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« on: June 10, 2009, 03:33:23 AM »
I bought a '68 Camaro coupe about 15 years ago that could be something special. It's an original SS 396 4 speed with 4 piston disc brakes and a positraction 12 bolt. It had a small block in pieces when I bought it and the transmission was not original. It was showing about 70,000 miles with nice deluxe interior and wood wheel. What started me thinking it may be special was when the seller called The console gauges the "California gauge package". I am posting 3 pictures in the hopes that somebody has seen a similar gauge setup that may give me a clue if it was built by a dealer. The car was built in Los Angeles and at the time I wasn't aware of any Super Car dealers on the west coast. Of course I soon discovered that DANA was one of the first to build 427 Camaros in '67 so that perked my interest. My car had a cowl hood installed when it was painted in the 70s or 80s so if it had DANAs fiberglass hood, it was changed at that time. The rear axle was changed to a 4:10 with a ring gear spacer, and there was a small reinforcement plate welded to the rear frame rail on the left side directly above the axle tube where they had a tendency to kink the frame and buckle the quarter panel. It has Mr. Gasket slapper bars and brackets welded on the front spring perch body brackets, possibly for frame connectors. Under the hood it had a small box with a wire running to it that looked like it may have been an early rev limiter. Any information about emblem locations could be helpful. I live in the Kansas City area and feel that Dick Harrell my have played a part in the LA car coming to this area. I have a date correct Corvette 435 horse tripower 427 engine saved for this car but don't want to use it unless I can get a clue that this probably was a DANA car. According to the timing decal on the core support it was a 325 horse car originally. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Clint