Bullitt, nice to hear from you, and thanks for the nice words. As you know I have been into the oddball 6-banger Camaros for many years. I found that they were usually owned by women and were lucky to have survived to the present day without a V8 swap. I really appreciate finding them here and there, which is not very often due the above mentioned reason. My previous two 6-bangers both had 3-on-the-tree shifters, but their bodies were too far gone to realistically restore them (I would've had $45-50k 6-cylinders, but they would've been NIIICE!).
I go to quite a few shows and there are so many '69 Z28s (no offense to any of you guys on here) that people just walk by them unless they have an unusual color scheme or options. But the 6-cylinder cars usually attract quite a bit of attention due to their uniqueness and rarity. So when I found the latest car I jumped on it right away, and I'm glad I did. I knew it was rare due to its oddball air-cooled transmission, but I didn't think it was possibly THE LAST ONE. I read through the posts on here and Kurt mentioned that he hadn't seen one in a long time and would like to document one, so "Cherry" is on here now for that purpose.
As near as I can determine, I am the 4th owner. The first owner, Heidi S. kept it for only 2 years before getting frustrated enough to sell it in 1971 due to no power options and a funky TD trans. The second owner was a young airman named Ken Dombrowski who was stationed at Scott AFB near Belleville, IL (St. Louis area). He wrote his name in the back of the owner's manual and documented all of the maintenance he did for the next 2 years (from 17k-29k miles). He sold it to a fellow airman named Carlos who separated from the service in 1974 and took it back to his hometown of Santa Fe, NM. When I bought the car there were some State Farm insurance cards with his name and that of his son Miguel in the glovebox. I found Miguel's phone number on "Familytreenow.com" (an excellent and free website that contains the past addresses and frequently phone numbers of nearly everyone in the US...an awesome resource) and called to ask him about the history of the car. His dad drove it rather sparingly until around 1980 or '81 when it had transmission issues and Carlos parked it under a carport behind his mother's house (it had around 54k or 55k miles at that time). Then Carlos and his wife raised 4 kids on his pay as a Santa Fe Public Schools building maintenance man...and the Camaro sat and faded for about 35 years. Carlos' mother passed away and a decision had to be made on the Camaro, so Carlos' kids paid an auto collision shop in Albuquerque that charged them somewhere around $25k to completely restore it (or more...Miguel didn't want to talk about that...the place I bought it from said somewhere between $25-35K was spent on it). The trunk floor, floors, rockers, and front fenders appear to be originals, but the quarters were replaced for an unknown reason (drop offs had some rust and probably could've just been patched, but the body shop replaced the entire quarters). The kids presented it to their dad on Father's Day 2016, but he passed away only 2 years later and the decision was made to sell it to recoup some of the restoration money.
It appears to have all of its original drivetrain components with the exception of the starter. It has really crappy repop door panels (too puffy and not bright red...they are a washed-out tired-looking red) and rear panels that are going bye-bye very quickly (I am currently leaning towards PUI Premium panels from Heartbeat Jim in Mich). I ordered a correct red standard steering wheel with an all-red horn shroud from OER (current shroud has a black center and is incorrect) and am just waiting for it to arrive. The seats are bright red and appear to be as correct as possible. All of the glass is reproduction garbage and is getting yanked out next week to be replaced with a beautiful tinted complete set (except for the windshield) that I've had sitting in storage spaces for the past 20 years...the front windows say "Astro Ventillation" inside the glass...I believe the set is dated for Oct. '68 (I don't know if the car originally had tinted glass, but it will now). I believe the original jack is in the trunk and it appears to be a '68 jack with a '69 load rest, but I can't find a date on the jack mast. I replaced the incorrect Rally wheels that were on the car with a correct set of "FC" coded wheels and NOS PO1 full wheel covers, which is what Heidi said she thought came on it new (she said they were full chrome wheel covers), and she thought it had whitewall tires, but couldn't remember for sure. I had an NOS Firestone Deluxe Champion F78-14 whitewall that I found at Hershey 15 or so years ago, and it is now on one of the original FC wheels and in the trunk. The car had repop taillight lenses and parking lights lenses that are now replaced with nice originals that I had been saving for a car like this, and I put an original driver's side mirror dated 9-68 to replace the repop one. The repop wiper arms are going to be replaced with a nice original set I have with NOS Trico blades. The dash is painted gloss red which is incorrect and that will be properly done maybe next year. I will also try to adjust the fenders to get better gaps (gaps are currently pretty bad). I also have an NOS GM 6-cylinder muffler that will replace the incorrect Walker-made one on it now (not the correct exterior dimensions). My best parts find by-far was locating an original NOS Hefner Chevrolet metal dealer trunk emblem on Ebay (the seller had a few and I bought 2). I still have the original dealer emblem...badly beat-up from 45-plus years of exposure to the elements. I am looking for original bright red windlacing and red seat backs if anyone has those things laying around. Cherry will never get driven a lot of miles, but she will also not be trailered around...she is a wonderful little driver with the sounds and feel of a 6-cylinder Nova (and fantastic gas mileage!). She still has drum brakes all around and seems to stop just fine...no disks in her future. The odometer currently shows 56k miles and I believe that is correct.
The color scheme is off the charts beautiful, and it looks the same as one or two early '69s that GM used in the sales brochure and early ads (Super Sports). The red interior with the red and white exterior make it a very eye-catching ride (but at this point in time, even a Frost Green '69 would attract just as much attention). I think a 6-cylinder Camaro with this color scheme is highly unusual, and I think it is extremely odd that Hefner Chevrolet ordered this car with a 6-cylinder for their first '69 Camaro, but I think they may have done that to keep the window sticker price low to attract buyers (but they had to also know that their first '69 Camaro was going to sell immediately, regardless of how it was equipped). The POP's option line is blank, so she was ordered without a radio or power options (thus keeping the sticker price low). I found a Hugger Orange '69 base coupe a few years ago on Craigslist in NC and almost bought it (it was virtually a twin of Cherry). It had a white vinyl top, white hockey stripe, tinted glass, standard FC coded black wheels (showing it came with full hubcaps), white standard interior, 250 6-cylinder, 3-speed floor-shifted manual (I had a complete 3-on-the-tree setup I planned to swap in just for the weird factor at car shows), no PS or PB, and a lot of rust. But at that time it was the most colorful '69 6-banger Camaro I had ever seen and I felt it was worth a ground-up restoration (I don't really care much about sinking "foolish" money into the right 6-cylinder...that was this orange car). I also recall it was built in the first week of Sept. '68, so I think it may have been a showroom car like mine. Unfortunately, the wife at that time liked to spend my money on stuff she wanted and not stuff I wanted, and some foot-dragging on my part because of the wife caused it to get away. The seller told me it went to a guy who intended to swap a V8 into it...sadness. So when Cherry came along, I worked out the financials without bringing the current wife into the negotiations (it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission...every time!), and she is just as beautiful as the orange rust bucket was when it was new (and even rarer with her TD tranny).
I will continue to post stuff on here that pertains to the oddball 6-bangers. I noticed that in the approximately 4 years that I was off here that there were not a lot of posts regarding 6s. Someone has to carry the torch, right?
I am attaching a couple of photos of the orange rust bucket...crazy rare for a 6-cylinder, don't you think?
PS...Bullitt, next time you're close to Indy give me a call and I'll drive over to Richmond and we can have some coffee or a beer.
