In the fall of 1966 there was discussion about the Trans-Am racing series in the SCCA Sportscar publication. It appeared that SCCA was finally going to pay purses for racing. As we had spent considerable dollars in the past, we thought it would be a good idea to try to recover some or at least try to reduce our out of the pocket expenses. We had heard about the Camaro and talked to Heinrich Chevrolet [Rochester, NY] about how maybe this was a car we could use, so Jon Heinrich talked to his contacts at GM and we were invited to visit the Tech Center in Warren, Mich.
I believe it must have been about November when my Father, Jon Heinrich and I went there and met with Vince Piggins. We also met with Gib Hufstader and David Martins (who I believe were engineers), a guy we were we told to contact for parts named Barney Krass, and with Joe Pike who was at an office downtown someplace. Vince Piggins gave me a three page Technical News Release (that I still have today) on a special Z-28 model that was being released for SCCA racing. It was assumed right then that we were getting one of these cars as Vince gave us info on what aftermarket cam to use (Engle HL 26), spring rates, spring cutting for lowering the car, sway bar diameter, part numbers for American mag wheels that were to be available from GM (I still have a wooden shipping crate the wheels came in) and various other bits of info he thought we could use. The engineers were to be our contacts for any technical assistance and we were to call Barney for any special parts. I also still have the notes I took from that visit. Boy do I wish I had the forethought to have Vince Piggins sign that Tech Release!
Upon our return to Rochester, Heinrich was told to order the car through the Zone Manager named Bill Dunne. We did not know what modifications SCCA would allow so we ordered high back bucket seats for additional support, the console package for the additional gages that were in it and the tilt steering wheel to aid getting in and out of the car when climbing over rollcage supports. We ordered a red car with black stripes, however it came with white stripes and they looked better anyway.
Prior to delivery of the car in January 1967, Heinrich received a phone call from GM asking if we were going to race the car in Daytona or Sebring. If we were, they would make an early delivery so we would have time for preparation. We were in no way going to be able to make either race due to time and money constraints.
The car came into Heinrich’s about the second or third week of January and I was called to pick it up with the loan of a dealer plate. Heinrich Chevrolet was about fifteen miles from my father’s garage where we worked on the cars. Seeing as though there was only light snow on the ground and the roads were only wet, I took it for a blistering ride on some of my favorite roads. WOW, this thing sure had plenty of power to start with, but with the wet roads, it was a handful to keep straight. I even went to the garage and put some left over rain tires from the Vette on the rear and took it out again with an old race buddy as a passenger. It was still too wild to do anything but go sideways, so as sanity crept in we decided we should take it to the garage before we wrecked it.
(http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss309/1967z28/MorganCamaroearlypic.jpg)
Brand new car after a wintery joy ride. Photo: Gary Morgan Collection