Messages

4036

Trans-Am Camaros / Premier "Supertanium" bolts (a.k.a. fasteners)

« on: May 22, 2011, 09:07:09 PM »

Before ARP fasteners, back in the late '60s and early '70s Trans-Am era, the top of the line fasteners to use were Premier "Supertanium".
These originals are no longer available but you might get lucky scrounging around in military surplus stores or on ebay every once in a
while. Neat period-authentic stuff to find for an old Trans-Am car.





Here are some originals I have from an old Bob Joehnck pulley kit.

4037

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Original T/A racing photographs, late 60's & early 70's

« on: May 22, 2011, 06:15:47 AM »

Ron Fournier was and still is a master fabricator who joined the Penske race team in the fall of '67. He was responsible
for most of the construction of the '68 and '69 Penske Camaro race cars. Here he is sitting in the second '68 race car
prior to it being lettered. This is at the Penske race shop in Newtown Square, PA.

You can read a little more about Ron here.


Ron Fournier Collection

4038

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Wheels used on Trans-Am Camaros

« on: May 22, 2011, 05:45:46 AM »

Another photo of some magnesium 6-spoke Americans along with some special captive Trans-Am lugnuts.


Photo by Frank Dihartce

4039

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Scattershields

« on: May 22, 2011, 05:28:02 AM »

A 1967 Simpson ad showing an alternative to the cast steel and hydroformed steel scattershields.

4040

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Original T/A racing photographs, late 60's & early 70's

« on: May 21, 2011, 06:01:18 PM »

Terrific stuff! Todd, your dad was a very good driver. He had some good success with a '63 Z06 Corvette as well as the Camaro. He was good enough to be asked to join the Owens-Corning Corvette team for races at Daytona and Sebring and they were the dominant team at that time. Many thanks for letting us see those neat historical photographs. We'd love to see more or hear more from you as time allows.

4041

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Chevrolet Experimental Oil Pan, Oil Pump and Pickup

« on: May 21, 2011, 02:31:38 AM »

Here's another version of an experimental cast aluminum oil pan done by Chevrolet, courtesy of Dick Lewis. While Dick has moved on to enjoy some
of his other hobbies, when it comes to knowledge of special Chevrolet cars and parts he is right there at the tippy-top as far as I am concerned.

Frank Dihartce has a letter from Dick Lewis from 1984 discussing the oil pan. In the letter to Frank, Dick wrote "... Smokey Yunick told me it was the
last one he had, and that there were six made. It has the numbers "V2 892 872" cast on it, and the pan was discontinued when he rigged up a trick
hidden dry sump system inside the motor."


Photo by Dick Lewis


Photo by Dick Lewis

4042

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Original T/A racing photographs, late 60's & early 70's

« on: May 20, 2011, 06:49:31 PM »

Craig Fisher sent me this photo from a test session done at Marlboro in December 1967. Note the Goodyear tire on the front of the car and Mark with the Firestone patch on his driving uniform. Roger had been a Firestone dealer but they switched to Goodyears at Kent (Washington) for the Trans-Am finale because Mark cut better lap times with them and they were wanting to close out the season with a win (of course). After Kent and this test session, Roger became a Goodyear racing tire distributor and gave up his Firestone franchise.

L-R, Craig Fisher, Mark Donohue, Peter Reinhart pouring oil, and crew chief Roy Gane.

4043

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Cross Ram Hood - Fiberglass -

« on: May 20, 2011, 03:01:20 PM »

I have no knowledge about the cost of making either hood but with the financial resources of GM and the desire to give the Camaro racer the parts deemed necessary to be competitive and win, I'm sure they didn't sweat the cost in the least.

Regarding the weight of the hoods, Frank relays the following to me...

"I never weighed the hoods, but I remember the fiberglass hood was definitely lighter than the steel hood. Wayne Guinn talks of the weight savings in his 'Camaro Untold Secrets' book on page 98: fiberglass hood 35 pounds vs. steel hood 50 pounds; and then factor in hood springs 8 pounds, ZL2 hood plenum valve 5 pounds, upper and lower latch mechanisims 2 pounds = 30 pounds weight reduction."

4044

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: '67-'68 Penske Camaro Sunoco Blue

« on: May 20, 2011, 03:14:10 AM »

Update: A member of the '69 (and later) Penske team has informed me through a friend that Deft was the paint manufacturer used by them at that time.

4045

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Chevrolet Experimental Oil Pan, Oil Pump and Pickup

« on: May 19, 2011, 07:52:31 PM »

Chad, that cast oil pan and the trick pump and pickup... all I can say is WOW.  Really cool.  Thanks for posting it and many, many thanks to Mark for letting it be shown here. The extra photos of the Aviaid pan are a great addition too. I have a photo of another experimental pan I'll try and post in the next day or so.

4046

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Cross Ram Hood - Fiberglass -

« on: May 19, 2011, 07:46:23 PM »

The fiberglass hood would have to be lighter or there would have been no reason to have one. What the weight difference is, I have no idea but I'll ask and see if it can be found out. I think that by acid dipping the hood you would still not get to the weight of the fiberglass version.

4047

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: 1966-1972 Trans-Am race memorabilia [dash plaques, patches, passes, etc]

« on: May 18, 2011, 08:12:49 PM »

I just like this...   

4048

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: '67-'68 Penske Camaro Sunoco Blue

« on: May 18, 2011, 07:53:59 PM »

Proprietary info   If somebody paints their car dark blue that's a threat to a legit Penske car? Not in my book. There have been several clones done as tributes. Whether the color is exactly right or a shade off, a tribute car is just that. A tribute, not a true Penske car.

I should add, if somebody's going to do a tribute with the intent to deceive others as to what it really is, that's something all together different and that will not be supported here in any way. Enough said.

4049

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Cross Ram Hood - Steel -

« on: May 18, 2011, 03:46:39 AM »

Another view of the same hood above.


Photo by Frank DiHartce

4050

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: '67-'68 Penske Camaro Sunoco Blue

« on: May 18, 2011, 03:18:34 AM »

Pat Ryan (who owns the #15 above) says that for Ditzler paint the color codes are...

Sunoco Blue:  12302
 
Sunoco Yellow:  81229

Tom McIntyre says the cars are painted the same color blue that was used on the Sunoco gas pumps.

I hope this information is useful to you.