I will post about a car my son & I were privileged to see last weekend about 1.25 hours away from us. A friend/customer of mine asked if I wanted to look at a low mile 69 Camaro a former workmate and current friend of his had bought from the original owner back in the beginning of December. As an added bonus, my son and I were picked up and given the honor of riding in my friend Monte's 1970 Citrus Green RS Z/28. Monte also owns a 69 Camaro that is built more for speed and this comes from when he worked for the company connecting this all together.
This Camaro is a sport coupe painted in code 57 Fathom Green and has a Black vinyl top with a code 721 standard medium green interior. Trim Tag shows it was built in Norwood during 11A and has an X11 on the tag. I noticed the tag rivets looked like they had no filler in them but tag has to be real. Car was ordered by first owner for his wife from a salesman friend at Fred McKenna Chevrolet in McPherson KS. Today this dealership is known as Wallace Chevrolet. Original owner worked for Boeing in Wichita KS and would not allow his wife to drive it to her work so he took her to work himself in another vehicle. They apparently drove the Camaro on 3 different trips and it probably helped that they never had any kids. I also was told this car was never driven during the winter.
Options I saw include an L65 2 barrel 350 c.i. engine mated to an M38 TurboHydro 350 automatic. I do not remember what the rear end ratio was and this car does have the original window sticker and POP which would list that. Under the hood are A/C with the sealing strip and foam blocks located on top of the radiator support and between the radiator support & radiator all there and in excellent shape, Power steering & Power Drum Brakes and the brake vacuum booster still has a white dot located at the top by the code tab & the thick paper tag located on the white elbow attaching to the vacuum brake hose. Car has a dual exhaust and though it has been replaced, it does have the doubler plate welded in the rear drivers wheel well. At all 4 corners and in the trunk are 5- 14x6 rally wheels and are attached to 4 finned drum brake hubs. Car was built with Style Trim so it has all the stainless trim on the wheel wells, driprail moldings, rear quarter moldings, etc. and white pinstripes coming over the wheel wells and following the body lines going back. On the exterior also installed where the stainless door edge guards. Under the hood and in the trunk are the light packages and they work as we had both open for most of the 3 hours we were there. The interior is very interesting as even though it is a standard green interior, it contains a column shift tilt column with a standard green steering wheel, 4 speaker AM/FM stereo radio with 4 speaker covers all painted in that medium green color and the back window tray looked perfect, the last 2 interior options are green floor mats and a remote control mirror. I cant remember if the interior had any wood accent pieces but I do not think so.
Originality on this car is outstanding. Paint is said to be original with no repairs ever made. 1 very small ding was pointed out to me just above the drivers door handle. Story is when the original owner went to pick it up at McKenna, he saw the door ding which apparently came from when the car transport unloaded the car. McKenna offered to repair but the owner refused. I was shown some crazed paint on top of the drivers side front fender but didn't look at the passenger side for the same. Paint has very good luster and shine yet for being the original lacquer. Owner did point out a slight small bump or bubbling under the vinyl top seam below passenger side rear window. There also is a small rust spot about 1 inch long and the width of a pencil on the rear side of the passenger rear wheel well. Car was undercoated by McKenna when it was new and they also sprayed undercoating on the gas tank. As I looked at the bottom side, and if you knew me personally, you'd know that me getting on my knees is not a good thing, I noticed that the original spiral shocks still were on the rear and I think the front ones are there also but I can't confirm that. I also saw that this car was built with a 10 bolt multi-leaf rear end. Is this about the only situation a first generation Camaro had multi-leaf rear springs on a 10 bolt rear?
Weatherstripping was all excellent looking and soft, with no tares or gouges. Even the trunk weatherstrip still had its red mark to designate the center. Current owner says the windows roll up tight and the car drives quiet inside. With a standard interior, obviously, the trunk did not have a floor mat, and the trunk looked very nice & as it should be. When the owner picked up the car he had the, common for the day, chrome with rubber flap splash guards applied to all 4 wheel wells and they still look good. Obviously with 42,000 miles the original tires are gone and when the switch to radials was made, the original owner had the spare also changed. Under the hood 3 areas could use a little work and correcting. Valve cover gaskets were changed along with a warranty replacement of the waterpump. In both situations the original owner decided to touch up the chevy orange engine paint. He did not mask off anything so a little overspray that needs cleaned off the throttle linkage and the A/C mounting brackets by the waterpump. Original alternator, power steering, & A/C belts were changed but the originals are still with the car. However the top radiator hose and possibly the bottom hose also were replaced and unfortunately the clamps were replaced with common hose clamps. Air Cleaner black paint looks real nice and the stove pipe is in place. Engine is clean and paint looks good. With an automatic trans I assume it is right that there is no smog system. I did notice the alternator mounting bracket looks like the 1970 style as it has more holes in it.
I am sure I have forgotten some items but I hope a painted a picture that accurately describes this car. I strongly encouraged the current owner to Google "Camaro Research Group" and become acquainted here and get the cars info posted in the data base. I know that this post is "worthless without pictures" but that will be up to the current owner to provide. Car does have its original window stickler and POP.
As a summary to recap what I saw, was a shiny dark green Camaro with good looking white accents to set it off with an exceptionally clean interior, excellent condition trunk, and nice looking engine compartment. With 42,000 miles, the owner should not be afraid to drive it and put some more miles on it. However condition and originality wise it looks like a car with 20,000 miles. The original owner was not a car guy,he just was a quite a bit above average in care and how and when he would drive the car and had no idea these cars could be worth what they are today. Current owner reports the original owner also has a riding lawn mower he also bought back in the day and it is in similar condition
The tie between the 2 involved in myself & my son being privileged to view this Camaro is that they worked together at Patterson Racing which builds race engines for 1 or 2 classes of NHRA drag racing.
A little story to finish this essay about how hard it can be to give up something you've been close to for so long. Current owner told me that when the original owner agreed to the sale it was because his wife had passed about a decade ago, and he realized that being retired and in his 80's, he just didn't need it any more. Original owner requested that they do the financial trade at his bank and that the current owner have someone else remove the car from his property before he went back home. As it turned out, they still decided to make the exchange at the original owners house. After completing the deal, the current owner; with the original owner standing beside his garage door, climbed in and started the car, put it into drive, and turned around to wave goodbye, and thank you to the original owner; and saw that he was no longer there.
Loren
