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The two images below are vintage pics of the car from the 70s and 80s.
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Steve originally purchased this car in 1977, and owned it until 1983. Steve's memory of this car is distinct, and for good reason.
I remember driving the car home from NJ, and in my town getting stopped and ticketed for several violations, no inspection, registration and excessive noise. (Geez give a kid a break). Believe it or not I found out years later that the police officer was a Camaro lover who owned a fathom green 69 Z28, but unfortunately that didn’t prevent him from giving me the tickets.
I rebuilt/restored the car in 1979-81, removed the front clip and drivetrain. K"&"G Speed did the machining work and I assembled the engine, detailed the subframe and engine compartment. I stripped the exterior of all bolt on items and trailered the car to a shop in West Chester, PA for prep and paint. In 1981 a job transfer landed me on Long Island and this slowed my progress. During the week I was on Long Island and could only work on the car on weekends.
On the day the car was finally finished, I pulled it out of my parents garage, and drove it on the lawn next to the side driveway. I wanted to give it a quick rinse, before taking it out for my first drive post restoration. That turned out to be a mistake. My mother, while backing out of our side driveway, inexplicably drove her Chevy Monza onto the lawn and hit my car on the drivers fender. At that moment I happened to be in the house. My mother came in very upset and explained what happened. As I approached the car - I didn't say a word. My mother kept apologizing, and my only comment was "I don't want to talk about it". Well it was back to the paint shop, for a new fender and grill. My mother would always say "I can't understand why you didn't get angry with me or yell". In following years, we laughed about her hitting the car.
Soon after, Steve met his wife and was married. Like many young couples, then wanted to own a home. So the car was sold in June of 1983.
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By 1986, Steve wanted the car back. The problem was, the previous owner had sold it. Steve was able to track it down, but the new owner did not want to sell. But persistence paid off. After checking with the owner, two to three times a year - FOR 24 YEARS - Steve was able to buy the car back in 2009. The image above and to the left is the car being delivered back home to Steve.
Since that time, the carpet and some other interior items were replaced. The engine and transmission were rebuilt and the engine compartment was detailed. The image above and to the right is the engine compartment after being detailed. The car does have some Day 2 components, which is how it was when Steve owned it the first time.
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This 1969 Camaro was built the first week of September in 1969 at the Norwood Assembly plant. The car retains its original exterior color (Hugger Orange with a black vinyl top) and the original interior color (black hounds tooth custom bucket seats).
The car retains it's original DZ engine, M21 Muncie transmission and CBU coded 3.73 rear axle.
Steve calls this car a driver (and I think you would agree it is a VERY nice driver), which does get enjoyed with occasional blasts through the gears.
Steve - thank you for submitting your photos and history of your car.
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