Hello guys,
I am in a dilemma and need some advice. 2 weeks ago I knew absolutely nothing about Camaro's. My 16 year old son really wanted one for his first car so we started looking. A couple months later we found a 1968 4 speed SS car for $1,500 bucks. Thought it would be a great father/son car to build together. Dilemma I'm having is after purchasing car, I found out it is an all original numbers matching car from 1968. The guy I bought it from got it from his Mom when he was 16 and she originally bought it in early 1969. It has been sitting for 16 years in a field. My son and i want to build a car the way we want to and now I am afraid to do this to this car. This car doesn't have power steering or power brakes, nor does it have air conditioning or disc brakes. I want to add all these things to this car but am afraid to ruin its value. I don't really care to own a numbers matching car. Should we just sell it and look for a car that we can do anything we want to it or go ahead and restore this the way we want?
Thanks for your time!
Dave

 

Dont' worry about any of that "numbers matching" stuff for now and build the car they way you want to build it.

Simply pull the motor, throw it on engine stand, put a crate motor on it and put anything you want on the crate motor. Crappy brakes, being replaced with good brakes will never hurt the value of the car.

Sounds like a great find....hopefully the project will take long enough for your son to get a few miles under his belt before driving it. First gens aren't exactly the safest or most survivable car should something happen.

 

any pics of the car? picture of the front engine numbers?
pretty easy to clone a 68 ss as nothing number wise on the car specifies it as being an ss??
just curious as to how you found it to be all original numbers ss??
and for 1500 bucks unless its a vin plate and a title you stole it!!

 

Thanks for the replies!
I'm not much of a mechanic, so putting a motor in and storing the one in it isn't really an option. A couple friends of mine who own and or have owned many Camaro's are the ones who told me it is an original #s matching car. The vin on the engine compartment matches the motor and the transmission. The carburetor and everything are all original Also, the numbers on the rear end are date correct. After My friends told me this info, I called the guy I bought it from and that is when I found out it has been in his family for 42 years. One of the guys who told me this info is Steve from Steve's Camaro's in Granite Bay, Ca. The guy I bought the car from didn't know what he was selling and I didn't know what I was buying.
The car didn't come with the front fenders, just the original hood. I have bought these original parts from Steve's Camaro's since the purchase. The guy I bought it from said he had plans to restore the car and started tearing it apart. His wife through away the parts to the front of the car during a divorce battle. This is probably why he didn't think it was worth much nor did I.

 

Did Steve move his shop? Next time you talk to Steve tell him Steve from Cougar Couriers says, "Hi and I hope life is good enough to keep him smoking those quality stogies." Granite Bay huh, no kidding.

 

I think you are talking about a different Steve. This is Steve@camaro-shop.com. I've done a web search and there is another Steve's camaro shop out there.

 

Hey, build it the way you want, whatever floats your boat. It's not like you took an all original restored car and chopped it apart. But, people still do that too. And yeah, you stole it, without even knowing!

 

I am a little confussed. You said the car need a restoration and you plan on mods but you also say you can not swap the motor cause your not a mechanic. On a scale of one to ten on the difficulty scale swaping a motor in a 68 is a 4. Swaping the motor in a 68 is a 4-6 hour job. Restoring a car that has been sitting in a field for over a decade is more like an 6-7.

You do realize that rebuilding the motor is part of any restoration? Again rebuilding the motor is more difficult then replacing it. Even if this was a low mile near perfect car when it was put away it going to need all new seals and gaskets. The engine will need almost completely disassembled.

I would not turn over a numbers matching 68 SS over to a teenager. I would crate up the original engine and tranny and install something else in there. Most of the modds you mentioned are boltons. As long as you document (take picture) and bag and tag all the parts most collectors would have no problem buying a modified car as long as all the orginal parts come with it. Just dont let the boy cut up the dash or the body.

Now some question for you.
What motor is in it? 350 or 396?
What tranny?
Does it still have it 12 bolt rear?

 

The motor in it is a 350, It has a Muncie 4 speed and original 12 bolt one legger rear end.

So, your saying, as long as I keep the original parts I can do anything and not ruin the value? Because it has drum brakes without power, the steering isn't power, and that's mostly what I wanted to do. I want to add disc up front and power brakes to make it more fun to drive. The original Grotto blue paint is o.k. with me. It also didn't come with a rear spoiler and I'd like to add that but don't want to drill holes in the trunk lid if that takes away value.

I ended up buying another car for my son from Steve at Steve's Camaro's. Its a '67 coup. Steve is going to put it together for us. This way we can put in it what we want and paint it any color we want.
The '68 SS my other friend, who has numerous collector Camaro's, is helping my son and I build. We are actually working on it at his house as he has all the tools necessary and I have none. I would be completely lost without him and would never have even considered buying a car that needed such work.I have pictures, I just don't know how to post them.

Thanks for all the advice!
Dave

 

to post pics sign up for a photobucket account
www.photobucket.com
it makes shareing pics easy
if you got a different car for your boy i would restore the 68 ss to original but adding disc brakes and power steering wont hurt the value at all!
if you want a rear spoiler save the original trunk lid and just use a different one with spoiler or holes for one alreadey drilled. they are pretty cheap like 50-100 bucks
i pulled the engine and trans from my 68 together it made it much easier!
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