The autoTRADER.ca Find of the Week this week is a custom creation made for the 2014 movie Jinn. It's a Camaro underneath but a Firebird, or should we say Firebreather in the skin. And even if you've never heard of the movie, it's one heck of a unique car. One with some added performance to back up the looks. It's a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro, turned into a Firebreather by Classic Design Concepts and Exodus Films.
The movie car has been around nearly as long as the movie itself. Customized or stock, the film world is full of cars that might even be more iconic than the actors on screen. A white VW with red and blue stripes, a white Challenger, a red Plymouth with white roof, a dark green Mustang, a black and gold Trans Am, orange Supra, or even a black BMW 735i. You can probably name half of those movies, if not more.
So it's no surprise that when director (and Art Center College of Design grad) Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad wanted to make a film about an automotive designer who had an unexpected run-in with a sinister mythological being, he designed an appropriately sinister-looking vehicle to go with it.
Enter the FireBreather.
Based on the fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro, the Firebreather was designed by Ahmad and built by Michigan custom car fabricators Classic Design Concepts. The mysterious car was seen testing and driving around the Detroit area before being officially revealed. Those sightings, when the fifth Camaro was still nearly new, lead to rumours of an official Pontiac Firebird returning to dealers.
At the 2010 Detroit Autorama show, the Firebreather was revealed, putting an end to those rumours. Or at least to some of them.
The exterior changes were extensive. A new nose, for a start, trading the Camaro look for a pointy Pontiac front fascia. The rear fascia was changed as well, making a new car much the same way the original Firebird and Camaros differed. The hood is custom with a large bubble to make room for the engine modifications.
Inside, the car wears a custom black leather interior with red stitching. And Ferrari-style detailing on the cushion and back. There is a Firebreather logo on the steering wheel and on the rear-view camera. The car also sports a Hurst gear shift.
But unlike the mythical Jinn that inspired it, this car has some serious teeth. The 6.2L V8 has an Edelbrock supercharger kit fitted helping boost the power. Along with that is a JBA cat-back exhaust system. With the changes, power is boosted from 430 hp and 424 lb-ft to a much more, um, fire-breathing 599 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque.
Helping tame the genie are Eibach lowering springs and 20-inch wheels wearing 295-wide Pirelli P Zero tires.
We haven't talked much about the movie yet, and that's because it didn't end up as popular as the car. While CDC says that they built 50 of the cars (though the seller says just 13), the movie Jinn didn't make it to theatres until 2014. And despite starring Ray Park, the actor who played Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode 1, it grossed just $202,348 at the box office.
Jinn refers to the same mythos that brought us the genie, though this movie's spirit isn't likely to grant any wishes.
Unless that wish is for a pretty cool Camaro, because this one would definitely qualify.
The seller says that this car is one of just three to make it to Canada. And it's number nine of the cars produced, per the sticker on the trunk lid. A collector's car, it has seen just 1,853 km added to the odometer since new. To be clear, this wasn't an on-screen car, but one of the cars built as part of a run of cars that came before the film.
If you find this car haunting your dreams, it's for sale in Edmonton, AB, and for just under $90k, our Find of the Week could be yours.
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