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4291

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Gary Morgan Camaro

« on: March 05, 2011, 05:37:09 AM »

Thanks, Bruce. I really enjoyed doing both of those interviews and felt they needed to be shared with others who have a passion for the original Trans-Am series. Both Gary and Dave are great guys with some neat stories to tell. I have more of these interviews in the works and will be posting them when I have them completed.

Gary's car was raced by others well into the '70s. It was restored by a Canadian named Don Wattie who showed it for several years and sold it. I believe it was the next owner who sold it at a Barrett-Jackson auction in 2006 for over $300K. The purchaser was the Texas Motor Speedway Museum. I believe they put it up for sale a year or two ago and it didn't sell. It has never been vintage raced since Wattie restored it.

-Jon

4292

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Intent of the 1st-Gen Trans-Am Camaro Forum

« on: March 04, 2011, 04:56:01 PM »

Thanks to all of you for the compliments. I'm happy to see this start out well and yes, I'm even happy to welcome the Ford, Mopar and AMC guys.

-Jon

4293

Trans-Am Camaros / Racing shock absorbers

« on: March 04, 2011, 03:41:01 AM »

We'll start out with horizontal shocks for the rear suspension. Not everybody used these shocks back then but some did so let's have a look.

First is an NOS set of Koni shocks, part # 76E-1256. These happen to be dated 9-67. Koni called these "axle dampers".

As you can see by the little yellow decal, the poofed-out part of the shock body would face up.

Koni also made these for Mustangs but as you can see, the part that goes forward has a longer extension, probably
to hook up with the factory bracket on a Shelby up inside the car's interior. Koni listed these as part # 76E-1225.

Here's a set of horizontal rear shocks as installed on the '67 Chaffey College Camaro.

Below is an advertisement from Competition Press/Autoweek from the 1969 era. It shows Hi-Tork as a brand of
horizontal racing shock. Note the fancy terminology "hydraulic traction bar". Well, that's pretty much what it is.

Another view of a Hi-Tork horizontal shock mounted on a car.

Yet another angle showing the installation of a Hi-Tork horizontal shock.

Below is a page from the late '67 Koni catalog showing part numbers for Camaro shocks including the horizontal version.
Check out the price of $22. Try finding any Koni shock for $22 now, let alone a pair of these rare horizontal ones!

Make Description Year Front P/N Price Rear P/N Price

4294

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

« on: March 03, 2011, 09:35:04 PM »

Bob Brown in the maroon #5 Camaro and Craig Fisher in the #3. On the grid for the
start of the '67 Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am race. Brown's car was built with the help
of "Murph" Mayberry, same guy who built Mark Donohue's first Z-28. Fisher's car was
built by the legendary Doug Duncan, who resides in the Canadian Motorsports Hall
of Fame. By the way, Craig Fisher is in CMHOF also, both deservedly so.

Photo by Ken Graham

4295

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

« on: March 03, 2011, 09:24:38 PM »

Photo taken on the streets of London, April 1967. This is the "sister car" to the Dana Camaro
driven by Dick Guldstrand. It was built at the same time by Bobby Joe McDonald at Dana Chevrolet
and it was driven by car owner and driver Thomas F. Lynch. It ran as car #28 at Sebring and then
left immediately afterward to race in England and Europe over the summer and then returned
Stateside to race in the Las Vegas 350 Trans-Am in the fall of '67. Raced by Tom in Trans-Am thru 1969.

Photo: Mike Haemmig Collection

4296

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

« on: March 02, 2011, 04:18:59 AM »

Dick Guldstrand in the Dana Chevrolet sponsored Camaro, 1967 Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am.
Dick co-drove with Bob Bondurant in this event.

Dave Friedman photo

4297

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

« on: March 02, 2011, 04:03:37 AM »

Craig Fisher's Z-28 at '67 Sebring tech inspection. This car is a true Z-28 which was repainted
with gold accents by Gorries Chevrolet in Toronto, Canada. Gorries called these cars Black Panthers.
Craig earned the first points for Chevrolet in the Trans-Am by virtue of his second place finish
at the Daytona 300 Trans-Am, Feb 3rd, 1967. Craig also earned the first points for Pontiac in
Trans-Am when he switched to a Firebird in the middle of the '68 racing season. Great driver,
very underrated.

photo by Craig Fisher

4298

Trans-Am Camaros / Intent of the 1st-Gen Trans-Am Camaro Forum

« on: March 02, 2011, 03:25:00 AM »

The intent and purpose of this forum is to educate the 1st-gen Camaro enthusiast about the road racing history of their favorite car and the people involved with racing them back when these cars were new or only a few years old. Many special parts were made specifically for the early Camaro to make it not only competitive with its rival ponycars, but a winner. Here, we have a lot of respect for our competition because they helped make our car better than it may have otherwise been. This forum is meant for discussion of 1st-generation '67-'69 Camaros not only from a historical perspective, but also is open to discussion of their involvement in Historic Trans-Am racing, as seen on the www.historictransam.com website. We also hope to feature interviews and profiles of the people who originally owned, drove and/or engineered these special pieces of racing history. The intent is to grow this forum and topic of discussion to the extent to which it so richly deserves to be done.

4299

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: 302 Chevy engine building articles [late '60 - early '70s]

« on: March 02, 2011, 03:00:00 AM »

From the August 1970 issue of Motorcade magazine.

4300

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

« on: March 02, 2011, 01:07:22 AM »

Bobby Johns driving the #54 Camaro at the Paul Revere 250 night race, 7/4/67. Note Hurst sponsorship. This is the
same car as seen in the previous picture. Car sponsor was Norman Johnson, owner of Miami Speedway Park.

Photo: Daytona Speedway archives

4301

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

« on: March 01, 2011, 11:22:36 PM »

Charlie Kolb #22 Camaro, 1967 Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am tech inspection (downtown Sebring).
I believe the car owner was Porsche racer Fred Baker, from Miami, Fla.

Photo by Craig Fisher

4302

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

« on: March 01, 2011, 11:18:33 PM »

Johnny Moore's Camaro leads the Mustang of Sam Posey during the '68 Daytona 24-Hour race. Moore's Camaro was the first Z-28 sold to the public.

Photo by Bill Warner

4303

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

« on: March 01, 2011, 11:12:36 PM »

Please post only vintage photos from the original era '66-'72. Modern day photos of Historic Trans-Am photos
can be posted in a separate thread or viewed on the Historic Trans-Am website ( www.historictransam.com ).

Mark Donohue's Penske prepared Camaro, Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am, March 1967