1969 Camaro ZL-1 50 Year Homecoming Anniversary Meet ?

[PHAT69AMX]

Dec 31, 1968... a cold early winter's night...
and the 1st Two Blue '69 ZL-1 Aluminum 427 CAMARO's Roll off the Car Hauler
in the lonely rural Illinois town of LeHarpe Illinois at the now famous Fred Gibb Chevrolet...
In just a couple months it's been 50 YEARS TO THE DAY that actually happened...
So is anyone intending an honorary celebration including some REAL ZL-1 Camaro Cars
on-site on that significant date at that historical Original Illinois Location ?...   
2nd picture, pretty sure this is it currently as on Google maps Street View...

[X33RS]

Decemeber?  In Illinois?   Won't catch my butt any further East than the Arizona boarder this time of year, lol.

Oddly, I haven't seen much in the way of any Camaro celebrations when the 50th rolled around for 67, but when Mustangs had their 50th celebrations 2 years prior, they had mustang gatherings all over the desert South West here.   So I'm not expecting much out here for the 69 Camaro celebrations either.

What would be cool is to have a gathering at the old Bee Line track here North of Scottsdale where these cars first attended the Winter Nationals and made their debut in January 69.  Not much left of that track today unfortunately, but sure is a heck of a lot warmer here this time of year  .

[bcmiller]

Dec 31, 1968... a cold early winter's night...
and the 1st Two Blue '69 ZL-1 Aluminum 427 CAMARO's Roll off the Car Hauler
in the lonely rural Illinois town of LeHarpe Illinois at the now famous Fred Gibb Chevrolet...
In just a couple months it's been 50 YEARS TO THE DAY that actually happened...
So is anyone intending an honorary celebration including some REAL ZL-1 Camaro Cars
on-site on that significant date at that historical Original Illinois Location ?...   
2nd picture, pretty sure this is it currently as on Google maps Street View...

I haven’t heard of anything being planned. It would be nice if something did happen though. A celebration with some smokey burnouts might be appropriate.  

[Vince]

I remember reading if memory serves me right that they couldn't get the cars started because of the cold so had to winch them off the car hauler trailer. 

[william]

True-Fred Gibb mentioned that during an interview on the restoration of the #1 ZL1 in the December 1989 Car Craft.

ZL1s were not built for cold weather driving. 12.0 compression, no intake manifold heat, no choke, no heat riser. I have a copy of an internal memo from a Chevrolet engineer that mentions drivability concerns:

"Several features of this engine make it highly unsuitable for street use."

He suggested some modifications that would result in better street operation. The changes were not implemented.

Ford and Chrysler did address the issue. Their drag cars were delivered with a warning that basically said "You're on your own."

[hgger69]

"Several features of this engine make it highly unsuitable for street use."

He suggested some modifications that would result in better street operation. The changes were not implemented.

Interesting, William!
You don’t happen to know more specific what those modifications were?

[william]

L72 cam, carb and intake were the suggestions along with an admonition to only sell the cars to people intending to use them exclusively for racing. The letter mentioned "Our previous experience with this type of release..." which probably was the '68 L88 Corvette. People tried to street-drive them and experienced over-heating, rough idle, fouled plugs and complained of course.

[camaroboy68ss]

Oddly, I haven't seen much in the way of any Camaro celebrations when the 50th rolled around for 67, but when Mustangs had their 50th celebrations 2 years prior, they had mustang gatherings all over the desert South West here.   So I'm not expecting much out here for the 69 Camaro celebrations either.

Yeah there wasnt anything special for the 67 for the 50th. The local Camaro club im a member of tried getting with a few other regionals to put together a big regional meet but met a lot of no's. I went to Sturgis Camaro rally last year as well and they really didnt do anything for the 67, but then not many first gens at the show.

[FathomRSZ28]

Yes building is still there. Attended the annual LaHarpe show in August. Took a pic of the Z in front of dealership. In the early days of the show it was called the Fred Gibb Memorial Car Show and ZL1's, COPO's, Yenko's would all attend.

[69Z28-RS]

I suppose it wasn't the Remington Tire Store in those days?     

PS.   I still have the Remington tires on my '69 Z28 that I installed in 1981 or so... never had to add air..     

[X33RS]

Oddly, I haven't seen much in the way of any Camaro celebrations when the 50th rolled around for 67, but when Mustangs had their 50th celebrations 2 years prior, they had mustang gatherings all over the desert South West here.   So I'm not expecting much out here for the 69 Camaro celebrations either.

Yeah there wasnt anything special for the 67 for the 50th. The local Camaro club im a member of tried getting with a few other regionals to put together a big regional meet but met a lot of no's. I went to Sturgis Camaro rally last year as well and they really didnt do anything for the 67, but then not many first gens at the show.

  I never could understand why.  Not like Camaros aren't popular.   2 years prior mustang clubs everywhere were having huge 50th events that seemed to be everywhere throughout the year.  I had the SCJ at a couple.  Even a big event with a Rt66 cruise that ended in Vegas where they had a 3 day weekend event with show, swap  and racing etc....  I guess the mustang guys got it going on, lol.   I was looking forward to the 50th for the Camaro to roll around.....never happened.   About the closest thing we have this year is Goodguys next month where they have a Camaro corral parking area, along with Tri-5's, Trucks, air cooled VW's, and several others with specialty parking, so it's not like Camaros are being celebrated.  Oh well.

[z28z11]

Yes building is still there. Attended the annual LaHarpe show in August. Took a pic of the Z in front of dealership. In the early days of the show it was called the Fred Gibb Memorial Car Show and ZL1's, COPO's, Yenko's would all attend.

Amazing that the building is so intact and basically unchanged after all these years. Area looks the same as far as I can see from the pics - very few 60's and earlier dealerships stay this "time warped".

Regards,
Steve

[FathomRSZ28]

Yes building is still there. Attended the annual LaHarpe show in August. Took a pic of the Z in front of dealership. In the early days of the show it was called the Fred Gibb Memorial Car Show and ZL1's, COPO's, Yenko's would all attend.

Amazing that the building is so intact and basically unchanged after all these years. Area looks the same as far as I can see from the pics - very few 60's and earlier dealerships stay this "time warped".

Regards,
Steve

It's rural Illinois, the town has not changed. It is "time warped"!

[z28z11]

Yes building is still there. Attended the annual LaHarpe show in August. Took a pic of the Z in front of dealership. In the early days of the show it was called the Fred Gibb Memorial Car Show and ZL1's, COPO's, Yenko's would all attend.

Amazing that the building is so intact and basically unchanged after all these years. Area looks the same as far as I can see from the pics - very few 60's and earlier dealerships stay this "time warped".

Regards,
Steve

It's rural Illinois, the town has not changed. It is "time warped"!

Nothing wrong with that at all. I know three of my four car's dealerships, two are closed, one has moved and rebuilt. Both of the two larger Chevy dealers that were in the Nashville area that I dealt with, bought cars and parts from seemingly forever, have gone to the Great Beyond in the last several years. On the other hand, my now local dealership, family owned since the 20's, is alive and well, and expanding. Being rural does help longevity, for sure.

Steve   

[camaroboy68ss]

Oddly, I haven't seen much in the way of any Camaro celebrations when the 50th rolled around for 67, but when Mustangs had their 50th celebrations 2 years prior, they had mustang gatherings all over the desert South West here.   So I'm not expecting much out here for the 69 Camaro celebrations either.

Yeah there wasnt anything special for the 67 for the 50th. The local Camaro club im a member of tried getting with a few other regionals to put together a big regional meet but met a lot of no's. I went to Sturgis Camaro rally last year as well and they really didnt do anything for the 67, but then not many first gens at the show.

  I never could understand why.  Not like Camaros aren't popular.   2 years prior mustang clubs everywhere were having huge 50th events that seemed to be everywhere throughout the year.  I had the SCJ at a couple.  Even a big event with a Rt66 cruise that ended in Vegas where they had a 3 day weekend event with show, swap  and racing etc....  I guess the mustang guys got it going on, lol.   I was looking forward to the 50th for the Camaro to roll around.....never happened.   About the closest thing we have this year is Goodguys next month where they have a Camaro corral parking area, along with Tri-5's, Trucks, air cooled VW's, and several others with specialty parking, so it's not like Camaros are being celebrated.  Oh well.

yeah it was nice to have special parking at Goodguys, had my 68 in that area at the Puyallup show this summer. Some nice mix of hot rodded and restored cars.

For some reason its really hard to pull any numbers for a Camaro only show, even most of the Chevy only shows have disappeared in the Northwest as they cant keep up the numbers. My club used to do a all camaro show but you would get 50+ new camaros and a maybe 5-10 first gens.