Hi...

Mike from Mass here. I'm an old, retired guy, but I've pretty much always had one toy or another including four Vettes (57, 64, 69, 99), a 56 Chevy, 57 Chevy, 58 Pontiac, and some Foreign rides. Currently I'm driving a 2001 Ford SVT Lightning which I've owned since 2006. Love this truck, but I've never owned anything 10 years. Putting the Lightning up for sale soon and then will start searching for my next bucket list ride.

That's going to be a '60's era Camaro or Mustang. For all the Chevy/GM stuff I've had, a Camaro was always "maybe someday". So I figure join a Camaro forum and learn as much as I can before I take the plunge.

So don't make fun of my Ford... It's scary fast, and has won trophies at several shows. Also very loud LOL. But go easy on me, ok?

Mike

 

Nothing wrong, Mike. We can't take it with when we die, so might as well enjoy it
Then let the siblings argue over it later.

Figure out what Camaro you want, search for the 'one'.
Use your gut feeling, you know this, look at your history of ownership.
If picking a 1st Gen Camaro, you should read Camaro Research Group for good info the models came with what options and Trim Tag decoding for the correct options from GM.
Be leary though, there are a lot of fake TT's - base Camaro becomes an SS.
Rally Sport Pkg is an appearance option and 6-cyl/PG (Powerglide) could have it and beware of fake RS pkg's.

 

Welcome to Camaro Forums

 

Just an update. The Lightning is gone as of a week ago, arrived dirty but intact on the west coast yesterday. Those big tandem enclosed transporters must leak like seives.

Have a few Camaros lined up to look at, ones a '69, the other a '67. Both are sort of restomods not numbers matching but that's what I'm after. I'm probably leaning towards a SBC as opposed to a big block, but I also have a lead on a '67 454/Tremec 5-speed as well. Wondered about cars that started off as sixes or small blocks and refitted with big blocks... aside from suspension and cooling, what else could be a negative to look for?

The '69 was rotisseried in 2005, I've seen several pix of it being done, full paint strip, POR15 on all pans top/bottom, rebuilt 4-bolt main 350, .030" over, mild cam, long tubes, 4-speed, new radiator, but not a big aluminum one. Think it's still regular fan as opposed to electrics. Weather permitting I hope to go see it next week. It's a 3 hr drive each way.

The '67 also has a different motor... 383 crate motor, 6-speed trans, subframe connectors, fresh paint, dual fan elec aluminum radiator, looks and sounds nice. It's further away, but I've got a Lightning buddy lives one town over who's going to take a look for me. He was a body shop manager for years, knows performance cars, so he'll check if out and give me the skinny.

Every Mustang Fastback I've corresponded about has been sold LOL, maybe that's an omen.

Mike

 

hay mike welcome to the forum. it looks like your going to use this thread to keep us up so speed on your venture so i moved it to the first generation general section for you. please feel free to do an intro in the new members section anytime. personally i would like to see a picture of the ford if you have any. photobucket works good.

 

Hey, Mike, so you've moved to the Other Coast?
Things to look for - Workmanship for one, body panel alignment.
Only difference between SBC & BBC is coil springs, engine mount brackets - BBC 's are 3/4 inch to the pass side including trans crossmember - and heater core tubes in the engine compartment - SBC is behind the cylinder head, BBC is above the frame rail.

VINS of 12337X, are L6 cylinder Coupe born Camaros'; 12437X are V8 born Coupe, with X being the year of model.
12467X is Convertible.

 

Nope, I'm still right here in western mass. But I sold the Lightning to a fellow in Washington state. Like me, he's an older enthusiast, and he's looking forward to attending shows and cruises with it. I can only post one picture via iPad, I'll edit later on. The truck is turnkey right now to hit the shows. It has custom PPG candy Pearl paint with tribal ghost flames front rear, custom bucket seat interior, fully blinged out engine putting out about 450RWHP/540RWTQ at the rear wheels. The combination of the Magnum Powers blower and pulley setup gets about #16 pounds of boost at wot. It's lowered 3"/4" has a combination of Belltech, GroundForce, Hotchkis TVS, Strange springs shocks, spindles and more underneath. The truck has more than enough power and torque to totally melt the tires off the line, break them loose shifting to 2nd and chirp them going to 3rd LOL. I never raced it, but I suspect with slicks and skinnies it'd be very low 12's or high 11's not bad for 5000 pound brick!

One issue that still confuses me is the crazy tag decoding. Do all gen 1 Camaros have three tag/ID locations? Cowl tag, under the wipers stamp, and the heater box area stamp? Is the Vin anyplace else? I hear all this stuff about donor cars and fake vins, restamping codes, so what really matters? If someone has a bill of sale bc the car is 50 years old and there's no title, what does that mean? Many states here in New England don't issue a title for a 50 year old car, but you can legally register it with a bill of sale. I'm not looking for a numbers matching Jerry M. Certified car, I just want a fun cruiser for a few years before I'm too old to enjoy it lol. So how much concern do I have to have about all these numbers?

Mike

 

Oh okay, still on the Right Coast - cool
'67 = VIN tag riveted to drvr door jam next to dash.
'68 & '69 = dashboard tag.
All have partial VIN stamped at wiper cowl & beneath blower.
If no evidence of one, consider cowl panel replaced - may have been a total loss - std ins company procedure - if firewall damaged = total, or somebody is covering up something.
Trim tag by master cylinder is an assembly line sequence number and some options installed born date, paint code, where built, and model designation, i.e., X33, X77, etc. - build sheet(best), POP, and/or window sticker tells what was born with.

All can be and has been reproduced. One has to ask an expert.
You looking for a nice ride, not an issue for originality - the Camaro of choice is the Camaro catching your eye.
Find the one looking good for you, drive her, enjoy her, and let the next owner worry about this stuff.

Nice Ford - find Moroso speed calculator and enter weight and torque and it will tell you estimated 1/4 mile time and speed.
It is accurate within 5%.

 

Thanks for the overview on the tag stuff. I ran into a guy at a cruise night with a gorgeous silver '69 Camaro last year. It was drop dead clean. So I asked him about it and he said it was brand-new. He built it from scratch using new aftermarket shell and sheetmetal, had a 454 in it, all nice suspension with tubular control arms and stuff. He said he bought a donor car to get the VIN material off of it and had no problem registering it in Massachusetts. Once he removed the VIN stuff from the donor and transferred it, he had the rusted out hulk crushed. It was basically a a throwaway shell, no motor, no running gear, no fenders, truck or interior... rust and rot throughout.

True Lightning racers somehow strip passenger seats, tailgates, and other stuff out, get rid of the heavy OEM wheels, get their weight down to around 4400 or less, then they also will use a separate race tune with C16 or E85 to bump up the HP. Typically, a race tune for my old truck would've been in the neighborhood of 485 RWHP maybe 575 RWTQ. One of my Forum friends had the same basic setup I had, and with his Kirky seat, slicks, skinnies, stripped necessary weight, and #18 pounds of boost he went 11.7 on his race tune IIRC.

Mike

 

Strange ruling for MA on transferring VIN from another vehicle - generally a NO-NO.
Apparently, inspector did not know what he/she was looking for, otherwise, majority of states would have given a kit car VIN - state issued VIN plate as in trailer registering.

His '69 would be one to stay away from.

Not a shabby ET for a heavy vehicle - less weight = free horsepower.