1969 Sunoco Camaro Replica in Switzerland

[GM Swiss]

Hello, we are Musclecar/Ponycar/Trans-Am enthusiasts from Switzerland who have been following your excellent forum for quite some time. We are currently updating a 1969 Sunoco Camaro Replica we brought over from the United States (the one referred to in the thread "stolen '69 Sunoco Camaro replica"  - no, not the stolen one, the one that was for sale on eBay! ). While the car is close to the original in many aspects, there are still a lot of details that can be improved upon. Related to that we have a lot of questions. I'll start with the first two:

1) Dash: What material was the pod housing the tach and gauges made of in the original 1969 Sunoco Camaro?
If I understand correctly, in his reply #53 of July 8, 2011 in the thread "Ideas to share concerning 1:18 ’67-’69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros" Jon states it was made of aluminum. The reason we’re asking, the pod is so well finished with rounded edges and corners and all. That represents a large amount of work if this pod is made of aluminum (and probably easier to to achieve with fiberglass).

2) Front sway bar (going over the front rails of the subframe):
Is there a supplier selling or (re)producing this part?

Thank you for your time,
Alex
Geneva (Switzerland)

[Jon Mello]

Alex,

Thanks for the compliment about the website. I'm happy to know that you and others find enjoyment in it.

With regard to the original 1969 Penske Camaro, the instrumental panel is indeed aluminum.  The panel is welded from several pieces to form the corners and soft radiuses.

The outside of the panel is metal finished to remove any visible welds, but is left raw aluminum, without any paint or anodizing.  The backside of the panel is not fully finished, and the welds are still visible.

On the sway bar, I personally don't know of anyone who has made them available.  There are surely many sway bar manufacturers out there that could make them.

I visited your beautiful country for a few weeks back in 1989 but was mostly in Bern, Zurich and the surrounding areas. I remember the trip very fondly. If you have any more questions, I'll do my best to answer them for you. Best of luck with your racing replica.

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Sunoco Camaro dash. Water temp gauge (270 max) over Amp gauge. Oil pressure gauge (100 max) with fuel pressure gauge (10 max) to its right.

Photo by Ron Lathrop

[wrongwayron]

Of course, you are in touch with Michael Dunå, with the Lang '69 Camaro?

[GM Swiss]

@Jon:
We are glad you liked Switzerland!
Thank you very much for your reply and offer to help. We do appreciate.

@wrongwayron:
No(t yet). Michael seems to be located in Sweden; we are in Switzerland - at least it is the same continent.

[Steve Holmes]

Wow this sounds like a really cool car Alex. Do you have any photos you could post here?

Will you be racing the car?

[GM Swiss]

Steve,
The car will be made street legal and registered (in France, which is very close to Geneva/Switzerland), street driven, used for occasional track days, but not raced (under a sactioning body).
We will post photos a bit later. As of now, the car has not yet changed much from how it was when it arrived here.
Here's a link to how it was advertised when it was for sale in the U.S.: http://classiccardb.com/chevrolet/103885-1969-chevrolet-z-28-penske-sunoco-trans-am-camaro-road-race-car.html


P.S. We love your forum! The Australian/New Zealand touring cars of the 60s/early 70s are very exotic and inspiring for us.

[wrongwayron]

Yup. Leave it to an American to be going to fast he gets "S" country crossed in his mind. LOL