to somewhere just north of 600 hp mark. Surprisingly, the Hurst Camaro is still docile enough to entertain daily driver duties. It looked slightly out of place at my local supermarket, but my groceries made it from the shelf to my fridge in record time. Once my errands are done for the day it is time to play and this Hurst Hellion lets loose a scream from both ends of the car. The supercharger whine mixed with the snorting exhaust is heard throughout the land. The Camaro announces its arrival early, and once we depart the sound surely hangs in the air for some time.

I was expecting a straight line hog that didn’t know how to dance in the twisties. What I got was … well, it is a straight line hog for sure, but it was surprisingly adept when pushed in the winding canyon roads north of LA. The Camaro is certainly not a light car, and you can feel that when you are trying to hustle it along. The suspension, sway bars, wheels and tires all work together nicely to make sure the nice white paint stays nice and white.

The Hurst Performance Series 5 Camaro doesn’t come cheap. The cost of a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS is about $30,000 . The Hurst package you see here will run you around $30,000. $60,000 is a lot for any car but in my mind this prices the Hurst Camaro into the realm of extraordinary bargains. How often do you get a new car which produces over 600 hp, has muscle cars styling with modern interior features, and is offered for well under $80,000? The answer is never. Very few cars hit the 600 hp mark, and the only other one I have driven costs over $200,000.

Jeremy Clarkson once lamented, while reviewing the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, that the car made him sad. He felt that the world was changing and no one would be building exciting machines crafted with heartfelt pride. I choose to disagree. As long as companies like Hurst are alive and kicking we will have wonderful machines to prowl the streets. The Hurst Performance Series 5 Camaro looks good, goes fast, and sounds amazing – and costs about as much as a BMW 550 sedan. The BMW 550 is a great car…but the Hurst Camaro is a machine that will make you smile every time the supercharger screams at you for more pedal.

For more information on the Hurst Camaro, as well as other Hurst vehicles, head to HurstPerformanceVehicles.com.