Looking for a 1969 Camaro. SS/RS or maybe Z/28. Wondering if I should chase matching numbers or not. Any advice is extremely appreciated.

 

Budget would be a big part of that, also your plans for the car. WHy do you want one?

 

Budget is fairly open. I'm leaning towards an LS replant cuz I don't have mechanical skills. I had a 1976 Camaro when I was young and want to get a 1969 to take to car shows.

 

Well if you are doing an LS swap I wouldn't spend the extra money finding a numbers matching car only to ruin it by swapping the motor

 

I'm leaning towards an SS/RS. I guess I shouldn't necessarily say numbers matching because I mean more like should I get an original car that was an SS/RS out of the plant? Feels like I'd want to find an X11, X22, X55 or X66 (if I'm interpreting these codes correctly) and then upgrade the motor to an LS. Does that make any sense at all? Thank you!

 

Well you'll pay a premium for a real deal RS/SS even if it's not numbers matching and since you're planning to do a swap I wouldn't hesitate to pick up a cloned car for less money.
If you want it to be a show car originality is everything,if you want it more as a driver none of that really matters.

 

OP, there are more RS/SS or Z28 cars now than were ever made (read many are just replica cars). Nothing wrong with that if the car is not being sold as "original" or "#'s matching".

I think you would be better off finding a resto build with a LS swap already done

 

That is a very good point especially since the OP stated not having mechanical skills,there's lots of restomods out there already done for sure.

 

I have nothing against LS swaps, Resto builds, etc....but I prefer and have a SBC (crate motor) that is carb and prefer that setup in a 1st gen