Re: 69 Z28, Champagne Gold
I was real curious so I just called and spoke with him. I would love to do a '69 Z-28 project after I finish my '69 Nova.
I enjoyed talking to him, though I can't say his story is believable. I will give him credit for being as convincing as he can be. Here is what he told me:
He bought the car sight-unseen 3 years ago from a guy that owned it since 1969. That guy parked it in 1973, pulled the motor out and the car sat in a barn since then. Somewhere along the way, the heads, intake, carb (all the top end) got lost or discarded. Has original block, trans, BV 4.10 rear end.
Now, this is where it gets a little crazy and I would sure love to hear the outcome of this story:
He claims it is a one-off car, hand assembled and never went down the usual production line. He has not selling paperwork, dealer order paperwork, or anything else to support that theory. He says it is proven by the car itself having these unique features: EVERY date code on the car is the exact same day in 1969, which he claims means that is was hand assembled from parts pulled especially for the day it was built. This seems odd, as you didn't have just-in-time building of components back then. He also claims the VIN number has all of the numbers in a clean even row and then the final number in the VIN is a "1" which is slightly lower and spaced further out than the rest of the numbers, which he claims is GM's way of designating a one-off build. Finally, he says the car has all kinds of one-off parts never seen on any other Camaro such as galvanized subframe, galvanized lower quarter panels, different spoilers, etc.
He says the engine has 64,000 original miles.
He claims he has spoken with Jerry McNeish several times who told him that is a one of only 3 Champagne colored Camaro's he knows about and is the only one that is solid Champagne without stripes (stripe delete). He says Jerry M has not come to look at it, but told him it was "very special and not to touch it".
He claims he has had offers of between $6000 - $125,000 for the car, including the guy that "Glenn L78" mentions above offering him $85k plus a restored 70 1/2 Z-28. He claims he hasn't sold it because he will only sell to someone who intends to restore, keep and enjoy the car, not just flip it.
All this sounds pretty suspicious to me and I would not pay real money for anything anymore without paperwork, but this is also intriguing. I would love to hear from someone that really knows Camaro's go look at it and tell us all if there is any truth to these "special, one-off, hand built" claims, or whether this is just another unrestored Z-28 that happens to be a unique factory color.
I don't want to ridicule this Seller in any way. He seems like a nice guy to talk to and he's definitely passionate about his beliefs about this car, but of course, passionate people can be all wrong as well.
Anyway, interesting car and the like they say on X-files, "the truth is out there somewhere".
__________________
Paul
'62 Bel Air 409/409
'63 Impala SS 409/340 convertible
'68 L72 Biscayne
'69 L78 Nova
'17 Denali 3500HD
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