One of the things we love most about RestoMod car culture is that these stories are not just about cars. They are also about family. The years we spend restomodding our cars are often the catalyst for some of our best memories with family and friends. Jarrid Kopras’ story is no exception. This story begins in Wisconsin, the year was 1992. Jarrid was 15 years old, just a month shy of his 16th birthday.

Like any young man of the era, Jarrid wanted his first car to be fast and loud. So he purchased a 1969 Chevy Camaro Super Sport with the stock 350 motor and 4 speed transmission. The car was painted yellow with a black vinyl top and black hockey stripe. Over the course of six years, Jarrid would work on the car with the help of mechanic and now lifelong friend, Bernie Erlandson of Waterloo, Wisconsin. Little did Jarrid know that Bernie was also a master fabricator and engineer. With a vision for the restomod in mind, Jarrid and Bernie worked on the car tirelessly out of a tiny two bay garage. Bernie’s craftsmanship proved that there was no challenge too big to be done out of his own small shop. He built the car’s entire undercarriage by hand, even the A arms were fabricated on a homemade jig he created.

In 1999 Jarrid graduated from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and moved to Arizona while Bernie would continue to work on the Camaro in Wisconsin. While away, Jarrid would send some money and occasionally visit Bernie to check on the Camaro’s progress.

In 2001, the car was repainted Tahitian sunset orange. But there was a problem. Jarrid had drilled in and fitted a pro stock wing to the rear that he ultimately regretted and removed, so the back end now had drilled holes in the quarter panel that needed filling and required a full repaint. 24 year old Jarrid had a smaller budget then and didn’t have enough money for another $1500 quart of sunset orange to repaint the car, and Bernie wouldn’t be able to match the paint with a cheaper shade of orange. Jarrid decided, “Eff it, fill in the holes and paint the top half of the car black.” Thus the two tone ’69 Camaro was born. The color scheme would remain on the Camaro for several years, all the way up until Jarrid had it repainted all jet black just a month before the time of this writing. As for the wheels, the late Boyd Coddington and his team at Boyd’s Wheels built the original set of wheels for Jarrid. This may not surprise you; Boyd’s custom-fabricated alloy wheels, which were usually machined from a solid aluminum billet, would be named one of his signature innovations and an industry first at the time.

After the paint snafu, more engine work began with the goal of creating “the most outrageous small block car out there.” in 2003, Jarrid brought in lifelong friend and engine builder by the name of Dean Martinson to build the block and all its components entirely custom. Remember, this was before you could go online and have a crate motor shipped to your house. They didn’t even exist back then.

This was the second engine that Dean built for Jarrid. Rewind to the mid 90’s, the first build was a race engine for “Little II Much;” a 1962 Chevy II nostalgia drag car that Jarrid purchased with his high school graduation money. The car had been wasting away for 25 years behind a barn and it needed a full restoration. 18 year old Jarrid learned engine building from hanging around the shop with Dean and it was through this project that Jarrid and Bernie would start their decades of friendship. Bernie would lend his shop and tools to Jarrid, buy him lunch, teach him foosball, and teach him the occasional prank. “Bernie and his buddies would play pranks on me while I stripped the [1962 Chevy] outside of the shop with the DA sander, they would kink the line inside the shop so that it would run out of air.” The ’62 Chevy is actually the first full restoration that Bernie and Jarrid did together.

For the Camaro’s engine build in 2003, Dean built a fuel injected small block motor and it was fitted with a supercharger and intercooler, pushing out a whopping 800 horsepower. It’s worth noting that there were absolutely no GM parts included in the engine build. The engine was then mated to a 4L 80 E with an art car stall converter and a Ford 9 inch rear end.

Jarrid moved the Camaro to his Arizona home around 2005 so that the interior could be completed. During this time he was becoming unsatisfied with the Camaro’s “pro street” look and decided to invest in some Mickey Thompson meaty 20 inch diameter tires that were newly developed at the time. He called up Boyd again and since nobody had a wheel for the 20 inch tire, the genius minds at Boyd’s shop cut two 20” Hoops and welded them together to create the required wheel size. The wheel and tire combo have remained on the car ever since. The Good Guys Southwest Nationals show came in 2006, and Jarrid entered the Camaro and took home the Class Act Award. Quite a prestigious feat given there were over 2000 entrants with only 20 awards. In Jarrid’s eyes, that was the ultimate pinnacle and he decided to retire the car from showing other than occasional charity events.

Just before repainting the car jet black last month and listing the car for sale (which you can see listed on our site here ), Jarrid, now 42, contacted his old friend Bernie, now 58, to see how his garage pal has been doing. Jarrid was sad to hear that Bernie has been battling stage 4 cancer. “We exchanged some heartfelt words and I broke the news to him that after I paint the car I’m going to sell it. He was a little heartbroken because although he has built some amazing cars over the years, I think he is especially fond of this one. And I thought it would be a shame if he passed away and nobody knew about this little shop in Waterloo Wisconsin that put out these amazing vehicles because he’s not the kind a guy that tries to get attention in magazines.”

It’s evident that Jarrid didn’t want this article written for selfish reasons. This is an ode to Bernie Erlandson, the master mechanic, fabricator and engineer who took in a teenage kid in the 90s and helped him fulfill his dreams of building a restomod. That is family. We here at RestoMods.com are proud to immortalize Bernie so that his legendary talents will be remembered for generations. Bernie’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help with the chemotherapy treatment costs. We invite you to donate whatever you can so that Bernie can continue to enrich the lives of those around him for as long as possible. Click here to donate. And be sure to view the build sheet, gallery and videos below.