I live in Alaska and found a beautiful 1969 Camaro SS for sale last year. It’s been garage kept and well taken care of from what I can tell and aside from some minor tuning issues (it has an EFI….), she runs like a champ. My issue is I can’t seem to find any concrete data other than what the previous owner has told me. I’ve run the VIN and the Trim Tag but still can’t seem to figure out what she was originally. I’m fairly certain it’s a clone but love her just the same…
Any helo would be greatly appreciated.

 

if you have pictures of cowl and VIN tag you can break down the #'s on this site

Camaro Research Group (camaros.org)

Sadly many 1st gens are misrepresented. Yours may not be but worth checking the #'s. With that said many have been modified and no longer have the engine, trans or rear end they came with which is not a problem unless it is being presented and $ is for a true #'s matching car

 

There is no way to be 100% sure how your car started life. The 67 was the last year they listed all the options on the cowl tag. The build sheet would be your best bet. The factory would have put it under the rear seat or on top of the gas tank. Most of these cars have had the seats out several times and most have had the gas tank replaced. If the paper was found pre 90's then it was probably thrown away if it was found after 2000 it would have been laminated and kept with the car.

For car value
If the build sheet is gone you could try to find early owners, A photo from 1971 of a SS car with a signed letter would go a long way. At one show I saw a lady showing her dads 69 Z28 she had a speeding ticket in his name that listed the car model as a Z28. She had it framed. The reason she went to all that trouble was you can get any paper work GM made reproduced and aged so even experts struggle to tell if it is real. The document look very good. Makes sense, they had to change money because you could just run it through a color copier. GM just used regular forms.

 

These cars are at an age now where most have had many parts replaced but the SS should have front disc brakes and a multileaf 12 bolt rear end.
You didn't say what motor or trans just EFI so that makes me wonder if it's an aftermarket EFI on an old school motor or does it have a modern motor swap in place?
If it's a 4 speed stick it should me a Muncie not a Saginaw or BW T-10.
If the car was a big block SS 396 a tell tale sign would be the heater core hose connections,big block cars the hoses connect out closer to the fender because the cylinder head won't clear the standard heater core position.
Here's a couple pics,first small then big,it'd be doubtful someone would change the big block style for an LS or small block swap,that said many were changed for a big block swap.
Like Gorn said without the build sheet you'll never know for sure but if all these boxes are checked it increases the possibility along with others like a console with gauges.
Here's a good read: https://www.motortrend.com/features/...0three%2Dspeed.

 

The trim tag doesn’t seem to have all of the info to identify how it came out of the factory. (SS, RS, Z28, etc…)

 

There is information at that site that can be helpful. All you can really do is prove it could be an SS. or a Z28. Some of the codes would make it unlikely to be an SS. Since I own a 67 I have never dug into it deeply but there is an X code that needs to be there on some of the cars or it is not a SS. RS is an appearance package so it is not hard to clone but it is pricey to do it right. Hide away headlight kits are not cheap. I do find it funny that a true SS is worth more then a regular car even if the car has and upgraded drive line. I mean when the body was made no one knew if it was going to be an big block SS or a 6 cylinder. You strip away all the parts that made it an SS and upgrade them why would it matter.

It used to be the SS is number matching or not. If it is not numbers matching none of this matters. Its like that with most other cars. For the longest time I held the belief that it does not matter if its a SS if the numbers do not match but reality is if you can prove the car is a factory SS it is worth more money. It seems artificial to me but it is real. Also most people do not care what anyone says its what can you prove. There are just so many clones out there and every one has a story of how it is a real SS. I have had people tell me their numbers matching 327 was a rare SS. Even number matching does not as much as you think. The machine GM used to stamp the blocks was found in a scrap yard. All you have to do is find a motor with the correct casting date and have the block milled off and re-stamped.

You can build a clone that is undetectable.

I telling you all this because you should understand that the cloning of SS's has been going on for 35-40 years. Every time someone found something wrong with a clone it was noted and fixed its to the point I would guess about 1/3 of the best high end cars are fakes that no one can prove are fakes.

 

OP

A Reall SS had 12 bolt rear end. If the date code (typically a few weeks before the car build date) on it is correct for the "build date" of car that is a good sign it is a SS. Same for the engine block # on PS

With that said both those parts could have been replaced but cars that are "clone" would have rear end or engine block build date later than car build date

There are more Z28 on the road today than were ever made.