i dont think someone would have had the thought to put the big block heater in the car in the 70's also the multileafs are a good indication to a ss car as most non ss cars had monos. there are some that came with the multi leafs such as the l30/m20 camaros of 67 and 68 and i cant remeber what they called the 69s version.

 

the factory spindles are different for drum brakes and disc brakes. If you have the original spindles it should be easy to tell what was on the car from the factory. Factory drums are bolted to the spindle through the drum body, and on a 'drum brake spindle' the boss for the bolt to go into is long, to fit flush with the back of the drum body. Disc brake spindles have a shorter boss, to allow for clearance of the caliper mount. You can check this without removing the drum.
Most aftermarket disc brake kits come with a big spacer specifically for the GM disc brake spindle conversion, so that the aftermarket calipers can mount on either of the two factory spindles.
If you know the spindle on your car is original to the car you can tell if it was a drum or disc from the factory.

 

^ Not to give you a hard time.....well, maybe a little!
Let's say I replaced my original front drum brakes with a used original disc setup (including the spindles) I bought off ebay. And it would all look original to the car.
Now taking a second look at it, what brakes then came on my car from the factory?

 

Camaro 69, yes, you could have a full replacement brake and spindle set onto a car from another car, or ebay, but you have to do the best you can with what you know to be the history of your car. There is no guarantee, but, it is more likely to be original item than say, a part that is often changed, like a hood. Most people prefer to upgrade to better brakes for safety and performance. Some folks might restore a car to manual drums for originality I suppose.
The original post was for information to help the owner tell what sort of brakes were original on his car. I think the information I wrote will help him, so long as the spindles are the original set.
I guess if you changed out everything like you suggested (I think you are not really serious) there would be some subtle things different. The brake master, the proportioning valve and I think the line dimeter are different on a factory disc brake car. I have done the front disc mod on my car, and I did consider changing out everything, but a lot of things did not need to be adjusted or changed, and the brakes worked perfectly, and with a big improvement. I am changing out the brakes again this year to 4 wheel disc system from willwood.

 

Thanks for all the input. But my original post was to find out if all 69 camaros with a big block were an SS ? Or, was it possible to have a big block in it from the factory and it not be an SS ? I have owned a lot of 67-69 camaros since 1975 and have built a lot and seen a lot of different options and have also switched parts from one car to another. But this car doesn't have anything to indicate it being a big block car except that it has the big block frame mounts and big block heater in the firewall. And it was sitting up for years and doesn't look like it was changed. But I do agree that the disc brakes and rear end could have been removed very easily. And there is no Tach are console. Thanks for all you input.

 

the tach and console were options. so they dont show anything because any car could have those options

 

Yes I know the tach was an option I was just letting everyone know that it does not have one. Thanks for all the input on this post. but I still have not has my festoon about the big block option = SS ?

 

It was answered in one of the first responses. Big block car = SS car. GM didn't put the big block in a non-SS model.
"festoon"?

 

I'll bet that you could walk into a dealer in 1969 and say, "I want a non-SS Camaro with a big block in it" and you could have one ordered for you.

The probability of that however, when the SS was likely on the showroom floor is unlikely, but possible.

JV

 

^no you couldnt big block IS THE main thing of the ss package no big block no ss car. in 67 and 68 the lines are kinda blurred with the small block cars.