I have been on a slow daunting search for my dads 69 Camaro for a while and have come up short so thought I'd do a bit of a start-over to see if any new info could be obtained. So if you are on a few sites..you may see this same thread but hope to "flood the net" and maybe catch a clue?!?! A little on the car in case it has been restored it back to original..Its was bought new and originally a SS 350, 4sp Glacier Blue w/Blue Int, center console w/o gauges, Blue Vinyl Top, No spoilers, steel wheels and the hockey stripes. Sold at Katina Chevy in Belair Ohio where it was purchased with cash. Shortly after he got it he added some 70s style Paint(hoping this sparks a memory with someone!?), A bunch of engine chrome(best friend had a re-chrome business), Front and rear spoilers, Crager SS's, Line lock and it may have had a built 327/375 engine transferred into it(his memory of what car that went into is fuzzy).
My father sold his car in Columbus Ohio back in 1973 to a guy he worked with at Worthington Industries named Bill Royster. Bill made no changes to the car from the custom stuff my pops added as he moved to Cincinnati and sold it around 1983. About 6 months ago, I tracked down Bill and he said he had some more pics and maybe some more information for me and he would get back in touch with me after the holidays...Well Bill went AWOL, I've mailed him letters, sent messages to every person on FaceBook with that last name and left so may messages to the phone number he called and left that it no longer accepts messages!
Before you ask..I dont have the vin. I have called the old insurance company, called Ohio DOT as I have a plate number(327SN) from 73, they dont have those records and even checked my parents old home loan tax info to see if it was ever claimed and cant find it!!
I will post a few
If anyone has some outside the box hints to help track one down..Im all ears!
Thanks

 

Lets say you find a car you think is it how would you be sure it is the one? The chances that the car has gone the last 37 years without the a interior/paint change or an engine are very low since it was not a numbers matching car. In the 80's you could buy a nice non-numbers matching car for around $3500. Most of these cars where tuned into either Pro mods or Pro touring or even all out race cars. What on the car that is unique that would make you sure you had the right car?

I did not drive my 67 RS/SS from 2001-2018. When I tried to register it the State of PA (Which I never left) they had no history on the car. No title, and no registration history, I would have to go through the process of retitling the car. Luckily I had the old PA title and all they had to do was to check to be sure the car was not titled or reported stolen in any other state. This just delayed the registration process a week or 2. If someone was looking for my 67 between 2005 and 2018 even with the help of the police and having the vin number there was nothing in State records pointing to me. My RS/SS was originally blue but changed to red and got a new engine in the 90s before I got it.

Papa John (yes that one) had a Vin number and a $250,000 reward for his 1972 and it still took almost 2 years for the car to be tracked down.

 

I'm not real concerned with the numbers matching aspects of tracing a down a true SS. It's more on the story of this car and would be my only reason for purchase. I only added that info as someone may have factory restored at this point and that combination was relatively rare, The custom paint and certain items added to the car were what set it apart..they surely have changed by now but someone changed it and thats who will take me on my next step. I am well aware of the possibility this car no longer exist and if it does maybe not the form I would desire it..cut up ProStreet, ProTour or 4X4. But if I could trace the lineage to confirm its the car, if it were in a condition to where I could present it back to my father or be returned to a condition to present(regardless of color, motor or condition) then I would look into a purchase.

It was thrilling to have the owner of it until 1983 talk to me and tell me about his ownership and the joy he had with it. When he sold it, it still looked as it did when he purchased almost 10 years later with the exception of different rims. Naturally this may have been something the newer owner may not have liked and changed but would have definitely remembered what it was like when they got it. Ironically, 1983, is when I purchased my first 69, that I still own. If we'd only thought about it then!!

As I, my kids and of course my father get older, we still love and play with cars, we go to shows, Drags, Runs and Cruises seeing cars from all over the country. Over the last several years as we stare out on packed fairground lots, we sometime wonder if any of our old cars are out there!? It sets my mind in motion, or maybe emotion, that if possible I'd like to have that first one. There are a ton of variables to this and I surly wouldn't want to pull it away from an owner who has found their own love of it either..But what a story that person would have!
I and my father have personally had several Camaros I could have duplicated the car into..but its more about that car and its journey..The car that started our family love of the 1969..I know its a long shot..and having a vin may help, but I really feel that ownership tracking may be my best and only way. That degrees of separation is what I'm hoping for..you may not have owned it, but knew who did? You may have been the one who worked on it in the body shop or service shop, cut a qtr off one like it in a salvage yard or used to see it on your street or local track?? Any info to narrow it down is a step in the right direction. I appreciate you looking, reading and responding...you are one more enthusiast that now knows the car and someone is looking for it!

 

OP, in this age of social media your chances are better than 20 years ago finding it. Obviously a VIN # would really help. IDK who the car was insured with when you or your father owned it but if you remember the insurance company "maybe" they have a record of that policy which would have included the VIN...or even the last owner you talked to may have or can get former insurance policy info showing a VIN.

With VIN you could get a national search like they would do when validating a out of state car for registration

good luck

 

The point I was making is no one keeps records that long of cars, There is simplify no reason for an insurance company or a State to know information from 40 years ago. Even companies that manufacture jet engine parts are only required to keep records for 10 years. Keeping records cost money, and moving records from paper to computer cost way more money.

The reason I mentioned the non-numbers machining condition is 2 fold, non-numbers matching cars a much less likely to kept all original and once the original engine is gone how do you even prove a 69 was a real SS. There are so many clones out there that can not be proven or disproven. Its just my opinion but there is more chance that someone will see these posts fabricate a story to match and make an extra 5-7K off the car they are trying to sell. Maybe I am just to use to people being complete jerks when it comes to selling cars. I used to help people buying cars and I have had people tell me cars are all original one family owned when I look at the car nothing is correct on the car.

 

Did the insurance look once before..nothing avail. The "next of kin" thing was hopeful, my father knew him, worked with him..but strangely he has sort of disappeared? I had 2 phone numbers and a address for him,.he's about 2 hrs away from me. But now one number never answers and voicemail is full and the other is no longer avail, I sent a hand written letter and even sent messages to his relatives on Facebook but nothing?? Last we talked he had a box of photos and documents he was going to give me....Outside of taking a road trip I really dont know what else to do? There are vin searches avail as I've done a few for some other cars, would possibly let me know last time it was licensed but at this point I'm just hoping for a web-inter-vention! Thanks for the look!

 

I got ya..and trust me..inspected a lot of all original or never touched cars that had been put together with beer cans riveted to qtrs, wood in the floors and factory 402 Big Blocks!?!? Again-as a don't have a vin..my best source will be the owner tree..Relying on the great wide web and the millions of enthusiast to help.
Granted there are more Z's, Yenkos, Dana's, Nickeys and ZL1s rolling around the auctions than were ever produced. But I will say, I have learned a lot over the years playing with these cars and there are some amazing people out there who document every car they see or are sent and have helped thousands find parts and restore some very rare cars!

 

New Year and the search continues!!!
TTT

 

There's a whole bunch of Camaro pages on Facebook,it's a longshot of ever finding that car if it even still exists but there's far more Camaro people in FB than all the forums on the net combined.

 

Thanks...Been trying that route lately...