Odd 1967 Pace Car on Canadian Used Car Dealer lot

[Pacecar]

Saw this posted on the Vintage Canadian Dealers site

[crossboss]

Nice, thanks for sharing! Goes back to the simpler times of car dealers...unlike todays 'mega-centers'.

[SMKZ28]

That is a really cool photo with an interesting 1967 Camaro.  Do you know where that dealership was located?  Can you post a link to where you found it?  Thanks!

[maroman]

It appears to have hubcaps.

[67CruiseMaster]

top is black in color

[KurtS]

The dealer was Chatham Motors in Chatham, ONT, between Windsor and London.
No stripes so it's a 327 or L6 car.  Sure looks like it says PACE on the door. Wonder if the source photo is available.

[cook_dw]

.

[67CruiseMaster]

Emblem on the front grill says it only an RS also.

[KurtS]

I'm stymied on what the word before Pace would be....

[bertfam]

I'm stymied on what the word before Pace would be....

Nada?



Seriously, kind of looks like SFDC?

Ed

[cook_dw]

Official

[Mark]

The lettering is orange, the 67 Pace car decals were blue.  Must be some local Canadian Pace car like an SCCA (or the Canadian equivalent), grand prix or some other race that had their own decals made.

[maroman]

Can anyone decide what cars are in the showroom, might determine the year?  Looks like a dark Camaro on the far left with nose stripe.

[crossboss]

The lettering is orange, the 67 Pace car decals were blue.  Must be some local Canadian Pace car like an SCCA (or the Canadian equivalent), grand prix or some other race that had their own decals made.

+1, exactly what I was thinking.

[ZLP955]

Official

That's what I thought, as though someone put the '69 Pacer decals on a '67.

[Mark]

It's a 66 or 67 impala/biscayne next to the Camaro, and the bottom line of text appears to be one line.  The 69 decals text is two lines.  Of course if it was used for something else it wouldn't have Indanapolis 500 mile race and the date on it.

[bertfam]

The lettering is orange, the 67 Pace car decals were blue.  Must be some local Canadian Pace car like an SCCA (or the Canadian equivalent), grand prix or some other race that had their own decals made.

Completely agree. That's why I said I thought it looked something like SFDC.

Ed

[KurtS]

Official

That's what I thought, as though someone put the '69 Pacer decals on a '67.

Doesn't look that long of a word or it would all be scrunched together. Looks like USAC or such.
Scott, what race series initials could it be?

[ZLP955]

Yup it's all in the eye of the beholder. But I thought I was seeing 'official' from the first view of that image. To me, the first picture, although smaller in size, has more clarity than the enlarged version..... and with two narrow letters (capital 'I') in 'OFFICIAL' I still think the length of that first word compared to 'PACE' looks appropriate. I even tried tilting the screen on my device to change the amount of light, reflection etc and am still seeing that word. I guess my brain's reluctant to be persuaded!

[cook_dw]

I agree Tim.  I see official.  Guess we will agree to disagree on this one.

[Petes L48]

If anyone wants to pursue further, I found a Facebook page the other day for Chatham Canada and that same picture appeared waaaaay down in their archived photos.  There were a few comments, and one stated that the same place is now this dealership below.  A couple others commented they worked there back in the day or new someone.  I'll see if I can find the Facebook page again.

https://www.heuvelmanschev.ca/

[SMKZ28]

Official

That's what I thought, as though someone put the '69 Pacer decals on a '67.

Doesn't look that long of a word or it would all be scrunched together. Looks like USAC or such.
Scott, what race series initials could it be?

I've been trying to figure it out as well.  Every time I look at the original picture, non expanded version, I tend to think that it does say "OFFICIAL"
Going on the theory that the dealership provided the Camaro to a local track and then sold it as a used car once the racing season was over, I tried to figure out the race tracks that would have been in Ontario during the time period.  The Wiki list of Canadian race tracks shows many contenders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto_racing_tracks_in_Canada

Paved Ovals:
Barrie Speedway operated between 1965 - 2014 (Barrie, Ontario)
Capital Speedway operated between 1961 - 2014 (Ottawa, Ontario)
Checker Flag Speedway operated between 1961 - 1992 (Windsor, Ontario)
Delaware Speedway opened in 1952 (Delaware, Ontario)
Flamboro Speedway opened in 1961 (Hamilton, Ontario)
Jukasa Motor Speedway (originally called Cayuga Motor Speedway) operated between 1966 - 2010 (Cayuga, Ontario)
Peterborough Speedway opened in 1967 (Peterborough, Ontario)
Pinecrest Speedway operated between 1948 - 1976 (Concord, Ontario)


Road Courses:
Harewood Acres operated between 1956 - 1970 (Nanticoke, Ontario)
Mosport Park (now known as Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) opened in 1960 (Bowmanville, Ontario)

Most of these racetracks are hundreds of Kilometers away from Chatham, Ontario where the dealership was located.  The closest ones were Checker Flag Speedway in Windsor and Delaware Speedway in Delaware.  They are both around 80 Kilometers away.

Now the Mosport Park road course did have a USAC sanctioned race of Indycars or to be period correct, USAC Champ Cars, held on July 1, 1967 but I have yet to find a definitive picture showing what was used as the pace car.

My best guess is that this Camaro was used as a pace car at some local track and put up for sale as a used car when the race season was over or it was traded in on a new car by someone who acquired it from the racetrack.     

[SMKZ28]

If anyone wants to pursue further, I found a Facebook page the other day for Chatham Canada and that same picture appeared waaaaay down in their archived photos.  There were a few comments, and one stated that the same place is now this dealership below.  A couple others commented they worked there back in the day or new someone.  I'll see if I can find the Facebook page again.

https://www.heuvelmanschev.ca/

Thanks for the tip!  Here is a link to the Facebook page you were talking about: https://www.facebook.com/pg/kent.county.ontario.old.photos/photos/?ref=page_internal

The caption for the picture says it is from 1967.  It was posted to this Facebook site in 2013.  See it here: https://www.facebook.com/kent.county.ontario.old.photos/photos/a.392573501842/10151892436401843/?type=3&theater

[SMKZ28]

Now I was originally operating under the assumption that this was a Chevy dealer but on the Facebook page nobody commenting happened to mention this fact.  Also there is nothing on the building indicating that it was a Chevy dealer.  To me it looks like it just sold used cars.  If Chatham Motors did just sell used cars, perhaps they just acquired the car at an auction or where ever used car dealers get there inventory.  I wonder if they kept the decals on the car and sold it as is with a premium or stripped them soon after the picture was taken and just sold it as a regular slightly used Camaro.