Smiling with her hands on the wheel in her Camaro z28, senior Brooklyn Collinsworth savors these short moments until the car returns back to the shop. “I knew there would be work to be done, but there were too many problems with the engine in the car that they didn’t address originally,” Collinsworth said. “The more [SW] takes it apart, the more they realize the issues with it, but I want to keep that car forever so I’m willing to deal with that stuff so I can have a better experience later.” Photo Courtesy of Brooklyn Collinsworth

The elegant curves and lines along with its roaring noise quickly attracts everyone’s attention. Phones are quickly pulled out of pockets to film the beauty of this car. There are always a couple of photographers who are faster than the others, but who knows which one has the perfect angle? Luckily, there is a certain someone who has plans to master the craft of car videography and make it big.

With her recent accomplishment of hitting over 3,000 followers on her car Instagram account, senior Brooklyn Collinsworth strives to make a change to her local car show community. With her love of cars in mind, Collinsworth is hoping to invite other students with similar interests to join her unique passion for cars by creating a school car club that would benefit a different group of people each time a car meet is hosted. 

“I would like to implement [a fundraiser] for the community; people like seeing cars,” Collinsworth said. “If we can raise money for the right purposes, [then] I would love to start [hosting car meet fundraisers]. You don’t need to drive anything super cool or expensive to go to car meets. If you’re just as interested as anybody else and you know just as much, you’ll have no problem.”

Around a year ago, Collinsworth created her Instagram car account because she liked seeing other vehicle accounts  and wanted to give it a shot herself. As the Wolfcast Tech Director, she implements the skills she’s learned in broadcast to her account, which has helped her gain 2.4 million views on one video and 1.5 million views on another.

“[On one video], I got a comment from a popular creator which made me freak out because that means maybe this is legit,” Collinsworth said. “People that I’m following and look up to are now commenting on my posts; that’s crazy.”

Collinsworth recently hosted her own car meet, which did better than her expectations.

“[At the car meet] I was able to connect with real life people through Instagram. I didn’t know I had that much reach just by making an account,” Collinsworth said. “I’m very happy with that and I’m hoping to bring that to school and have a good car community here.”

Ever since she was young, Collinsworth was constantly surrounded by cars and car meets. Family friend and owner of a nearby dealership, Sriyantha Weerasuria, hosted car meets where Collinsworth and her family were often present. In 2006, the Collinsworth family bought a new Ford GT500, which was the car her and her dad were always in.

“I’ve always liked sports cars,” Collinsworth said. “One of my earliest memories was in my dad’s car driving up in the area near the Oasis, which we called the roller coaster road, and we would blast Aerosmith or ACDC going down. I would get the speed giggles and that’s one of my happiest memories from when I was a kid.”

Collinsworth’s love for classic cars started when her grandfather showed her pictures of his 1969 Chevelle when she was young. Whenever she would visit him, there would always be a car to admire.

“I fell in love with the look of classic cars and the feel, the quality of them,” Collinsworth said. “Whenever I went to shows, my eyes always gravitated towards classics because I could tell that people put a lot of work into them by how nice they were; I’ve always loved that bodystyle.”

This past summer, Collinsworth had been searching for a project car. She originally wanted a Miata that she could potentially race in, but when Weerasuria sent her a 1970 Camaro z28, she fell in love. The car was originally from Arizona and came in a rough condition with illegal seatbelts and no headrests.

“[My parents] didn’t like the fact that I was getting a hotrod,” Collinsworth said. “The guy who worked in the front office told us that he had a z28 and he crashed it the first year he got it.”

Collinsworth put bucket seats as well as a Simpson racing harness into the z28 to improve the safety of the car. However, the car would frequently blow fuses, which eventually led her to a scary situation.

“A fuse blew on me when I was driving at nighttime and my lights went out and I couldn’t see anything,” Collinsworth said. “I had to get my brother to help me. I knew what I was getting myself into with a classic car, and I knew [problems] were a possibility.”

The car was a project car for the original owner as well, and there is still a ton of work that needs to be done. The car needs an entire new engine as well as suspension and the electrical harness has to be redone.

“I want to keep that car forever, so I’m willing to deal with that stuff so I can have a better experience later,” Collinsworth said. “It does suck at the moment, but I love it.”