Page 34 - March 2022

1969 Chevrolet

Camaro Z/28

through town, I came across a vintage early Plymouth Horizon K-car, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
the “Car that Saved Chrysler,” sitting next to a shed. I was perplexed,
as I had not seen such an early and untouched example for a very long Few cars are as popular as the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Many
time. This ended up being the same house with the Shelby! consider it the top dog when you think classic muscle car. They made
I never trespass, I always go knock on the door first. My life is not a ton; new ones are made every day through new bodies. When you
worth the problems that come from trespassing. The owner was more think of a Camaro, there are a few models that automatically get people
than happy to show me his Horizon. The car had belonged to his mother excited, SS, RS, and Z/28 Camaro. The SS was always the higher horse-
long ago, and when she couldn’t drive anymore, they brought it to their power version of a standard Camaro, the RS had nicer options like extra
home and parked it. It was the first-year model, which is rare since most gauges and fancy headlight covers. And the Z/28 was always meant to
rusted away. Other than some mold and moss, the car was pretty solid. be a race car, and this one in an old Dairy Barn was at some point!
After talking a bit about each other and what I do for a living, he said The Z/28 option package was produced by Chevrolet to allow them
he had something I might be interested in. He walked around the to race a similar model in the Trans Am racing series alongside the Boss
corner and unlocked the single car garage door and flipped the door up, 302 Mustangs, Firebird Trans Ams, and later Plymouth AAR ‘Cudas
revealing the 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang. and Challenger T/As. They needed to produce so many cars to be able
The car had been sitting in the garage for a few decades at this point. to use the car in competition. Nobody knows exactly how many were
Being an engineer at Ford in 1966 and 1967 he bought the Shelby produced, and there have been so many tribute cars built to Z/28
through the company plan and drove the car around the country for specifications. Finding an original untouched one is a rare treat!
years. He has pictures of that car from basically day one. With being A friend of mine from the Dairy State dropped me a picture of this
an engineer, he also knew how everything worked and how it should all Camaro, saying his boss who owned the car would soon be working on
fit together. the car and would I like to check it out before they did anything with
That’s where some letters came into play. it. Only a few hours away, I jumped at the chance as soon as I could.
He had written back and forth with Shelby American discussing the Turned out to be perfect timing when I drove up there in early spring.
horrendous “build quality” in the car. There were holes in the tail Cold enough so there were no bugs or real foliage to deal with, but
panel allowing exhaust into the car and he wrote a long, detailed letter warm enough that you don’t freeze.
to Shelby with diagrams showing the problems in design and My friend and I arrived at the converted dairy barn at the same time,
implementation of the Shelby conversions. This went back and forth so and the owner opened it up for us. Sitting there in the corner was the
long that when Ford took back production of the Shelby Mustangs 1969 Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro. The owner had bought the car around
about halfway through production, the owner got a letter from Shelby 1974 after his previous Z/28 had been stolen. He bought it in
American to take up any further claims with the new company in Milwaukee and bought it basically as it sat in the barn, with side pipes
charge of production! and headers. But all the important parts were left alone – the engine,
After fixing a bunch of little things, and driving the car around the transmission, and rear end assembly are all original to the car.
country, the original engine died, and a replacement short block was Even with the car sitting since roughly 1979, it had been indoors
installed. Not long after that, the car was put into the garage and and dry, unlike many of the cars I come across. That’s not to say it was
really hadn’t moved since. But with my enthusiasm and that of a friend perfect – there was surprising rust along the top of the cowl where the
who runs the Shelby Research Group, we hope to convince him to get windshield ends. The benefit of restoring a Camaro nowadays is
the car dug out and have something done with it before time catches up everything is readily available to put the car back together to better-
to us all. than-new condition.
32 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles