The 1967 Camaro as Seen at Auto Shows & Unique Promotional Exhibits in 1966/1967

[SMKZ28]

Camaro Waikiki continued

The stock black and white photo of the Camaro Waikiki taken on Belle Isle in the Detroit River appeared in an article on page 7 of the September 1967 edition of NADA Magazine.  The copy in the magazine is exactly the same as the copy in the newspaper article posted above.  This must have been the standard write-up provided by Chevrolet. 

Picture:  NADA Magazine Article: http://digital.hagley.org/NADA2014001_MGZN_V39_N_09?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=cdf60fb022a2fb96a2f3&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=4#page/7/mode/1up/search/camaro

[SMKZ28]

Here is a list of Auto Shows that took place in 1966 and 1967 where I could not find any pictures or information pertaining to Camaro participation.  Camaros were undoubtedly in attendance at most if not all of these shows, but I just couldn’t find any evidence. If anyone has pictures of 1967 Camaros at these events please share

51st International Motor Exhibition, Earls Court, London, England (October 19-29, 1966)

New England International Auto Show, War Memorial Auditorium, Boston, Massachusetts (October 1966?) (3rd largest in country)

48 Salone Internazionale dell´Automobile, Palazzo Esposizioni al Valentino, Turin, Italy (November 3-13, 1966)

Portland, Oregon Auto Show (November 1966)

New Jersey’s 8th Annual Auto Show, West Orange Armory, West Orange, New Jersey (November 8-12, 1966)

Upper Midwest Auto Show, Minneapolis Auditorium Convention Hall, Minneapolis, Minnesota, (January 6-15, 1967)

Philadelphia Auto Show, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (January 1967)

Montana Auto Show (March 1967)

37e Salon de l'Auto, Geneva, Switzerland, (March 9-19, 1967)

Salón de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (April 20-30, 1967)

[SMKZ28]

If anyone has any personal recollections, personal photographs, or any other additional information pertaining to Camaros participating in 1966 and 1967 Auto Shows and/or Chevrolet promotional exhibits that is not presented here, please share. 
Please don’t post any 1968 or 1969 Camaro Auto Show items on this thread because I will soon be posting separate threads for each model year.  Thanks.

Scott Koscik
SMKZ28

[67conv6cyl]

Great information! Interesting read.....so where there two 67 Cherokee Camaro’s built or is one not the real car, clearly they are not the same car.

[SMKZ28]

Great information! Interesting read.....so where there two 67 Cherokee Camaro’s built or is one not the real car, clearly they are not the same car.

They are both real.  The restored car was the one that was built in June 1967.  It was used as the pace car for at least three of the six SCCA Can-Am races in the Fall of 1967.  It differs from the car that appeared at the Chicago and New York auto shows by having a black interior, hood mounted tachometer, different wheels, soft boot, automatic transmission, gold pin striping, rear license plate light and a different size & shaped gas cap at the rear. 

I always wondered why at least two were built.  To me the most plausible reason is the transmission.  We know that the restored car is an automatic while the pictures posted above seem to show that the first car was a manual.  Perhaps Chevrolet built the second one once they knew they were going to be pacing the SCCA Can-Am races.  If the first Cherokee did have a manual transmission, this would probably prevent it from being used as a pace car.  For the most part, pace cars are equipped with automatic transmissions to eliminate the chance of the driver missing a shift while leading a bunch of race cars at a constant, high speed around the parade and pace laps.  A missed shift could cause the pace car to abruptly slow down and possibly cause a huge chain reaction crash before the race gets underway.  It's just a theory but it seems plausible.  As for what happened to the first one once the second one was produced, who knows.  Perhaps it stayed on the show circuit while the new one performed its pace car duties.

[67conv6cyl]

I also noticed that the 67  blue convertible car with the white interior does not have a vin number on the door hinge pillar, I don’t see it in the picture with the doors open.

[SMKZ28]

I also noticed that the 67  blue convertible car with the white interior does not have a vin number on the door hinge pillar, I don’t see it in the picture with the doors open.

Interesting observation, I had not noticed that.

[KurtS]

Post #27 above.
That's a pretty clear shot of the pillar too.....

[SMKZ28]

Information on the 2nd Cherokee, the one that has been restored

While obviously not an Auto Show, the following motorsport event appearances of what I am calling the 2nd Camaro Cherokee “Dream” car, the restored one with the build date of June 1967, should be included here because they ought to be considered a part of the promotion of the Camaro during the 1967 model year.

The 2nd Camaro Cherokee “Dream’ car was created out of a Camaro convertible with a build date of 06B, June 1967.  The car was built as a white RS/SS car with a black deluxe interior and a white convertible top.  While written more than ten years ago before new information was gleaned from the restoration of the vehicle and before knowledge of the February Chicago Auto Show and April New York Auto Show pictures was well known, the following article entitled “They Crush Show Cars, Don’t They?” from the November 2007 edition of Muscle Car Review does have some good background information on the car.  In it, the author Bob McClurg states, “word has it that sometime in June 1967, (William L. “Bill”) Mitchell and (Vince) Piggins pulled a brand-new Aztec Gold (not correct, originally the car came of the assembly line painted white) Camaro RS/SS convertible off the Norwood, Ohio, GM Assembly Line, locked it away in some secret back room at the GM Design Center and worked their magic.  The performance upgrades made to the show car included the addition of a pre-production (or ‘un-stamped’) 396ci/375hp Mark IV big-block Chevrolet engine, equipped with ‘experimental’ Weber 48IDA downdraft carburetors bolted to a Weber carburetor intake manufactured by the Moon Equipment Company.  The show car was also equipped with a TH400 transmission, 12-bolt Positraction live rear axle, GM code J52 front power disc brakes, Koni front and ACDelco rear air shocks, power steering with a custom Corvette-style steering wheel.  Styling wise, the Camaro was outfitted with a distinctive hand-formed fiberglass hood with a hood-mounted tachometer and clear plastic hood scoop sporting the letters ‘MARK IV 396’ on both sides, a custom rear deck spoiler with Corvette-style split rear bumpers cast in brass, candy-apple-red paint applied over the Aztec Gold basecoat, gold pinstriping, power windows, a power top and bullet side mirrors.  Inside, a custom console held special gauges, and the car also received an ACDelco AM/FM radio and a fold down rear seat.”
 
Charlie Hutton’s Color Studio Inc. restored the 2nd Cherokee a few years ago.  Part of the Bio for the car on their web site states, “having never been restored prior, and originally a white car painted in Aztec Gold Metallic with a Red Candy over the top (all in lacquer paint), stripping it became a bit of a history lesson for Charley Hutton’s Color Studio.  The Cherokee revealed some fun findings like white paint on the A-pillars, and old war wounds from it pace car days.  All of these which were kept intact to retain the originality of the car.  All factory and original numbers, much of the Cherokee was simply refinished and cleaned up.  Original to the Cherokee included the interior, dash, and convertible top of a deluxe ’67 Camaro.”  To see a 10 minute video on the restoration click on the following link: https://charleyhutton.com/1967-chevrolet-cherokee-camaro/

The fact that the 2nd Cherokee has power windows is another possible difference between this car and the one that appeared at the Chicago and New York Auto Shows.  The color picture of the Cherokee with the red interior seems to show a “window crank” for manual side windows.  In addition, if pilot car #N100037 was used as the basis for the 1st Cherokee, pictures show that it too was equipped with “window cranks” for manual side windows. 

The findings from the restorer of the car pretty much confirm the fact that there were two Cherokees produced.  He stated that the car still had the interior that it left the factory with.  That means the car with the red interior is a different, earlier car than the one that was restored.  The case seems to be solved.

[SMKZ28]

August 1967, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

Now back to more historical information on the 2nd Cherokee.  I’m not sure just how long it took the Design Center to work their magic on the 2nd Cherokee but the first documented motorsports event that it participated in was the 1967 Canadian Grand Prix for Formula One race cars.  The race occurred at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on Sunday, August 27, 1967.  It was the eighth race out of eleven for both the 1967 World Championship of Drivers and the International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.  The race was won by Jack Brabham in his Repco powered Brabham BT24.

At this event the 2nd Cherokee was NOT used as a pace car.  It was at the track only to show off.  A Formula One race begins with a standing start.  They go around the track on a recon lap before coming back to the grid to await the start of the race.  In 1967 a flag was waived, now automated lights are used.  The drivers perform this recon lap by themselves without a pace car.  In addition, full course cautions that require the bunching of the field behind a pace car rarely happen in Formula One now and didn’t happen back then.  Since all of their races are run on road courses they usually only have a yellow flag waving indicating caution around the scene of an accident or problem.  The rest of the course is still green and racing is still going on.  On occasions when there is a massive accident, they deploy what they call a "Safety Car" to bunch up the field in order to clean it up, but this is a rare occasion even now.  Safety cars were not employed at Formula One races until the early 1970’s, so a race that took place during the 1967 season would not have employed one. 

The 2nd Cherokee was at this particular event to impress the crowd and promote the Chevrolet brand.  It was not the only Chevrolet “Dream” car at the track to perform these functions.  Both the 1961 Corvette Mako Shark 1 and 1965 Corvette Mako Shark 2 Chevrolet “Dream” cars were brought along by Vice President in charge of General Motors Styling Section, William L. “Bill” Mitchell to impress the throngs of motorsports fans.  In the first picture, Mitchell can be seen sitting in the driver’s seat of the 2nd Cherokee as it sits in the paddock.  All three “Dream” cars drove around the track during the driver’s parade prior to the start of the event.  The second picture was taken by CRG member Michael Scott who attended the race in person.  It shows all three “Dream” cars parked together in the “Corvette Corral” on a rainy race day.  This picture demonstrates that the convertible top on the 2nd Cherokee was white.  The third picture shows the “Dream” cars lined up on the grid prior to their participation in the driver introduction parade.  If you click on the link for the third picture and use the magnification tools provided by the web site you will see the 1965 Mako Shark 2 in the foreground.  Lined up in front of that is the bubble topped 1961 Mako Shark 1.  Lined up in front of that is a white Camaro convertible with flags attached to the windshield.  More information on these cars will be given in the next post.  In front of that white Camaro convertible is the 2nd Cherokee.
   
1st picture: (http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/241067/rec/410)

2nd picture: courtesy of CRG Member Michael Scott who attended the race

3rd picture: (http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/180271/rec/257 )

[SMKZ28]

August 1967, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada continued

To further help promote the Camaro, approximately 21 or 22 white, specially painted (0-1 code), 1967 Camaro convertibles with blue interiors were used to carry the drivers around the track in order to introduce them to the fans.  According to the schedule of events, this “parade of drivers competing in the Player’s Grand Prix of Canada” happened at 1:15pm, forty-five minutes prior to the start of the race.  After performing its duties at the track, one of these cars appeared in a used car advertisement in the Saturday, September 9, 1967 edition of the Toronto Daily Star.  The listing states that this particular Camaro RS/SS 396 convertible was “built by General Motors as a special show car for the Grand Prix of Canada.”  While all of the specially painted cars were equipped with the RS option, some were also Super Sports powered by either the 350 or the 396.  Some cars had wire wheel covers and others had rally wheels.  Some had a special sticker/decal on the door promoting the race and some did not.  During the driver parade, the names of the drivers riding in the car were affixed in different places on the side of the car.  Some appeared on the door and some can be seen on the rear quarter panels.  An entire thread explaining and documenting these special Camaro convertibles can be seen at the Camaro Pace Car web site: http://camaropacecars.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1730031235/m/1890070235/p/1   

The 2nd Cherokee, Mako Shark 1 and Mako Shark 2 were positioned at the head of the parade of Camaro convertibles as they made their way around the track.

The first three photos are courtesy of Camaro Pace Car web site member “1967 RS SS” and the fourth is from member “festival.”

[SMKZ28]

August 1967, Canadian Grand Prix for Formula One continued

These three pictures can be found at the Revs Institute Digital Library.  Click on the link in order to use the magnifying tools on each picture.

1st picture: Drivers Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart prior the start of the driver introduction parade: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/257762/rec/147

2nd picture: Driver Al Pease prior the start of the driver introduction parade:   http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/262102/rec/305

3rd picture: Drivers Mike Spence and Al Pease prior to the start of the driver introduction parade: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/239570/rec/460

[SMKZ28]

August 1967, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada continued

These three pictures are courtesy of CRG member Michael Scott who took them when he attended the event.

1st picture: Mako Shark 1, Mako Shark 2 and Camaro convertibles during driver parade.  The 2nd Cherokee must have been just out of the picture in front of the Mako Shark 1.

2nd picture: Mako Shark 2.  Apparently Chevrolet produced two of these Mako Shark 2 concept cars in 1965 but only one of them was functional.  This is obviously the functional one.  In article entitled, “Cars of Futures Past – 1965 Corvette Mako Shark II” author Kurt Ernst mentions, “two Mako Shark II cars were ultimately constructed, and the concept that made its appearance in New York was nothing more than a rolling, non-functional show car. Its square-tube, oval-exit side exhaust was little more than window dressing, and its airplane-style square-corner steering wheel would have been less than ideal for road use.  While both design elements were bold and futuristic, neither made it into the second Mako Shark II concept, a fully functional automobile that was completed in time for the 1965 Paris Auto Show.  Could this be the answer as to why two Cherokees were built?  Perhaps this was a standard operating procedure.  Maybe the 1st Cherokee was a “rolling, non-functional show car” and the 2nd Cherokee was a “fully functional automobile” as proved by its use as a pace car.  See the article here: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/03/06/cars-of-futures-past-1965-corvette-mako-shark-ii/

3rd picture: Driver Dan Gurney waiving to the crowd from a Camaro missing a wire wheel cover.  I'm surprised that they would allow the car to go out in front of the crowd like that.  Surely they could have found a replacement sometime before letting them go out on the driver parade lap.  Maybe it fell off during the lap??  In addition, notice that there are no race promotion stickers/decals on the door of this car.  Only the name "Dan Gurney" appears in smallish letters. Nothing appears over the rear wheels.  This proves that not all of the cars received the large stickers/decals on the doors.   Dan started 5th in his Eagle T1G 103/Weslake Ford and finished in third place one lap behind the winner Jack Brabham.  Dan Gurney was probably at the height of his popularity with race fans at this time because earlier in the year he became the only American to ever win a Formula One race in a car designed and constructed by his own company when he won the Belgian Grand Prix. He also won the 24 Hour of LeMans earlier in the year with co-driver A.J. Foyt in a Ford GT40 Mark IV becoming the only American drivers to score an overall victory at the 24 Hours of LeMans in an American built car. After that race he began the tradition that lasts to this day in motorsports when he shook up and sprayed the bottle of victory champagne on the crowd and the other competitors.  He had also been victorious at the Green Valley Trans Am race in a Cougar earlier in the year.

[SMKZ28]

August 1967, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada continued

1st picture: last one from Michael Scott.  Driver Jack Brabham started 7th on the grid but went on to win the race in his Brabham BT24 1/Repco. He would go on to finish second in the Championship that year to his co-driver Denny Hulme. Brabham won the Formula One World Championship three times including 1966.

2nd picture: Mako Shark 1 in Corvette Corral: Posted by Ed Moody on the Remembering Mosport Facebook page

[SMKZ28]

August/September 1967 Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

A week after it was in Canada showing itself off to race fans the 2nd Cherokee found itself in Wisconsin performing a much more important task.  On Sunday, September 3, 1967 the 2nd Cherokee was used as the pace car for the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) event held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  Unlike Formula One, the Can-Am series started their races in 1967 with a rolling start.  A pace car is used to bring the race cars into formation before pulling into pit lane and letting them go for the green flag.  This event was the first race of a six event championship held on road courses around Canada and the United States.  The race was won by Denny Hulme driving a 358.9 cu in Chevrolet powered McLaren M6A. 

Pictures from the Revs Institute Digital Library indicate that the 2nd Cherokee was shipped directly from Mosport Park to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin soon after the conclusion of the Formula One event.  Four pictures show the car parked in front of an old house in the picturesque town of Elkhart Lake.  In one of the pictures a sticker attached to the passenger side windshield says, Elkhart Lake.  Click on the link and use the magnification tools to see it. 

Road America is located just outside of the historic town of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  Most, if not all of the people associated with the races stayed within the town at historic hotels like Siebkens Resort and Victorian Village Resort.  I’ve been there many times myself.  The pictures could have been taken in front of one of the historic resorts or a private home in the town.  The metadata for these pictures say that they were taken in August 1967.  The race took place on Sunday, September 3, 1967, so I would bet they were taken Wednesday, August 30th or Thursday, August 31st.  Those would have been the days the racers and their cars got up to the track to start practicing for the event.   

1st picture: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/232997/rec/20

2nd picture: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/237030/rec/18

3rd picture: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/246302/rec/19

4th picture: This is the picture the current owner of the restored Cherokee should use to replicate the wheels that were originally on the car.  The last time I saw the restored car it was wearing the wrong wheels.  If anyone knows the owner please alert them to the existence of this thread.  If you use the magnification tools at the web site you can see that the tires look to be Firestone Sports Car 200 E70-15: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/270332/rec/21