CRG Discussion Forum
Camaro Research Group Discussion => Original Cars and Details => Topic started by: JohnZ on July 16, 2016, 02:12:10 PM
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I bought this car for the same reason many of you bought yours - I had one just like it in 1969 (except that one was Hugger Orange), and I just had to have it again.
After looking at five or six '69 Z's over a two-year period (most of which were either fakes or poorly-done restorations), I found this original Fathom Green one at the Chevrolet corporate display "on the triangle" at the 2000 Woodward Cruise. It was selected in advance by Chevrolet, who paid the (Canadian) owner's expenses to bring it to the U.S. and display it for three days.
It became obvious after an hour or so what I had stumbled across, and the (second) owner and I made a deal and I bought the car; he returned to Brampton (Toronto area) after the Cruise and delivered the car to my Michigan home the following weekend.
After all my years of Corvette body-off restorations and from-scratch builds of street rods, Cobras, and a tube-frame Corvette Grand Sport replica, the most difficult part of owning this car has been the discipline required to leave it alone and enjoy it as it was built originally.
I will be adding more information and photos as this thread progresses.
Body = all-original metal, no panel replacements or rust (dealer undercoated when new).
Paint = 80% original
Trim/Interior = all-original Deluxe Interior
This is a VERY highly-optioned Z/28, especially for a Canadian car - it has every option you could get on a Z/28 except the tilt wheel. :)
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Beautiful Z - love the Fathom green & the originality!
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It's an 02D car, built February 27, 1969, on my birthday, and shipped from Norwood on February 28th to Howard Elliott Motors in Brampton, Ontario per the car's Canadian Documentation. As an X33 car, it included the Z21 quarter panel louvers and the "Camaro" name on the fenders, both of which were removed by the original owner when the car was new, the attaching holes were brazed shut, and the emblem areas were spot-repaired.
The car was garaged all its life, and actually spent fifteen years (from 1978 to 1993) in the original owner's walk-out lower level rec room, parked next to the pool table; he sold it to the second owner in 1994. I bought it from the second owner with 32,000 miles on it in 2000, and it currently shows 35,069.
The exterior is untouched (including all the original glass and moldings), the original Deluxe Interior is untouched (including the original GM color-matched rubber floor mats); the tires, battery, and exhaust system have been replaced. Everything works, including the rear window defogger.
The underhood area has only been cleaned up cosmetically - it retains the green "T" and some other inspection markings on the driver's side, and the original Canadian Oil Change Recommendation sticker on the RH side inner fender.
The original block (and one cylinder head) went out in a blaze of glory in 1970, and was replaced with a 5/50 warranty "CE" 3970010 block and one 1970-dated 186 cylinder head; all the other bolt-on components and accessories are original.
(Edit: Fixed typo on floor mats).
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Thank you for posting John! That is an awesome car, and l am looking forward to more pics!
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John as a Canadian-delivered car, does it by any chance have a block heater?
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Thank you for posting John! That is an awesome car, and l am looking forward to more pics!
Ditto!!
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Fantastic car. Looking forward to more pictures. Thanks John!
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Great car John. I have a set of floor mats but they look too big. It looks like your driver side lays on the tunnel?
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John as a Canadian-delivered car, does it by any chance have a block heater?
Nope - it doesn't show up on the Canada documentation.
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Great car John. I have a set of floor mats but they look too big. It looks like your driver side lays on the tunnel?
Yes, it does - the mats were designed to fit 3 or 4 different car lines, and there are raised lines on the back where they were to be trimmed to fit each application; hardly anyone ever trimmed them. They weren't pretty, but they did a great job protecting the carpets.
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I noticed the lines on the back and think mine were trimmed. I have a rear set also. We're they an option or what came in the car?
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I noticed the lines on the back and think mine were trimmed. I have a rear set also. We're they an option or what came in the car?
They were part of the optional Appearance Guard Group, or could be ordered separately as RPO B37, Front & Rear Floor Mats.
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Photos below show the plastic luggage protector cap on the left rear shock stud, the two different diameter trunk lid torsion rods for the D80 (.225" and .275" diameter), the spatter paint on the trunk lid lock, and the centerline location of the trunk lid weatherstrip joint.
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These pics show the cowl tag, the green "T" below it, the acorn nuts on the rearward rear spoiler attachments and the stud-and-sealer nuts on the forward rear spoiler attachments. This car was built about two weeks before the "short" rear spoiler disappeared.
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I gather that's some type of tape used to plug the emblem holes under the spoiler ? Surprisingly, it looks like it's held up well over the years, considering.
Thanks for the pics, John. Very nice original you have there.
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I gather that's some type of tape used to plug the emblem holes under the spoiler ? Surprisingly, it looks like it's held up well over the years, considering.
If you look at the photo of the spoiler stud/nut/sealer, about an inch toward 11 o'clock from the stud you'll see a hole for the production emblem pin - you'll see a woven pattern in that hole, which is the texture of the factory sealer tape applied originally by Fisher Body.
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It's unusual to see a '69 with a rear defogger, but this car has one, and both speeds work. The blower, wire harness, and recirculation grille were installed by Fisher Body, and Chevrolet pierced the switch hole in the cluster and installed the switch.
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Chevrolet borrowed the car for about ten days to take it to Las Vegas for the September 2006 Dealer Business Conference, where they had four 69's on the stage with the "quickie" reveal of the 2010 Camaro prototype; then Hagerty borrowed it for a studio shoot for a feature issue of their "Camaro World" magazine.
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One of the great frustrations of a Camaro restoration is the door opening and roof rail weatherstrips and window "fuzzies", as the reproduction parts don't fit very well at all; all of those parts on this car are 47 years old, and all appear as new, including the upper glass guides and anti-blowout clips, and the original outer "fuzzies" are round, including the end treatments.
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One great Survivor owned by one great guy named John Hinkley, aka JohnZ.......
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Enjoying the detail pics..
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Great detail pics. I can't get enough reference pics. Thanks for posting John.
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Master cylinder is the original 5468309, dated "45" (February 14th), stainless sleeved by White Post Restorations. Original "9204" booster, back of tab dated "55" (February 24th). Metering valve and distribution block are original, and the original rear line proportioning valve below the driver's door is dated "016-9".
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The cluster has never been touched, and the Z87 instrument panel simulated wood trim is all original. Look closely at the second photo and you can see the one-piece kickpads.
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The door latches show the paint process (latches installed in the Body Shop), and you do NOT want to try and remove the door edge guards from 47-year-old lacquer. The 5045572 wiper motor, dated "036 9 B F" [February 5th, 1969] is original.
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Everybody wants real sill plates with the riveted-on Fisher Body emblems, but you only find that on assembly-line parts; these are originals. The RC-15 radiator cap is original, and still seals 15 psi with no problem.
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Beautiful... just beautiful.
I do not think I have ever seen the photos of the firewall and cowl tag, I love seeing the mist of the metallic dark green over the ridges of the cowl tag. AWESOME car John and you have exhibited great discipline in keeping it as built. 8)
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Wow! Great find, beautiful car! Ours were 530 apart on the line, and our brithdays are a day apart, too. Would love a couple pics of the lap belts (as bolted to the floor next to the console). Mine now have a twist (when worn) that I don't believe was there pre-restoration.
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Awesome car!! Thank you for documenting with all the detail pics, I saved everyone of them for reference as to what original looks like.
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<<Wow! Great find, beautiful car! Ours were 530 apart on the line, and our brithdays are a day apart, too. Would love a couple pics of the lap belts (as bolted to the floor next to the console). Mine now have a twist (when worn) that I don't believe was there pre-restoration.>>
Photo below is the driver's side lap belt stack, which has never been touched - I haven't noted any "twist"
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<<Wow! Great find, beautiful car! Ours were 530 apart on the line, and our brithdays are a day apart, too. Would love a couple pics of the lap belts (as bolted to the floor next to the console). Mine now have a twist (when worn) that I don't believe was there pre-restoration.>>
Photo below is the driver's side lap belt stack, which has never been touched - I haven't noted any "twist"
Thank you! I need to pull the bolts and do some rearranging to get mine straight. I think my assembly guy wanted to put the tags toward each other so they weren't standing out.
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Beautiful car for sure! It's so nice to be able to see these rare unmolested cars after all the years that have passed.
I'm trying to study some of these option packages and learn the details of them. Since this car is an X33, it has the Z21 style trim option (I think).
Are the door edge guards somehow part of that?, or a separate option?, or maybe just a dealer add-on?
Also from what I gather the Z21 should have the rear quarter louver accents and it looks like maybe this car doesn't have them? The side view wasn't direct, so I may not be seeing them.
Help a newbie out! :)
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Beautiful car for sure! It's so nice to be able to see these rare unmolested cars after all the years that have passed.
I'm trying to study some of these option packages and learn the details of them. Since this car is an X33, it has the Z21 style trim option (I think).
Are the door edge guards somehow part of that?, or a separate option?, or maybe just a dealer add-on?
Also from what I gather the Z21 should have the rear quarter louver accents and it looks like maybe this car doesn't have them? The side view wasn't direct, so I may not be seeing them.
Help a newbie out! :)
p
See reply #2 on page 1 of this thread, which explains why the quarter panel louvers (and the Camaro nameplate on the fender) are missing; the quarter louvers are part of Z21, which is part of every X33 car. The door edge guards were part of the Appearance Guard Group, and could be ordered separately (as they were on this car) as RPO B93.
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Thanks for the info. I thought I read every word of the thread, but obviously I missed that sentence.
It takes cars like this to understand the option descriptions. Looking at cars on ebay, etc., so many changes have taken place over the years that most of those cars are a poor reference as to what was original and what wasn't.
Thanks again, John
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Beautiful car sir
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Thanks for sharing all the detailed pics John! Very much appreciated and excellent reference material.
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What a find! Congrats!
I too..................love all of the detail photo's
Tim
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These pics show the cowl tag, the green "T" below it, the acorn nuts on the rearward rear spoiler attachments and the stud-and-sealer nuts on the forward rear spoiler attachments. This car was built about two weeks before the "short" rear spoiler disappeared.
Always great to see pics of your car John. John was very helpful to me several times during the resto of my 10 10 Z/28. I am wondering if the original owner had the cowl area touched up when he did the other touch up. Mine had a lot of white (stirpe color) paint on top of the cowl, with some overspray on the firewall. I notice yours is body color instead of stripe color. I also realize our cars are almost 6 mos. apart, and that the procedure could have changed over time.
I have some pics of what it looked like originally somewhere. I also have a pic of how I replicated it during the resto.
Thanks again for all you do for this hobby.
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Pic during resto.
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These pics show the cowl tag, the green "T" below it, the acorn nuts on the rearward rear spoiler attachments and the stud-and-sealer nuts on the forward rear spoiler attachments. This car was built about two weeks before the "short" rear spoiler disappeared.
Always great to see pics of your car John. John was very helpful to me several times during the resto of my 10 10 Z/28. I am wondering if the original owner had the cowl area touched up when he did the other touch up. Mine had a lot of white (stirpe color) paint on top of the cowl, with some overspray on the firewall. I notice yours is body color instead of stripe color. I also realize our cars are almost 6 mos. apart, and that the procedure could have changed over time.
I have some pics of what it looked like originally somewhere. I also have a pic of how I replicated it during the resto.
Thanks again for all you do for this hobby.
Lynn -
I'm sure the original owner did or had some touch-up done to cover the white stripe overspray typically seen in the open cowl area, as there is none visible.
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You stated that the master cylinder was sleeved, what's the status of the brake hoses and lines?
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You stated that the master cylinder was sleeved, what's the status of the brake hoses and lines?
The brake flex hoses (safety item) were replaced ten years ago, lines were nicely protected by the original dealer-installed undercoating (very common on Canadian-delivered cars of that era).
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I just spent some time looking through this thread again. First.............I just love this car. LOVE IT! Secondly, to John and the others that spend the time showing the details of these original cars.................THANK YOU!
I'm sure I can speak for others here, we learn a ton from these threads and pics.
Tim
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John, I have a question about the paint on the underside of the cowl hood behind the flapper valve. this is the area of the hood that you see from inside the car. Is this area painted body color or left black like under the rest of the hood?
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Bill, John no longer owns the car. And he might not know the answer to your question.
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Hey guys I'm I missing something here....Didn't all 69 Camaro's come with "camaro" emblems on the fenders? I don't see them on Johns Z car.
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Hey guys I'm I missing something here....Didn't all 69 Camaro's come with "camaro" emblems on the fenders? I don't see them on Johns Z car.
You missed the explanation on page 1 -
"It's an 02D car, built February 27, 1969, on my birthday, and shipped from Norwood on February 28th to Howard Elliott Motors in Brampton, Ontario per the car's Canadian Documentation. As an X33 car, it included the Z21 quarter panel louvers and the "Camaro" name on the fenders, both of which were removed by the original owner when the car was new, the attaching holes were brazed shut, and the emblem areas were spot-repaired."
Makes it look like an X77 with Z21 partially added, doesn't it ?
Regards,
Steve
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Thanks Steve. Vince