Joe Oldham Phase III 427 Camaro

[Keith Tedford]

In the March 1970 issue of Hi-Performance cars, Joe Oldham relates the story of thieves trying to steal his "gleaming black 427 Phase III Camaro". It was a '69. On the second attempt they did steal it. Anyone remember the car? This was in the Rego Park, Queens, New York Area.

[bbdon]

Here is an older magazine article that was done on the car. This is from a mag called "Factory Musclecar Road Tests and Shootouts", from 1991.
page1 (http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/oldh1.jpg)
page2 (http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/oldh2.jpg)
page3 (http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/oldh3.jpg)
page4 (http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/oldh4.jpg)
page5 (http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/oldh5.jpg)

[COPO]

Great article and thanks for posting. I noticed it was stated that the car came with the JL-8 package. Would be quite a find today.

I remember talking to a guy from LI back in the early '90's (just after returning from SW Asia) that said he knew the car. He was pretty heavy into Camaro Pacers and had "stumbled" upon a '67 that had went back to Motion in '69 and had an upgrade. If I remember he bought the '67 (if I remember it was Tahoe Torquois (sp?) ) and said he used to street race against a black '69 Motion that was owned by a magazine guy. I always thought it was the same car, as it fit the description. Definitly would be worth a few $$...would make a great story...

[JoeC]

I don't think that 69 Motion Camaro is really a Phase III car. There were very few cars that were. The Phase III car had a lot more modifications that enabled the car to run 11s. If this 69 427 Motion car had the Phase III modifications, then Joe O should have got his money back because the car "only" ran 12.52 111 mph. The Phase III included a bigger Holley, new intake, new dist, bigger cam, big gears, etc. Not all 427 Motion cars were bought with the Phase III package. A Phase III car was practically a race ready M/P drag car. Some were sold with a set of mounted slicks ready to race.

[Keith Tedford]

The Joe Oldham car had the 425 hp 427. It was pretty well optioned for this kind of car.

I would suspect that the car was the only JL8 car Motion did...would be a great car to replicate..

[Keith Tedford]

I read one place where Joe's car had an L72 engine but his theft article describes it as a Phase III car more than once. Is his car the one used in the "WANTED" ad?

Not sure..I often thought Joe's car was one of the "hardest" looking Camaros out there..The VE3 bumper looks great with the stinger hood..I'm thinking of doing a clone to that car..

[bbdon]

I believe that the car in the Motion "Wanted" ad has an SS stripe on it.
Motion AD (http://www.motionperformance.com/mot-ads/phase3-6.jpg)
I think I have a test eport on that car somewhere, let me know if you want it posted.
I noticed too that there seems to be a conflict in the article, first saying 427-425, and then saying PhaseIII, which should be more HP. But these old articles almost always have mistakes in them, sometimes huge mistakes. For research, the pictures are probably more valuable. The story is good reading, espicially the story telling, just like BSing with friends. I like where he says Joe was never beaten. Riiight. Another example, I don't think I am 100% sure that the car really had rear disks, since no picture showed them. Take it all with a grain of salt, but it's still a good article.

good points...I actually had ask Joel about it once, back in the early '90's..he didn't recall..

[Born30YrsLate]

I have an article on a motion ZLX Camaro from an old CARS magazine...one of photos in that article is same picture that is in the "WANTED" ad.... /ubbthreads/images/icons/smirk.gif

[JoeC]

Both cars look like they have the same traction bars which look like Traction Masters.