Original dealer info for 1st gens is available

[69Z28-RS]

Suggestion:   

Find and talk to the oldest/longest term employee in the Parts Department.   THey see the zone number changes directly, and Parts Dept guys seem to stay on thru ownership changes, etc.. whereas ownership and sales people turnover regularly...

The Zone Number changes whenever Chevrolet changes their Parts Warehouse locations.  The dealership number changes when the dealership ownership changes.

[70L34]

Great advice. I occasionally work at the Tech Center just down the street, so I will stop by this week and ask around. Thank you!

[Leon in Mn.]

I got my NRCS "official production date" and the name of the dealer my 67 RS/SS 03C was originally delivered to, in the mail today.  I was kind of excited waiting for it to come the last few days. It didn't take long at all.   Here are the results.  I knew the start of production was the third week of March.  The production date stated 3-22-67.  The original dealer it was delivered to was Connell Chevrolet in Costa Mesa, California.  Dealer code was 125 in zone 20.  Now I can look for more info on the car.  Does anyone remember this dealer?  Any help would be appreciated.  Now to check out those dealer zones etc. and what happened to the dealer.
Leon in Mn.

[My68SS]

Just got mine from ncrs for my 12c 68 which was a xco to Australia.
Build date is quoted as 12/15/67. Delivery dealer code 2 zone 21, name of dealer - GM export, unknown location.

Data for code 2 zone 21 at ncrs from someone else is as follows

Dealer Zone: 21
Dealer Number: 2
Address: Central Office
City: Dearborn
State: Michigan
Zipcode: 
Source Year: 1967
Active: Still in Business
Notes: November 1966 build date
Exported to Belgium

The dealer name for this entry is GM Direct.

Was GM export and GM direct the same thing? at Central Office in Dearborn MI?

[KurtS]

I know of another 21 002 car - it was an export.

[My68SS]

Kurt, do you know what country?
I'm still researching this zone and dealer and I'm now not sure if it represents a point of US delivery [GM export], or that of the receiving country.

This site features a corvette that was export to Australia
https://www.proteamcorvette.com/PersonalReserve.html
It's the 30th entry from the top titled "1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe RPO-Z06 Fuelie"

The post talks about zone 21 towards the bottom of the post, but the post is a bit confusing to read, as it [seemingly] quotes 2 different delivery's and build dates     though it does tend to suggest, from the way it's written, that zone 21 code 2 was in fact Australia.
The "click here" link takes you to this post https://www.proteamcorvette.com/NSN-TRI-Info.html were again the 'Fact 8' line quotes "exported to Australia – dealer code 2 in zone 21 per SDR" which again suggests that 2/21 was Australia.

[KurtS]

It just means GM export. It doesn't not indicate the destination.

[My68SS]

Cheers Kurt, that's what I originally understood.
So where was 'GM export' located? Could Dearborn MI be accurate, as per Belgium export details above?
Or perhaps there was no address as such, just the car was flagged as an export.
Perhaps the 'address' was just a different corner of the parking lot 

[KurtS]

http://www.camaros.org/foreign.shtml#SUP

[My68SS]

Hi Kurt, yes I had read that but it only tells me how some cars managed to escape the country 

The statement 'There were no 67-69 Camaros exported by GM to Australia (due to the right-hand drive requirements)' is not entirely correct.
At the time, there were two exceptions to the RHD only rule in Australia, one was Canberra in the ACT [Australian Capital Territory]
Due to foreign embassies and diplomats residing there, LHD vehicles could be registered in the ACT so long as they displayed in 6" high letters 'caution - left hand drive' on the rear screen.
The other exception was in the Northern Territory who also allowed LHD with the same caution on the rear glass.

Also, the xco tag that I found in my car seems to make it an exception to the 'no 67-69 Camaros exported to Australia'
The trim tag is the magic mirror type.
The serial number on the xco tag is the same as the cars vin.

[KurtS]

Cool. I hadn't seen either of those pics before.
I hadn't heard of either exception, but I know importers would convert them to RHD. But yours is evidence that GM imported them too.

[My68SS]

Hi Kurt,
There's possibly two 67's that may have been imported by GM-H, and possibly left the US as xco's as per the last paragraph in this article that my nephew found.
He has some evidence that the cars were imported by GM-H to test public reaction to the interior design of the car and if favourable, to adopt elements of the design for the new HK Holden.
It must have been favourable, as the HK HT HG series of Holden's had a sloping dash much like the 1st gen Camaro's.

Survivor Car Australia is doing further research into xco 1st gen Camaro's that came to Australia.

[KurtS]

Imported for GM use makes sense. Imported to sell - not likely.
Sometimes those imports had to be returned/exported or crushed - depends on the import rules/agreement.
We had several European vehicles like that - they were crushed.

[My68SS]

Imported for GM use makes sense. Imported to sell - not likely.

Agreed.
I would say that there is no way that anyone in Australia, diplomat or otherwise, could possibly get a 1st gen Camaro into Australia via GM Sydney, that was exported from the US as an xco. That surely would only happen under a internal GM-H order, for GM-H purposes only.

So, the plot thickens considerably around my car. My desire to trace it's history has risen exponentially!

[My68SS]

In order to not pollute this thread any further with details that are now somewhat off topic, I have continued the discussion in a new thread in the Foreign Camaro's board.
http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=13447.0