Replete with special paints, bulletproof plating, sophisticated radios and night vision, Helge Meyer's 1979 Chevrolet Camaro is anything but your run of the mill muscle car.
Retired from Denmark’s elite Jaeger Corps — similar to the US Army’s storied Delta Force — Meyer felt a religious calling to journey over to the Balkans at the height of the Yugoslav wars to conduct humanitarian missions.
He would attempt to reach embattled towns and villages, surrounded by hostiles and connected by scores of roads littered with mines and improvised explosive devices.
After meeting with American military officials at the former Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany, Meyer outlined his plan and quickly gained the technical and logistical support of the U.S. Air Force. Scrounging up a used Camaro, the former Danish commando and Air Force technicians got to work.
The entire vehicle was gutted and revamped, the plush seats and trappings of Chevy's flagship affordable sports car stripped away and thrown out. In came a new nitrous oxide system, which added over 200 horsepower to the vehicle's 5.7 liter V8 engine, run-flat tires which could still function even after being shot at, and a ground-to-air radio system to communicate with aircraft.
Kevlar and steel panels helped bullet-proof the Camaro, providing a protective cocoon for the driver from most small arms. Body-heat sensors, night vision systems and a mine-clearing blade rounded out the car's modifications list, turning it into something more along the lines of KITT from the popular TV series Knight Rider, than your average summer weekend fun-ride.
Once sporting a stock Chevy paint job, the Camaro was slathered in matte-black and covered with infrared-defeating paint. By the end of its modification run, the Camaro was now ready for war and its driver — Meyer — was ready to roll, armed with only a Bible, a pack of smokes, and protected by a donated PASGT vest and helmet.
Flown in using an American airlifter, Meyer and his War Camaro began operating in and around the city of Vukovar, dodging and sneaking past hostile military forces, irregular fighters and militia, and police, delivering hundreds of kilograms of humanitarian aid (including food, medicine and other supplies) to the beleaguered residents of the besieged city.
Nicknamed the "ghost car," the roaring presence of the Camaro was a reassuring and hopeful sight to locals who relied on Meyer's assistance.
Beloved by the locals, Meyer was widely respected by US Army and Air Force units operating in the area for his bravery, and was on the receiving end of a number of citations for his actions.
Today, the War Camaro sits in Meyer’s garage, the infrared paint long since removed and replaced with an orange paint scheme.
Ian D’Costa is a correspondent with Gear Scout whose work has been featured with We Are The Mighty, The Aviationist, and Business Insider. An avid outdoorsman, Ian is also a guns and gear enthusiast.
