Guys, Bob Jane purchased two new ZL1 Camaros in 1969. One was an orange manual car (VIN 610732) the other a blue auto (VIN 620934). Bob Jane owns a race track in Melbourne, Australia, called Calder Park. Calder has a very long front straight that doubles as a drag strip when not being used as a road race track.
The orange Camaro was stripped and built into a road race car utilising the alloy big block. Jane raced this car in the 1971 and '72 Australian Touring Car Championship, winning the championship on both occasions. But it only raced with the 427 in 1971, as the Confederation for Australian Motor Sports (CAMS) placed a 6,000cc engine limit for 1972, so Jane pulled the 427 and fitted a 350. The 427 was sold to Frank Gardner, for a 2nd generation Camaro he raced in Europe sponsored by SCA Freight.
The blue Camaro was built up for drag racing, and Jane raced this at his Calder Park drag strip. Jane raced it with the 427 for a couple of years, then pulled that out, and replaced it with a small block. However, Jane kept the 427. The orange road race car was sold in 1973, and I think the blue drag car was sold the same year. It was eventually converted for road use, and was involved in a collision on the road in the 1980s, stripped of its salvagable parts, and the rest was scrapped.
The orange race car was road raced by Jim Smith for a few seasons, then sold a couple more times, then bought by a fellow named Mike Tydell, who converted it for drag racing. When Bob Jane eventually bought the car back, it was in poor shape, as can be seen in the thread Jon has posted above on its restoration. But it has now been restored back to its 1971 guise by Myles Johnson. The engine fitted when the car was restored was that originally fitted to the blue drag car, when Jane had kept.
Hope that clears things up slightly?
