General Information

1. The Basics
2. Camaro Assembly Plants
3. Camaro Model Years
4. Annual and Monthly Production Totals and VINs
5. Option Combination Information
6. Documentation Sources - for a specific car
7. Camaro Information Sources
8. Mid-Year Changes
9. First Gen Trivia
10. Rare Camaro Options
11. 1967 PaceSetter Promotion

The Basics

The Camaro was General Motors' pony car answer to the Ford Mustang. The F-body platform was shared with the Pontiac Firebird and was designed as a relatively light 4-passenger car. To make the weight and stiffness targets, the car used an innovative subframe under the front part of the car with unitized construction for the rear part of the car (as opposed to a full-frame or all unitized construction). Powertrain options ranged from L6 engines to small and big block V8 engines.

First-generation Camaros had two doors with 2+2 style seating (though a 5th set of belts was included in 68 & 69) and came in two basic models, coupe and convertible. They were built from the 1967 model year to the 1969 model year. Annual production ranged from about 220,000 to 240,000 cars.

Camaro Assembly Plants

About 75% of 1967-1969 Camaros were built at the Norwood, Ohio factory (near Cincinnati). Norwood built units for central and eastern US, as well as most export vehicles. (Assembled export units were rail-shipped to Baltimore, prepped for export (wax and oil spray, etc.), and loaded on ships.) The other major US assembly facility (~25% of the Camaro total) for Camaro was the Van Nuys, California assembly plant near Los Angeles. This was the primary assembly plant for units intended for western US delivery.

The GM assembly process is explained in detail in John's Camaro Assembly Process article.

In addition to the US assembly plants, many hundreds (if not several thousands) of Camaros were assembled at five overseas factories: the Yutivo factory in the Philippines (the subject of a CRG research article), GM Continental in Belgium, GM Suisse in Bienne, Switzerland, and two lesser-known assembly plants in Caracas, Venezuela and Lima, Peru. These non-US plants are the subject of the foreign assembly plant research article.

All of the non-U.S. factories assembled Camaros from "completely knocked down" (CKD) kits; as the name implies, the kits included the separate sheet metal stampings from which the plants built assembled bodies, and the parts and subassemblies to build the finished car. The parts for CKD export units were shipped to a collection point in Bloomfield, NJ, consolidated into kits, then packed into containers for shipment overseas.

Camaro Model Years

The automotive industry typically uses a model year that is offset from the calendar year. Sales dates for a car model typically start in September of the prior year and end the following August. Production start/stop dates are generally a month before the sales start/stop dates. For instance, the 1967 Camaro was built from August of 1966 through July of 1967. If a 1967 Camaro has a cowl tag date of 12A (indicating that the build month and week were the first week of December), then the car was built in December of 1966 (not December of 1967). A production gap of a couple of weeks between the end of one model year and the start of the next was common, and used for plant changeover for the next model year.

There are exceptions to this and the end of model year for the 1969 Camaro is one. The build for the 1969 Camaro was extended from July 1969 to November 1969, because the 1970 Camaro was not ready for release.

The extended 69 production and the delay of introduction of the '70 Camaro was not purposeful, nor was it related to labor problems; it was late because the quarter panel draw dies failed during final die tryout and had to be rebuilt from scratch. Fisher Body had lots of troubles drawing the 1970 quarter panels without wrinkles and splits. They attempted to correct the problems by modifying the draw dies during final tryout but the problems got worse instead of better. Fisher finally had to redesign/rebuild the draw dies, which delayed the launch by 4-5 months. Chevrolet decided to extend the 1969 model, which created a wild scramble, as this meant extending part supplier contracts for the '69 (suppliers had already committed their facilities to other business), finding alternate capacity for '69 parts, etc. The PR department attempted to spin the delay in a different direction for public consumption as GM never publicly admitted any internal problems or failures, especially within Fisher Body, its biggest manufacturing Division, with the biggest tooling budget. But the delay of the 1970 Camaro was a black eye for Fisher Body Die Engineering, as it was the first production launch delay that was ever laid at their feet.

Annual and Monthly Production Totals and VINs

Official Chevrolet production records show a total of:
220,906 Camaros built in 1967
235,147 Camaros built in 1968
243,085 Camaros built in 1969
Note that the 1969 model year was extended to November 1969, 4 months longer than normal, due to production delays with the redesigned 1970 Camaro.

The list below is Chevrolet's documentation of the end-of-month VIN for the GM assembly plants. * Due to several limitations, the VINs in this list will not necessarily correlate exactly with either a specific calendar day or the build week on the cowl tag. The data for some months (especially May and June 68 at Norwood) deviate significantly from actual build dates, while other months correlate well.* We are unsure of the source of these deviations, but uncertainties include:

1. It isn't known what day of the month was used for logging the monthly production, or if the same system was used for all years.
2. Vehicles were NOT assembled in the exact order of VIN (but it was close). For any given VIN that was nominally "last" for that month, it is likely that slightly lower or higher VINs might either still be in process, or might have already been assembled.
3. The build date on the cowl tag is when the body was started. It was attached ~3 days before final assembly of the car was completed and build week dates did not always align with calendar weeks.

Despite these limitations, the list remains a useful guide for approximate confirmation of date as to when a given VIN was built.

Repeating: * The VINs in this list will not necessarily correlate exactly with either a specific calendar day or the build week on the cowl tag. The data for some months (especially May and June 68 at Norwood) deviate significantly from actual build dates, while other months correlate well.*

 *see limitations of this data noted above 
 
            LOS  Camaro        NOR Camaro
  Month    End     Month      End     Month
           VIN     Total      VIN     Total 
  ------  --------------     ---------------
 1967 Model
  Sep-66   7L104208  4208    7N111323  11323  
  Oct-66   7L112733  8525    7N124052  12729
  Nov-66   7L122251  9518    7N140230  16178 
  Dec-66   7L130165  7914    7N160043  19813
  Jan-67   7L137621  7456    7N174339  14296
  Feb-67   7L144322  6701    7N179242   4903
  Mar-67   7L150507  6185    7N197221  17979
  Apr-67   7L155897  5390    7N209658  12437 
  May-67   7L158904  3007    7N224672  15014 
  Jun-67   7L163266  4362    7N241701  17029 
  Jul-67   7L165008  1742    7N254698  12997 
    1967            65008             154698
  
 1968 Model       LOS               NOR
  Sep-67   8L304745  4745    8N319989  19989 
  Oct-67   8L309652  4907    8N337720  17731 
  Nov-67   8L315860  6208    8N352898  15178 
  Dec-67   8L321968  6108    8N368090  15192 
  Jan-68   8L328091  6123    8N381420  13330 
  Feb-68   8L331484  3393    8N392427  11007 
  Mar-68   8L335251  3767    8N407303  14876 
  Apr-68   8L338564  3313    8N425530  18227 
  May-68   8L342085  3521   *8N465482  39952 
  Jun-68   8L345432  3347   *8N482588  17106 
  Jul-68   8L349164  3732    8N484735   2147  
    1968            49164             184735
  
 1969 Model       LOS               NOR
  Sep-68   9L502310  2310    9N512133  12133
  Oct-68   9L506631  4321    9N530337  18204 
  Nov-68   9L510583  3952    9N551862  21525 
  Dec-68   9L513816  3233    9N569987  18125 
  Jan-69   9L520247  6431    9N589720  19733 
  Feb-69   9L525388  5141    9N607164  17444 
  Mar-69   9L528108  2720    9N623587  16423
  Apr-69   9L530155  2047    9N637106  13519 
  May-69   9L530155     0    9N650323  13217 
  Jun-69   9L531026   871    9N664008  13685 
  Jul-69   9L531163   137    9N669119   5111 
  Aug-69       0        0    9N678253   9134 
  Sep-69       0        0    9N692607  14354 
  Oct-69       0        0    9N707932  15325 
  Nov-69       0        0    9N711922   3990 
    1969            31163             211922
 *see limitations of this data noted above 

Option Combination Information

CRG has published a downloadable RPO spreadsheet in PDF format that documents the official Chevrolet tallies for each first-generation Camaro Regular Production Option (including the base configurations), based on Len Williamson's "Tailfins & Bowties" printing of official Chevrolet production records.

Chevrolet did not retain statistical records on option combinations. Which means it is impossible to know with certainty the exact production number of multi-option combinations, e.g. RS and convertibles.

However, using the Chevrolet single-option production data, simple statistics allow the estimation of production quantities of many option combinations. CRG will leave the math for you to do. The higher the number of combined options in the calculation (and the rarer the options), the less reliable the result.
Realize that options were not uniformly distributed - very few low-cost L6 cars got power windows, whereas positraction was commonly optioned in hi-performance cars and in cars in the snow-belt states (for winter traction).

Until recently, there was no factory data on the production volumes of exterior or interior colors. However, CRG has obtained a copy of the unpublished production numbers for both exterior and interior colors and has published the exterior color usage and the interior color usage.

Documentation Sources - for a specific car

GM retained limited information on individual 67-69 Camaros. The data consists of the original dealer that the car was shipped to (which may be different than the selling dealer due to dealer trades) and the production date.
NCRS has made the data from these Shipping Data Reports available via the Chevy Muscle Docs website for a nominal $50 fee. This can be valuable information about the origins of your car. Note that data for 1969 Camaros with VIN's between 9N508855 and 9N587275 is missing.

If your vehicle was originally sold in Canada, you can request a vehicle report from Vintage Vehicle Services. Contact information is below. For a nominal fee (for 67-69 Camaros: $118.65 CDN as of Jan 2015), you will receive information from the original computerized records which includes a list of the options, date of shipment, and the Canadian dealer. They are also able to provide info on Canadian-built 1993-2002 Camaros, as well as other Canadian-built GM models, e.g. GTO's, 442's and Chevelles, regardless of where they were originally sold.

Little satisfaction for the first-gen Camaro owner, but for 1977 and later Chevrolets (fleet and exported vehicles excluded), Pontiacs since 1987, Buicks since 1982, Cadillacs since 1980, Oldsmobiles since 1977, and GMC since 1976, GM is able to provide original vehicle invoices. Contact General Motors Media Archive for more information.

The best recourse for owners of most Camaros is to become a detective with whatever evidence is at hand. The original selling dealer information (see above) can be valuable in directing your research efforts. Any paper documentation (records, titles, receipts, Protect-o-plate, etc.) can also be extremely valuable in this search. Your detective job has been made more difficult with the enacting of a US Federal privacy statute making it very difficult to conduct private title searches. But there are some options.

Run a title history in the last known state it was located in. You will have to fill out the correct form and it may take a while, but some states still provide a fair amount of data. Try Zabasearch or similar search engines to locate prior owners.

You can check to make sure the vehicle wasn't stolen via NICB's free VINCheck service.

The NICB insurance database was federalized and is now available at National Motor Vehicle Title Information System. Due to the privacy act, all names and addresses were removed from the title history. There's a list of approved vendors on the NMVTIS page offering reports from the NMVTIS database - the content will be the same but the reports will vary in appearance and readability.

Camaro Information Sources

Beside the Reports and other pages of information on this website, there are some references that are recommended.
The GM Heritage Center has downloadable information packages that includes detailed and generally accurate specifications of that year Camaro and the options. (FWIW, some pages are missing and some non-GM info may be inclused.) This, unfortunately, does not include option or configuration information on your exact unit, but it is free and a great reference.

If you are restoring a Camaro, this package will not tell you everything you will need and want to know. There are a number of web sources (many shown on our CRG Links page) that can provide a great deal of further assistance.

Critical printed references that the CRG recommends that you investigate include the following GM manuals and other books:

• Chevrolet Camaro Assembly Instruction Manual (AIM)
  The AIM covers Chevrolet-installed parts, including drawings and part numbers (but not Fisher Body installed parts).
• Chevrolet Chassis Service and Chassis Overhaul Manuals describe the service procedures for the mechanics of the car.
• The Fisher Body Service Manuals describe the service procedures for the body components of the car.
• Chevrolet Parts Manuals
  There are several different types, and the best of these type is a Camaro-only manual. These were extremely difficult to find (several are available as reprints) and are valuable for restoration research. The CRG uses several, including the 1967-69 Camaro Master Parts Catalogue MPC 691A, published Nov 68 by General Motors of Canada Limited and the Chevrolet P&A 34 Parts Catalog. Later parts manuals, such as a commonly available pre-1975 manual printed in 1983, are of limited usefulness, as many first-generation parts will not be listed or have been superseded by parts that have only a general similarity to the originals. Some of the parts manuals are now available online.
• Alan L. Colvin's Chevrolet By The Numbers, The Essential Chevrolet Parts Reference, 1965-69, Robert Bentley, Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-876-0956-9
  This is the "bible" of major vehicle drivetrain components. Separate chapters are included for each of: engine, crankshaft, head, rod, piston, carburetor, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, water pump, distributor, camshaft, alternator, transmission, rear axle/differential, wheels, and Rochester fuel injection. The major limitation of this work is that it only covers V-8 engined models, though certain components are also applicable to vehicles with L-6 engines.
• The Definitive 1967-1968 Camaro Z/28 Fact Book, Jerry MacNeish, Motorbooks International, 1996. ISBN 0-9626399-1-5
  This book focuses on the title topic but is valuable as a general reference.
• The Definitive 1969 Camaro Z/28-SS396 Fact Book, Jerry MacNeish, Self-published, 1993. ISBN 0-9626399-1-5
  This book focuses on the title topic but is valuable as a general reference.
• The 1967-68 Camaro Reference Book, John R. Hooper, 1994.
  Self-published, this is available from major Camaro parts suppliers.
• The 1969 Camaro Reference Book, John R. Hooper, 1991.
  J&D Publications, Westminster MD. Available from major Camaro parts suppliers.
• The Conclusive Camaro Recognition Guide, Vol. 1, 1967-1969, John R. Hooper, 1998.
  Self-published, this is available from major Camaro parts suppliers.

There are also a number of other worthwhile publications.

If you do not currently have a Camaro and are considering a purchase, CRG suggests consideration of either or both of two light-duty books by Michael Antonick that give a good general overview of each year up to and including the modern era - however they are not definitive for research as they contain some errors (generally minor) and numerous omissions for the sake of brevity:

• The Genuine Camaro White Book, 1967-1997, by Michael Antonick, 4th edition, November 1996, distributed by Motorbooks International. ISBN 0-933534-40-X
  A handy pocket size, it contains a general overview followed by 4 to 6 pages of fine-print detail on each model year.
• The Illustrated Camaro Buyer's Guide, by Michael Antonick, Motorbooks International, 3rd edition, 1994. ISBN ISBN 0-87938-895-1
  Less detail than the above, in a larger format, but more descriptive text and photos.

Mid-Year Changes

1967 mid-year changes included:

• Frame tie-down holes added to front subframe.
• Replacement of SS-350 grille emblems with SS emblems.
• Addition of a factory traction bar (radius rod) to most models with 12-bolt rear axle (circa December 1966).
  View CRG Research Report on 1967 radius rods.
• Addition of the Z28 (circa December 1966).
• Addition of the L35 396 engine (circa January 1967) and the L78 396 engine (circa March/April 1967).
• SS nose stripe turned into RPO D91 available to all models (except Z28) starting in April 67.
• Front seatbacks transitioned from metal to plastic circa April/May.
• Seat belt clips were added to the console in March/April.

• Change in Z28 fender emblem from "302" to "Z/28." LOS transitioned at the end of February and NOR changed in the beginning of March.
• Elimination of Astro-Ventilation logo from door windows, which occurred about the end of December 67, though a few later LOS cars have been observed with it.
• Addition of shoulder harness effective 1 Jan 68.
• Mid-year color changes effective 1 Jan 68.
• Striping changes - starting in January of 1968, the 1968 SS cars received the D90 sport stripe (instead of the prior D91 stripe) and D90 became optional on other non-Z28 models.
• Change from black ashtrays with woodgrain surround (with Z23, Z87, or D55) to woodgrain ashtrays.

• The base 327/2BC engine replaced with 307/2BC engine effective 1 Jan 69.
• LM1 350/4BC engine replaced with L65 350/2BC engine effective 1 Jan 69.
• COPOs 9560/9651 released.
• D80 spoiler added to Z28 package.
• Tachometer required for Z28 package.
• Chrome exhaust tips added to dual exhausts.
• Z11 and Z10 Pace Car replicas introduced.
• JL8 4-wheel disc brakes available released (then removed).
• Fisher Body resets body number sequence in August 1969.

First Gen Trivia

The Corvette only shared a limited number of colors with Camaro, and then only for a limited time. Starting in January 1968, LeMans Blue, Corvette Bronze, and British Green, all of which were Corvette colors, were introduced to Camaro. LeMans Blue continued on into the 1969 model year as a shared color between the two models. The other two colors were dropped from Camaro at the end of the 1968 model and no new shared colors were added.

The rear antenna option, U73, was not available from the factory with either of the AM/FM radios (U69/U79) or the D80 spoiler. However, the rear antenna could be installed by the dealer, even with these other options.

Unusual options with short lives, or those that were documented for production but that never made it into production, include:

• 1967 3x2 carburetor setup. (None produced.)
• 1968 Multi-color nose stripe. (Appears in the brochure, none produced.)
• 1968 JL8 four wheel disc brakes. (None produced, production started in 69.)
• 1969 NK1 Cushioned-Rim steering wheel. (Two documented cars found.)
• 1969 MA6 Dual-Disc Clutch. (None produced.)
• The A91 vacuum power trunk release was documented for production in both 1967 and 1968 and was included in the factory assembly manuals each year. Despite having spare parts for it in the Camaro Parts Manual, this option was not installed in Camaros. The more popular electric version of the remote trunk release, RPO A90, available on other models, was an easy retrofit to the Camaro, and there are a number of first-generation Camaros with retrofitted electric trunk release mechanisms.

Rare Camaro Options

Camaros were available with a wide range of options, some of which were obscure, or simply not well documented, which cause them to be quite rare. Some examples:

• A67 Fold-Down Rear Seat - A common option on today's cars, but quite rare back then. Allows the back seat to fold down for more cargo carrying capacity. First-generation Camaros were notorious for unusually small trunks making this option useful for those that had to carry larger cargo than would fit in the trunk.
• V75 Liquid Tire "Chain" - An option on '69 Camaros that provided a dispenser with nozzles located in the rear tire wheel wells that would spray a special traction-enhancing liquid on the rear tires to help traction on snow and ice. Quite rare.
• JL8 4-Wheel Disc Brakes - Installed mostly on Z28 Camaros, but technically available on any model. 206 known to be produced. A similar Heavy-Duty Service Option disc-brake rear axle was available over-the-counter but differed from JL8 in the details.
• Factory Headers - Available on Z28 Camaros as a dealer-installed item. Supplied in 1967-68 from the factory in the trunk of the car for installation by the dealer. Available at the service counter in 1969.
• U46 'Vigilite' Lamp Monitors - Special fiber-optic head and tail-lamp and directional signal monitors that allowed the driver to determine that all lights were working properly while sitting in the driver's seat.
• L89 Aluminum Head 396 - Available in '68 and '69. An addition to the L78 that replaced the iron heads with aluminum closed-chamber rectangular port heads. Very expensive new and rare.
• U17 Tic-Toc-Tach: a dash-mounted tachometer that included a clock on the same dial face. While U17 was available all three years, the Tic-Toc-Tach version was only produced in 1968.
• AL4 Front Bench Seat - Optional front bench seat available in non-console cars (1967-68 only). Not available in convertible.
• N66 Super Sport Wheel - Optional Chevelle SS-style wheels available on 69 SS's. Cancelled Dec 68 with only 314 units sold.

1967 Pacesetter Promotion

The 1967 Chevrolet Pacesetter promotion was intended to leverage the selection of the 1967 Camaro as the pace car for the 67 Indy 500. It was not performance oriented, but a sales promotion, mostly oriented toward L6 cars. The 4/10/67 initial announcement said "Chevrolet and its dealers are launching a nationwide Camaro Pacesetter sales campaign this month to mark the selection of the Camaro as pace car for this year's Indianapolis 500 race on Memorial Day." "During the Pacesetter event, Camaro buyers can get the special hood stripe and floor-mounted shift for three-speed transmission at no extra cost with special savings also available on Powerglide automatic transmission, power steering and power brakes."

The various Pacesetter ads and literature include some details of the sale, but some details were unclear or appear conflicted. The promotion focused on L6 cars. There was a notable surge in L6 orders after this promotion started, probably driven by profit potential for the dealers. The only V8 cars involved in the promotion were those ordered with the M11 floor shifter and/or the D91 nose stripe. Few V8 cars have been documented as part of the Pacesetter sale.

The specifics of the Pacesetter sale were:

• The D91 bumblebee nose stripe and the M11 floor mount shift were no cost options on both L6 or V8 powered Camaros. The credit on the D91 stripe ($11.39) and M11 shifter ($8.15) were based on dealer cost, not the suggest retail price of $14.75 and $10.55.
• For both L6 coupes and convertibles, the sale offered special savings on this group of eight options: the L22 250ci L6, deluxe steering wheel (N30), wheel covers (P01), whitewalls (P58), front and rear bumper guards (V31 & V32), wheelwell mouldings (aka style trim) (Z21), and extra interior trim (Z23). The discount on the eight-option package (L22, N30, P01, P58, V31, V32, Z21, Z23) was $50. These options retailed for a total of $159.
• If the eight-option package was ordered on a L6 car, then there was a small discount on another three options: power brakes, power steering, and the Powerglide automatic transmission. The discount on power brakes was $5, the discount on power steering was $10, and the discount on the powerglide was $15. These discounts could be combined.

Data on cars involved in the promotion is somewhat limited, but is sufficient to explain some to the details of the campaign. The first cars that had the promotion were built in mid-April and, although the campaign was supposed to run through June, it continued until the end of the model year. The window sticker showed the normal option list and prices. The GMAC invoice to the dealer showed a credit to the dealer for the promotion as a line item. How much of the savings the dealer passed on appears to be at the dealer’s discretion – there are some dealer invoices that show full price was charged to the customer without any discount.

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