Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - SMKZ28

Pages: 1 ... 9 10 [11] 12 13
151
A white 1967 Camaro RS/SS convertible was used as the pace car for the fifth event of the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) 1967 Trans-Am series held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.  The event took place on Sunday, June 11, 1967 and was won by Jerry Titus in a Mustang.  George Follmer gave a Camaro its best finish of third in the #16 Penske entered machine.  He was substituting for Mark Donohue who was in France racing at the 24 Hours of LeMans. 

The interesting thing about the pace car is that it looks like a 1967 Indy Pace Car replica but the nose stripe and the pin stripe seems to be black instead of blue.  This Trans Am event would have taken place less than two weeks after the 1967 Indianapolis 500.  The car has the rally wheels but Tom McGinnity at the Camaro Pace Car web site believes that "the door decal is installed off from the parameters set by the cars that were at Indy...and crooked to boot."  I'm not sure if any more information has surfaced but back in 2012 Tom also stated, "I wonder WHERE they got the decals...We have never been able to lock down how they existed or even a part #."  Where ever it was procured the decal placed on the door does not include the portion that states, "51st Annual Indianapolis 500 Mile Race - May 30, 1967."

1st picture:  This is a picture that appears in a pictorial retrospective of the Trans Am race on page 6 of the program for the SCCA Nationals that took place July 15-16, 1967.  It was posted in the Trans Am section of CRG.

2nd picture: The entire page from the SCCA Nationals program. (CRG Trans Am section)

3rd picture:  This picture appears in the July, 1967 edition of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Newsletter.  Jon Mello posted it on the 9th page of the 1967 Trans Am season review in the Trans Am section of CRG here: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=11290.120

4th picture: The entire page from the Newsletter.

152
A dark colored 1967 Camaro RS coupe was used as the official pace car of Virginia International Raceway (VIR) located in Alton, Virginia.  While a cool photo of the VIR Camaro pace car exists, no photographic evidence links it to a particular race.  While VIR did hold an SCCA Trans Am event in July of 1966 this would have been too early for it to be used as the pace car because the Camaro itself wasn't introduced until the end of September 1966.  The car could have been used at the track for the 1966 October SCCA Regional Races held on October 14-15, 1966 but it is more likely that the picture was taken during the April 1967 SCCA National Races held April 29-30, 1967.  This would have been the most important event held at the track during their 1967 racing season.

Notice that the car has the standard wheel covers and white wall tires.  The sticker/decal on the door of the car mentions the name of what appears to be "Tamson Chevrolet" of Danville, Virginia.

1st picture: 1967 Camaro RS pace car (http://www.virhistory.com/vir/press/full01.htm)

2nd picture: Program cover from April 1967 SCCA National Races held April 29-30, 1967. (http://virhistory.com/vir/67-apr/index.htm)

153
Less than a week after the rain delayed 1967 Indianapolis 500, a white 1967 Camaro RS/SS 350 convertible with light blue interior was used as the pace car for the Rex Mays Classic United States Auto Club (USAC) Championship Car event held at State Fair Park Speedway (currently known as the Milwaukee Mile) in West Allis, Wisconsin.  This was the follow up race to the Indianapolis 500 on the USAC Championship Trail (Indycars) and it took place on Sunday, June 4, 1967.  Gordon Johncock started on the pole and won the 150 mile race in his Gerhardt Ford.

The color picture demonstrates that the car had the same blue interior, blue nose stripe and door decal as the Indianapolis 500 pace car.  Differences include the Mag style wheel covers, bumper guards, the words "East Side" written in cursive on the rear fenders and "EAST SIDE CHEVROLET" written in block letters across the hood.  Although the resolution isn't very sharp, it seems to me that the words on the door sticker/decal are the same as at the Indianapolis 500.  I'm not sure if East Side Chevrolet acquired one of the Festival Cars used during the month of May in Indianapolis or if this car was held in reserve to only be the pace car in Milwaukee.  Either way there were not many 1967 Indy Pace Car Camaros equipped with the Mag style wheel covers.  The shape of the badge on the front fender seems to indicate that this car had the 350 as opposed to the 396 featured in the actual Indianapolis 500 pace cars and a few Festival Cars.

1st picture: I found this color picture 5 or 6 years ago at a web site called Wisconsin Racing Photos Online.  Sadly, it no longer exists.

2nd picture: Close up of the Camaro RS/SS convertible pace car from the previously mentioned web site.

3rd picture: This black and white picture captured the Camaro RS/SS convertible pace car heading the opposite direction on the race track from the way the race is run.  I found it at www.pinterest.com

154
A 1967 Camaro coupe with Mag style wheel covers and white wall tires was used as the pace car for the Columbus Motor Speedway back in 1967. Opened in 1945 as a dirt track for motorcycle racing, by 1957 Columbus Motor Speedway was a 1/3 mile paved asphalt oval and figure 8 racing track used mostly for stock car racing.  Closed and demolished in 2016, the track was located south of Columbus, Ohio within the town limits of Obetz.
 
Notice in the picture that the pace car was “sponsored by Bobb Chevrolet.”  I’m not sure who “Ron Perry” was but Bobb Chevrolet was located on the south side of Columbus at 621 Parsons Avenue.  The Camaro was lettered by the Columbus Sign Company which still exists and has been in business since 1911.
 
While the words on the front fender of the Camaro read, “RACING SUNDAY NITE” and an advertisement mentions “LATE MODELS AND HOBBY STOCKS SUNDAY NIGHTS,” the most prominent racing events to take place at the track during the 1967 racing season were the two Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) stock car races held on Saturday, July 22, 1967 and Saturday, September 23, 1967.  While I’m not sure how long the track used the 1967 Camaro coupe as their pace car, it was more than likely used to pace these two races.
 
1st/2nd pictures: Cropped and original versions found here: https://columbussign.com/1960sVehicleSigns_CSC.html

3rd picture: Ad from 1960’s for Columbus Motor Speedway: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143389739130593/photos/

155
A white or cream colored 1967 Camaro RS/SS350 convertible with Mag style wheel covers was used as the pace car for several races during the famed Bahama Speed Weeks in December of 1966.  In addition, a stock appearing, blue 1967 Camaro convertible with rally wheels and blue line tires was raced in one of the events by American race driver Mike Rothschild.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but this just might be the first time that a Camaro appeared in a major road race.  Camaros participated in the 6th Annual Daytona Continental 24 Hours but this wouldn’t take place until February 1967.
     
The Bahama Speed Weeks was a week-long racing event that took place on an old air base known as Oakes Field Course on New Providence Island in the Bahamas at the end of the calendar year.  It originally started out in 1954 as a promotional ploy to get more tourists to come to the Bahamas.  The racers and crews used the week for rest, relaxation, partying and testing.  Racers from all over the globe participated in the events because it always occurred in late November and early December.  This was a period on the calendar when most racing series were dormant.  As it turned out, 1966 was the last year the event was held until the recent vintage race revivals.
 
The week-long event consisted of several races.  Some began with a pace car in a rolling start and some started with the traditional “LeMans” start where the drivers ran to their cars, got in and took off as soon as they got the car started.
 
For the most part, the pictures I will post were taken during two races held on Friday, December 2, 1966.  These were the Governor’s Trophy/Nassau Tourist Trophy race and the Grand Prix of Volkswagens.  The Governor’s Trophy race and Nassau Tourist Trophy race were supposed to be two separate events.  The latter was originally scheduled to be run earlier in the week, but according to an article entitled “THE BUG IS SMALL—BUT OH MY!” in the December 12, 1966 edition of Sports Illustrated, “a shipping foul-up caused a three-day delay in getting the 106 cars from Miami to Nassau and resulted in a five-day postponement of the Nassau Tourist Trophy Race for Grand Touring cars.”  As a result the Grand Touring cars ran with the Group 7 prototype sports cars in the combined event.  Read the Sports Illustrated article here: https://www.si.com/vault/1966/12/12/609293/the-bug-is-smallbut-oh-my

These three pictures show the 1967 Camaro RS/SS 350 convertible pace car as it leads the race cars at the start of the pace lap for the combined Governor's Trophy/Nassau Tourist Trophy race held on Friday, December 2, 1966.  They come from the Revs Digital Library.  Click on the links to use the magnification tools.

1st picture: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/4552/rec/34

2nd picture: Metadata from this picture states, "The Chevrolet Camaro pace car brings the field down the main straight. Directly behind the pace car is Mark Donohue driving car number 7, a Lola T70 Mk II. Front row on the left is Hap Sharp driving car number 65, a Chaparral 2E. Two cars directly behind the pace car is A.J. Foyt driving car number 83, Lola T70 Ford 427. Behind car number 65 is Skip Scott driving car number 91, a McLaren Elva Mk II. Front row, far right is Peter Revson in car number 92, a McLaren Elva Mk II. Just behind is Sam Posey in car number 82, a McLaren Elva Mk II. To the left is John Fulp driving car number 26, a Lola T70 MkII: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/3975/rec/416

3rd picture: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/7576/rec/28

156
A 1967 Camaro RS convertible was used in some type of official capacity at the Monterey Grand Prix held at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California on October 16, 1966.  This was the fourth event of the inaugural season for the SCCA Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am.)  In addition to Rally Sport equipment, the picture shows the car also had rally wheels, white wall tires and bumper guards.  This event was held a little more than two weeks after the Camaro was officially introduced to the public on September 29, 1966.  It was won by Phil Hill in a Chevy powered Chaparral 2E.

Parnelli Jones can be seen in the white Firestone race suit on the drivers side of the Camaro.  He won the 2nd of two 53 lap heats.  Phil Hill won the first heat and came in 2nd place in the second and was declared the overall winner of the event. 

A sticker/decal on the door of the Camaro says "SCRAMP OFFICIAL."  SCRAMP stands for the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula which put on the event.  Notice the car has Manufacturer license plates.

Both pictures came from the Dave Friedman Collection Flickr page.

1st picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/6909587753/in/album-72157629400762755/

2nd picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/6909693913/in/album-72157629400762755/

157
I recently came across a couple of cool pictures showing two different 1967 Camaro convertible Indy 500 pace cars with the name of Indianapolis, Indiana Chevrolet dealer Bill Kuhn broadcast on the rear fenders.  One of the cars looks to be an SS 396 with the optional Mag Style wheel covers and red line tires.  The other looks to be just a rally sport (non SS) with the standard wheel covers and white wall tires.  Original Chevrolet documents show that Bill Kuhn was one of the Indianapolis Chevrolet dealers tasked with being able to "receive and make ready" a portion of the Festival Camaros. 

I found the pictures at a web site called worthpoint.com, which is "the largest resource for identifying, researching and valuing antiques, art and vintage collectibles."  The two pictures were part of past auctions on Ebay.  They sold on April 11, 2015.  Part of the listing for each picture states, "this is an original photo taken at an unidentified parade back in 1967." 

I'm not sure if they were taken during the Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade that took place through the streets of Indianapolis on Sunday, May 28, 1967 or some other function.  According to the Official Program for the parade, there was an event that took place on Saturday, May 20, 1967 called the "Salute to the Armed Forces."  Since the one picture shows a Camaro full of military personnel, might this have been the event? 
Does anyone from Indianapolis recognize the building in the background?  You can see buy the stamp on the right side of each picture that they were developed in "June 1967." This is the right time frame for them to have been taken in May 1967. 

I was deep into pace car research back when these were being auctioned and I wonder how I missed these two cool pictures.  I have not seen these particular pictures before and I don't recall ever seeing "Bill Kuhn" written on any pace car before. 

Camaro SS 396 with Mag wheel covers: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-photo-1967-indy-500-camaro-1725442639

Camaro with standard wheel covers: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-photo-1967-indy-500-camaro-1725442638

Document: http://www.67pacecarregistry.com/pace-car-model-trivia.html

1967 Indy 500 Festival Parade Official Program (page 5 has schedule of events): http://ulib.iupuidigital.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/Indy500Fest/id/3224/rec/1

158
Visiting the Chicago Auto Show this past February inspired me to start researching a new first generation Camaro topic.  I thought I would gather together the images and information showcasing the participation of 1967-1969 Camaros in major Auto Shows and Chevrolet produced promotional exhibits/tours back when they were new.
 
While media coverage and multiple different facets of advertising and promotion were used to get people interested in the new Camaro, there is nothing like seeing a new car in person.  Auto Shows and traveling promotional exhibits give automakers a venue to introduce new models, new packages and concept cars to an interested and receptive public.  These notions haven’t changed in over a century of automobile manufacturing and probably never will.
 
I have uncovered so much information on this topic that I have decided to split all of it up into three separate threads devoted to each model year of the first generation Camaro.  This thread will be limited to Auto Shows and promotional exhibits/tours that showcased the 1967 model year Camaro.  These events took place between the summer of 1966 and the summer of 1967.  I will present the information chronologically, starting with a little background on how this new car received its name.

Enjoy!



159
An article entitled 12,500 Allison Folks See the New GM Cars appears in the October 7, 1966 AllisoNews, v. 26, no. 8.  It features a picture of a base model coupe.  The copy states, "The annual Allison new car preview drew thousands of Allison employees and members of their families to the POWERAMA last week to look at the new 1967 General Motors automobiles. Some 12,500 people came to see the various GM models, each of which now bears the new General Motors Mark of Excellence and comes with a variety of new safely features and an expanded and improved warranty. The striking Chevrolet Camaro, GM's newest small sports ear, drew the attention of young and old alike. Although the new car preview is officially over, powerama will display other new GM ears as they are available in the weeks to come." 

I was wondering what Powerama was and it turns out that it was a large display area of the Allison plant featuring products built by the Allison division.

I found it at the Digital Collections of IUPUI University Library.  Use the tools to zoom in here: http://ulib.iupuidigital.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/AT/id/11391/rec/2



160
I just found this cool picture of a 1967 Camaro convertible with a totally unique sticker/decal on the door that states, CAMARO! OFFICIAL PACE CAR "500" with a race car and some racing  flags surrounding it.  I have never seen this before.  It appears in an ad for Nankivell Chevrolet on page 128 of the Emmerich Manual High School yearbook entitled, Ivian, 1967.  The copy states, "Festival Special! Seniors Susan Williams and Bill Baron admire the "500" pace car, the Camaro, on display at Nankivell Chevrolet. NANKIVELL CHEVROLET, INC. 3800 South U. S. 31"  I found it at the Indianapolis Library Digital Collection: http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/emhs/id/3546/show/3525/rec/8

Obviously the regular door decal of the Indy Pace Car does not appear on this car and the interior looks to be too dark for the blue interior of a Festival Car, so they might have just put these stickers/decals on all the other Camaros they had in the showroom to help promote the fact that the Camaro was the Pace Car that year.  Just a thought.


161
A couple of days ago in a different thread of mine, CRG Member "Pacecar" asked about any 1969 pictures from Mosport and I replied that, "I believe that Mosport was using Ford products during the 1969 race season.  I have several pictures showing that a 1969 Ford Torino GT convertible was used as the pace car for the F5000/Continental event, Canadian Touring Trophy race and the Can Am race.   I also have a picture showing that at least one 1969 Mustang convertible was used for the driver introduction lap prior to the Formula One race that year.  I'll keep looking though." 

Well, it turns out after I did some more research I found photographic evidence that a 1969 Indy Pace Car Camaro was used to pace the rainy Gulf Canadian Road Racing Championship event held at Mosport Park on May 18, 1969.  The cool thing about this date is that it preceded the 1969 Indy 500 by twelve days.  The 500 was run on May 30th.  There are only a few other race events that used a 1969 Camaro Indy Pace Car prior to the Indy 500, several more were used after it.  (Threads on all of these cars to follow)  I can only surmise that the powers that be at Mosport Park severed their ties with Chevrolet immediately after this event was held because the Can Am race and it's support races took place on May 31st and June 1st of 1969.   Those events were paced by a 1969 Ford Torino GT convertible.  Another plausible explanation is that possibly the Camaro was used by the Series itself to pace all of their races across Canada but I haven't been able find any other images to confirm this.  I wonder if this is the same Camaro that was used at St. Jovite during their 1969 race season?  See my thread on that car here: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=16186.0


The Gulf Canadian Road Racing Championship was for Formula A & Formula B race cars.  According to the Old Racing Cars web site, "The Canadian Road Racing Championship was first organised by CASC as a series for sports car racing in the early 1960s but it achieved little coverage or recognition until the end of the decade when Gulf Canada stepped in to sponsor a revised championship. CASC were persuaded by Peter Broeker to move to single-seater racing for 1969 and to adopt the SCCA's 1600cc Formula B class, but after pressure from the Ontario region, the new 5-litre Formula A cars were also included.  A number of Canada's top drivers entered the series, Bill Brack, George Eaton and Eppie Wietzes proving the most competitive but they were ably supported by Horst Kroll, Al Pease and Nat Adams. Wietzes won the first title in his Lola T142 and swapped to a McLaren M10B for 1970, winning more comfortably that season. Brack acquired a new Lola T142 and Ludwig Heimrath a McLaren but there was insufficient depth on the Formula A class and most of the exciting racing was in the cheaper and flourishing Formula B class. In Formula A, the prize money available wasn't enough to cover expenses. For 1971, CASC dropped Formula A and continued just with the 1600cc cars." http://www.oldracingcars.com/canada/ 

According to Canadian Racer web site, "Over 4,500 fans showed up in very rainy conditions for that first race. George Eaton jumped out into the early lead but spun in Moss Corner (corner 5) and Bill Brack slipped past to take a 25 second lead. Eppie Weitzes had a broken rear wing, forcing him to pit to have it removed. Without the wing he was not competitive. George Eaton charged back through the field and taking advantage of Brack's faltering engine, caught the leader on lap 25 and passed him to retake the lead. Tony Simms lost a wheel on lap 32 and crashed hard causing considerable damage to his car; fortunately he was not hurt." http://www.canadianracer.com/formula-a.asp   

I found the first picture at the "Remembering Mosport" Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mosport/?hc_ref=ARR7SmjodX8X2Zte7o4xtjBQX8RFEDZSKw8WqWPiSb8VM-veOz2C6FQC52s1HicfPzw

2nd picture was posted by Robert Barg in the Trans Am section of this web site.  It shows the Torino in front of the grid for the Canadian Touring Trophy race, which was a support race for the Can Am event.  I believe Robert participated in this event.

3rd picture shows the same Torino above the big wing of the victorious #4 McLaren Chevy M8B of Bruce McLaren.  It came from here: http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/185598/rec/90

162
Check out this cool display of a 1967 Camaro used in a life size 50th Anniversary Hot Wheels package sitting outside the entrance to the 69th International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany on January 31, 2018.

The first picture is from here: https://www.gettyimages.com/license/913192080 

The metadata states, "Visitors stand in front of a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, presented in an oversized packaging to mark the 50th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand, at the 69th International Toy Fair (Spielwarenmesse) in Nuremberg, southern Germany, on January 31, 2018. The Nuremberg toy fair, the world's largest, opened its doors this week to an industry in the throes of reinvention as toymakers vie for the attention of children increasingly glued to smartphones and tablets. / AFP PHOTO / dpa / Daniel Karmann / Germany OUT / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Michelle FITZPATRICK (Photo credit should read DANIEL KARMANN/AFP/Getty Images)"

The second picture came from here: http://picstame.com/tag/industrialdesigner

163
Twelve days after Chevy general manager Pete Estes unveiled the new Camaro to the press at a GM Proving Ground press conference on September 12, 1966, the public got their first sight of Chevy’s entry into the pony car segment at the Canadian Grand Prix for the Pepsi-Cola Trophy.
 
This race was the third event of a total of six for the inaugural Sports Car Club of America’s Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) which featured fire breathing V-8 sports racing cars confirming to FIA Group 7 rules.  It was held at the ten turn road course known as Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on Saturday, September 24, 1966.  Mark Donohue won the race in his Sunoco sponsored Chevy powered Penske Lola T70.  The interesting thing is that this race occurred five days before the Camaro could be seen for the first time at Chevy dealer showrooms on Thursday, September 29, 1966.  As a result, the people who attended the race in Canada might have been the first people, not in the press, to actually see the new Camaro in person!
 
Twenty-five Camaros were provided by General Motors to help promote the new car line to the automotive and motor racing enthusiasts attending the race.  Fifteen of these Camaros were convertibles used during a driver introduction lap of the track prior to the start of the event.  Another was a Granada Gold 1967 RS/SS 350 coupe that was the first Camaro ever to be used as a pace car for a major auto race!  According to Tom McGinnity of the Camaro Pace Car site, this Camaro might have been a pilot car.  In the thread on this car that no longer exists, Tom wrote that, “those tires are NOT production!  It looks to me that the stripe is pre-production and goes deep past the bumper!  I see no engine side emblem on the side of the front fender under the Camaro emblem.”  I certainly am not an expert, so maybe those that are can give their opinions on this subject.
 
I was fortunate enough to have been given the holy grail of documentation for this particular race by Mike Scott, a life-long resident of Ontario, Canada.  Back in 2013 he sent me scans of a little known periodical he has had in his possession since 1966!  Mike is a frequent contributor to the Trans Am section of CRG.

As a back story, Mike told me that in September 1966 he was fifteen years old and he and his father attended the Can Am race at Mosport.  Back then his father was an hourly employee in the Oshawa plant working in Quality Control.  As an employee of General Motors in Canada he received an “official monthly publication of the Communication Section, Public Relations Department, General Motors of Canada, Limited” called GM Topics.  The November 1966 edition of GM Topics (vol. 17, Number 9) features a four page article entitled, “Meet the Camaro,” along with fantastic pictures on the cover.  The article chronicles the FIRST public viewing of the Camaro at Mosport Park during the weekend festivities centered on the Can Am event.  Mike and his father were two of the spectators at this race who were fortunate to see the new Camaro in person before the rest of the world!  The Camaro hobby is fortunate that he kept his issue of GM Topics all these years and that he was kind enough to scan and have it shared with those who are interested in this little known but important part of Camaro history.   

The first attachment shows the cover of the periodical and the following description of it appears on the following page in small print:

“On the cover: Bedecked with flags and strutting its stuff the Camaro SS350 rally sport pace car gets set to lead the racing machines off on the second pace lap of the day at the Grand Prix held at Mosport Park.  The gold pace car with its ‘bumble-bee’ paint striping attracted a lot of attention, not only at the display area and as the pace car but also in the Parade of Champions held prior to the race.  The drivers were taken around the track in 15 Camaro convertibles, two of which are shown in our cover shot.”

So, fifteen new Camaro (non RS and non SS) convertibles were used to chauffeur the drivers around the track prior to the race.  Since there were 30 drivers entered in the race, there must have been two drivers per Camaro in the parade.  In the picture you can see there are two name decals on each car, one on the door and one on the rear quarter panel.  Mike even recalled his Dad “telling me about the cars for the race arriving at the plant in Oshawa.”

164
After posting color pictures of a couple of the 1967 Camaro RS/SS convertibles used to pull floats in the 1966 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as a reply to another thread I thought I would make a new thread on the subject so it can be found in the future by the subject line and so any new information/pictures can be added in the future. 

On November 24, 1966, several 1967 RS/SS Camaro Convertibles were used to pull multiple different floats in the 1966 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  After doing more research on the subject, I found some black and white film footage taken of the parade on Youtube that shows at least thirteen different Camaros officially involved in the parade.  Interestingly, in an old thread on the Camaro Pace Car web site about these cars Geoff Smith stated, "There is a GM memo somewhere commenting on the Chevy cars to be used here.  From memory there was about 20 Camaros and a hand full of Impalas too."  Since no Impalas show up in the film, who knows how many other Camaros or other Chevy products were used in the parade but not filmed. 

Chevy made a wise decision to use the parade as a way to get their brand new Camaro in front of a huge audience of potential customers.  According to Wikipedia, "more than 44 million people watch the parade on television on an annual basis."  In addition, an average of 3.5 million people watch it in person.  These figures are probably for modern times.  They might have even been larger back in 1966 since only three networks existed back then and not the proliferation of channels and other media that can be viewed today.  While the parade lasted three hours in person, the NBC network broadcast a two-hour telecast of the event in color.  Lorne Green and Betty White were the hosts.  It would be cool to see this color broadcast but alas I have not been able to find it anywhere.  If anyone has any information, personal pictures or home movies of this event please share.  Thanks.   

The first picture is part of an article that appeared in the September 2013 edition of Racer Magazine on the 1966 racing movie starring James Garner entitled Grand Prix.  The caption for this picture states, "Prior to its Dec. 1966 opening, Grand Prix takes center stage at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York. Yes, that is a somewhat bemused '66 Formula 1 World Champion Jack Brabham on the float." 

The second is from home movie footage of the parade that can be seen on Youtube here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...TQLHuWhqFt6q--N0IcK7   Two different Camaros can be seen towing floats.  I took a picture of the Camaro towing the Grand Prix float that can be seen at 1:50 in the footage.

The third picture was provided by the aforementioned Geoff Smith in the Camaro Pace Car site thread 

 

165
I have come across some cool color film footage on Youtube that shows that multiple yellow 1969 Camaro RS/SS Convertibles with Endura bumpers were used to parade some of the race drivers around the track prior to the Labatt's 50 SCCA Can-Am event held at Le Cirquit Mont-Tremblant, St. Jovite, Quebec, Canada on June 15, 1969.  The other drivers were chauffeured around in multiple orange 1969 Firebird 400(?) convertibles and multiple green 1969 GTO convertibles.  See the footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_-3wo6uiAw  The title is mislabeled "1968" but it is definitely 1969.

Pages: 1 ... 9 10 [11] 12 13