CRG Discussion Forum
Camaro Research Group Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: daves87gn on May 14, 2014, 08:53:19 PM
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well, while going through the paperwork from my z i found a name for a possible previous owner, a simple google search produces a number and i call it
I asked if they gentleman that answered the phone knew Micheal *** "yes that my father" i advised him that i own a camaro that might have belong to him, he asked "is it silver and black strips?" yes, "do you want to sell it" no "yes that was my fathers car, i remember it from when i was little, you bought it from Scotty ***?" yes
we talked a little more i was informed his father was away for work, but gave me his dads number and told me he would call him and let him know i would be calling.
so i call Micheal and get some interesting info on the car, he sold it as a roller to Scotty and the name and number of the guy (jimmy) he bought it from
so i call Jimmy who really gives me some more history on the car, it was drag raced, he cut the welds on the 1/4 and pulled them to fit bigger tires and tons of other info, that the car didn't have a factory tach it was original cortez silver and black strips, and other things, along with he has pictures from when he owned the car and will get copies for me or find someone to email to me, he bought it in 72~73 when he was 22 and sold it to Micheal in 75 when he found himself without a job and needed money, that days later he got a job and tried to by it back from Micheal 2 weeks later. Jimmy also told me that at one point the car was traded among his gear head/drinking buddies lol. then i get "i bought the car from Kenny ***" but no #, that Kenny sold him the car after having constant issues with the engine, including grenading a few engines including the original, and that Micheal pulled the original trans when he installed a 427/400 combo (have to call Micheal back and get info on the trans)
again with a quick google search and knowing the area the car was in, i was able to get # which i called and left a message, a few minutes later i get a call back from a nice lady, asked if she new Kenny and was told yes, let her know that i own a camaro that Kenny once owned and she sounded confused, i let her know that Jimmy told me that Kenny would be about 70ish now, and she says your looking for my father in law, thought it was really cool that i was looking for the original owner and that she would pass along my info,
now the waiting game
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Neat!!! and fun too isn't it? (except for the rare times when you get ahold of a grouchy person who hangs up on you). :)
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Very nice and fun to learn about the cars history and some good stories about it.
I wish I could do that onto car. My trail ends with the guy I got it from.
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Very nice and fun to learn about the cars history and some good stories about it.
I wish I could do that onto car. My trail ends with the guy I got it from.
First-Congrats Dave! Were you inspired by my post about contacting previous owners? Vince's post about his car got me in gear and it paid off. Too bad the trail goes cold before 76~77 time period on my car. At least I know the last 3 owners now. I did not know the guy I got car from until this past October...can you imagine?
Second-C-Boy68ss AKA: YG with a C, Never say never. Check out this post: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=12063.0 a month ago by ME! I put an add on CL and got a call the next day...you could have picked my jaw up off the floor! I have had this jewel(turd) since 79 (35 years) and never thought I would know any of its history. It was surreal to say the least.
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The best part is got some questions answered
Always wondered why the factory 12 bolt had 4.56 in place of the
4.10s the code shows it should have, Jimmy told me when he raced it
he installed the current gears. Jimmy told me when he got it under the hood was
a poorly built 302 (327/283), that he pulled and installed a 327 his buddy built that he
would regularly spin to 10k rpm, and that he doesn't remember losing a race with
that combo, also confirmed tach delete, that he got it with a sun tach clamped to steering
column, and no center counsel.
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10K, Wow! His memory may have embellished some of the facts. Would not be the first time I have heard a story strrreettccchheedd over time.lol. A stout performer nonetheless. I know those short stroke SB's can really wail...those were the days.
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Very nice and fun to learn about the cars history and some good stories about it.
I wish I could do that onto car. My trail ends with the guy I got it from.
First-Congrats Dave! Were you inspired by my post about contacting previous owners? Vince's post about his car got me in gear and it paid off. Too bad the trail goes cold before 76~77 time period on my car. At least I know the last 3 owners now. I did not know the guy I got car from until this past October...can you imagine?
Second-C-Boy68ss AKA: YG with a C, Never say never. Check out this post: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=12063.0 a month ago by ME! I put an add on CL and got a call the next day...you could have picked my jaw up off the floor! I have had this jewel(turd) since 79 (35 years) and never thought I would know any of its history. It was surreal to say the least.
The I got the car from only had it a few months from his brother in law, never got a name, who had passed away. Never git any paperwork other that the title.
Hopefully I get something useful on the shipping info to start the trail again.
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I believe the 10k rpm out of a 327. Motor had to be built right to do it but they could.
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Very nice and fun to learn about the cars history and some good stories about it.
I wish I could do that onto car. My trail ends with the guy I got it from.
First-Congrats Dave! Were you inspired by my post about contacting previous owners? Vince's post about his car got me in gear and it paid off. Too bad the trail goes cold before 76~77 time period on my car. At least I know the last 3 owners now. I did not know the guy I got car from until this past October...can you imagine?
Second-C-Boy68ss AKA: YG with a C, Never say never. Check out this post: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=12063.0 a month ago by ME! I put an add on CL and got a call the next day...you could have picked my jaw up off the floor! I have had this jewel(turd) since 79 (35 years) and never thought I would know any of its history. It was surreal to say the least.
Yes, and with shipping report being available figured it be worth a shot to google the info I already had, looks like the car spent most of its live with in a 20 radius, also Jimmy believes it was bought new at Clark Chevrolet
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(quote).. "Neat!!! and fun too isn't it? (except for the rare times when you get a hold of a grouchy person who hangs up on you)." (quote)..
Ha - Yea you're sure correct there...
I was calling any and all sources in the long line of contacts my Z had over the years, and was following up on a lead to the third owner who I had been given a possible number for. Lady answers when I dialed and I gave her my quick 'trying to trace back owners of a '68 Z 2/8 I now own and she cuts me off saying in a promising way "we had a silver Camaro in 1970... what colour is the one you have?".. I was about to tell her that the car I now owned was red, but originally seafrost green (pp code) - but before I got to the silver/green part, she yelled into the phone at full volume "I hate red cars".. and slammed the phone down!
I took that as a hint not to bother for a return try for any more info and moved on..
Turns out the second owner, who I later managed to contact and have a nice conversation with, knew her well and commented "she's loonier than a sh*thouse rat - I'm surprised you got as far as you did with the conversation"..
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Dutch wrote: "Turns out the second owner, who I later managed to contact and have a nice conversation with, knew her well and commented "she's loonier than a sh*thouse rat - I'm surprised you got as far as you did with the conversation".. "
I'm STILL laughing over this one.. :)
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10K, Wow! His memory may have embellished some of the facts. Would not be the first time I have heard a story strrreettccchheedd over time.lol. A stout performer nonetheless. I know those short stroke SB's can really wail...those were the days.
I believe the 10k rpm out of a 327. Motor had to be built right to do it but they could.
10k rpm is very high and might be a stretch but anything is possible, and considering all the guys i talked to today were friends and gear heads, there might be some/slight truth to it, we hear of 302s being spun to the moon, and they (old owners) raced/played with the car during a time when no one was concerned with hurting the matching #'s motor only winning, but hey maybe he was just rounding ;D
and its pretty cool to know it has some race history, yea its not well known/important, never set any records, but it was enjoyed by a bunch of gear heads
and since im a gear head, with some build ideas for the car that will upset the purist, but hey i'll keep it in the hot rod tradition the car has lived :o
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I had a 327, professionally built, in a '64 Impala with 4 speed with HURST competition plus shifter and 411 Posi. Running Crane "Full Race" solid lifter Cam, Dual line Holley and Headers. Tell you what,,,,for a BIG car that thing would "Git er Done". Overwound the pressure plate many times. Brings back fond memories.
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Jimmy also mentioned that during his ownership of the car he installed some 8" corvette rally wheels with some BIG tires and stock fronts, i just laughed and let him know thats how the car sits now, but with some big dry rotted tires, he just laughed and said wow
the crazy part is that the car sat most of its life with bad motor, or waiting for a motor to be built/installed, and running down the 1/4, side street, it has a very nice original interior, and the speedo shows low miles under 28K, all owners said the car was never really a daily driver, but when the auto trans got installed the speedo stopped working, but how many miles can have been driven with a bbc 427, th 400, and 456 gears, last two owner (since 75) say they dont remember speedo rolling over, but can guaranty mile are actual.
owner before me bought it as a roller, and only had it running for 6 months before he sold it to me, owner before that had the original trans with the 327, before it got replaced with the 427/400 so it has 28k+?+?+?+? miles lol :-\
Jimmy, also mentioned that Kenny might be the original owner :D
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Just hung up with Kenny (the original owner 8) )
it was a good 45 minutes, car was order new from Jack Chevrolet, which is now closed, it was ordered in September of 68 and not received until April, car was ordered with endura front bumper, 4.10 rear end, it did have a console and tach in dash which he removed (console and tach), he didnt want console but could not get it that way, also ordered 4 wheel disk brakes which he didn't get, he also asked the dealer not to install beauty rings as he didn't want the rims scratched.
he installed the 8" corvette rear wheels which rubbed, so he buddy cut the lip on the fender to relieve some of the rubbing
3k miles later it spun a rod bearing while doing 70mph going down the road, it went back to the dealer for warranty, and they said they wouldnt replace to motor due to custom work done (headers, among a few other things, every owner has been a gear head) so they rebuilt it, according to the owner it never ran the same.
At 6k miles the motor blew up and he bought the 327 from a pro stock racer buddy of his (maybe some truth to 10K rpm from earlier) and gave the original motor to his buddy for storage while 327 was being freshened up
here is where it gets exciting last time he visited with his buddy the motor was still sitting under the work bench where he left it :o Kenny said he will be back in that area in a few months June/July to visit with his kids and grand kids, and said he will make sure he stops and visits his buddy and see if the motor is still there and see if we can reunite motor and car ;D :o
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Wow! That's amazing hopefully the block is still saveable. Interesting he didn't want the console or tach in the car.
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Wow! That's amazing hopefully the block is still saveable. Interesting he didn't want the console or tach in the car.
Yea, what it was is he didn't want a console, when he removed the console he no longer has a fuel gauge, so he removed the tach to install fuel gauge and added a sun tach, and oil, water were replaced with SW gauges below dash in line with trans tunnel
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just thought i would update,
I have some pictures coming from the original owner who i spoke with earlier today, he informed me that both he and his son had failed to get in contact with the gentleman who owned the shop that he believed the original DZ was in, but gave me a name... Robert (bob) Lecce. i did some searching and found Bob, and for $1.99 was able to locate a phone number for Bob.
well said what the hell, and called the number, and sure enough Bob answered the phone, I advised him i got his name from Ken ****, he said how is old Kenny doing, and how can i help you. I gave him the whole story and he remembered everything and even game me some more info, he said he remembered helping pulling the original 302 and that it sat under his work bench for as lot of years, confirmed that what he had was just a short block.
and here is the bad news, Bob sold the business quite a few years ago, and left parts he had no use for behind, including the motor to my Z, and last year the building was demolished :'( and unfortunately had no clue where the old motor may have ended up
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Dont give up!! Did you get the name of the person he sold the business to? Keep plugging.
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I say make sure he CALLS to see if it is there. THEN make a trip out and get it, or build a crate and have it shipped home. Then fly back home and wait for it. I have seen to many times in my life that something was in a certain location for 30 or 40 years. We go to get it and it got dumped or sold for scrap THE DAY BEFORE!! You have to act NOW!! Have him call the guy, or you call him tom morning... D
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Yes Dave.. definitely follow up.. even if you have to take a weekend or take a day or two off and GO THERE to see for yourself. Track down the past owner.. go to the current owner, do whatever you have to in order to verify/find out where the block is. It *might* be buried under the ruins, OR the new owner may have hauled the metal to a salvage yard, OR he may have moved it all to a new location. If you don't check, you will never know... GOOD LUCK!...
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I believe the 10k rpm out of a 327. Motor had to be built right to do it but they could.
I too believe the 10k from a 327. I had one in a '64 Impala backed with a 4 speed back in 69-70. It had a "Full Race" solid lifter Crane Cam, I would "over-wind" the pressure plate often. Even in that big car, it would get the job done.
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got a picture from original owner, it still has the 8" rim on rear, he and his wife were at the local Pontiac dealer looking for a car for her.
pic was taken sometime in 1970
(http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s376/daves87gn/833cfbc8-2610-4a00-b641-07bf40532380_zps15abb629.jpg) (http://s1048.photobucket.com/user/daves87gn/media/833cfbc8-2610-4a00-b641-07bf40532380_zps15abb629.jpg.html)
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heres one with his wife
notice the plate, his name is Ken
(http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s376/daves87gn/701a5cdb-e612-4c3e-8055-814df70ebf98_zps8fc64781.jpg) (http://s1048.photobucket.com/user/daves87gn/media/701a5cdb-e612-4c3e-8055-814df70ebf98_zps8fc64781.jpg.html)
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Great pics. Do I see hood pins?
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Great pics. Do I see hood pins?
yes, holes are still in core support, but were filled in hood before i got it
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Interesting picture. Looks like some neat cars there
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I love stories like this. I hadn't spoken to the guy I bought my Z from, since I bought it in 1978. A couple of years ago, after hearing about another success story locating an original owner, I looked the guy up. After catching up for a while, mike tells me, I still have some stuff from the car. He came to my house with a picture of the car from 1976, and the original owners manual and dealer envelope! Car was sold new at H.M. williams, where the Vitar transmission COPO was sold. I need to get back in touch with him as he said he may have more stuff, possibly the protect-o-plate. When I told him "Come on, why don't you take it for a ride", I thought he would crap his pants! The look on his face while driving it was priceless! Unfortunately, he doesn't remember who he bought it from, but we can work on that. Looks like I have a phone call to make!