Who built and sold the first 427 Camaros?

[1967Z28]

I have to admit I have not really followed the 427 cars to see if this has been figured out already. I ran across this article in Competition Press/Autoweek and as you can see from the date (Nov. 7, 1966) in the attached article it says that Dana "is the first on the scene to offer a (427) Super Camaro". I thought that date of Nov. 7 was pretty early. Anybody know of an earlier article or advertisement for a 427 Camaro?

-Jon

[Late BrakeU2]

I'm not aware of any other articles,but I was speaking to Dick G. last weekend about this very same question,and he did confirm it was the fall of 66 when they were working on that project.

[William]

The Nickey conversion featured in the January 67 Tach magazine was done on a very early production '67 SS350-has no fender flags or '350' emblems.

Exactly who did the first may never be known. Dana, Bill Thomas, Nickey [Harrell], Yenko, Motion all converted '67s.

[1967Z28]

Is it possible the 350 engine ID was removed and the paint touched up in that area? Here is page 1 of another article from late November '66. It talks about the Yenko/Dana connection and also mentions the newly formed connection between Nickey and Bill Thomas.

-Jon

[1967Z28]

Here is page 2 from the same article (11-29-66).

-Jon

[JChlupsa]

Neat stuff Jon, Anyone have an idea on what other dealers were linked with DANA outside of themselves and Yenko.

Comier Chevy down the street from DANA?? or what other West Coast dealers??

[Z-11 396]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible the 350 engine ID was removed and the paint touched up in that area? Here is page 1 of another article from late November '66. It talks about the Yenko/Dana connection and also mentions the newly formed connection between Nickey and Bill Thomas.

-Jon

[/ QUOTE ]<<< JON >>> THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE NEWSPAPER INFORMATION, IT ADD'S ANOTHER PART OF THE PUZZLE FOR ME , AND MY CAR. '' DANA '' CHEVY WOULD BUILD AND SALE * YENKO * BASED CORVAIR ++ STINGERS ++ON THE WEST COAST,ONLY -3- WERE BUILT...,I HAVE ATTACHED A AD FROM DEC. 1966 IN THE NATIONAL DRAGSTER THAT REFLECT THERE ARRANGEMENT, PICTURED IS THE DANA 427, AND YENKO STINGER..THANKS AGAIN FOR SHARING THE INFORMATION....KASEY .

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible the 350 engine ID was removed and the paint touched up in that area?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes Jon, early 427 Camaro conversions were performed on small-block cars. In the case of the first Dana conversion, the 350 emblems were removed and '67 Impala SS 427 V-flags and 427 numerals were added in their place. Note the small-block fan shroud and heater hose connections on the firewall in this engine bay shot of the first Dana.



And here's a Nickey/Bill Thomas Camaro, possibly the same car from your article that Bruce posted, showing a big-block shroud but it has small-block heater hose connections ont he firewall.



Last is a photo of the first Nickey Chicago 427 Camaro conversion (overseen by Dick Harrell), performed on an SS 350. Note the small-block fan shroud and iron exhaust manifolds. I suppose the large air cleaner housing is also noteworthy. Note also that all three cars have manual brakes.

[1967Z28]

Kasey, glad you enjoyed the posting of that article and it was useful to you.

Bill, thanks for posting those pics of the engine compartments. Looks like Dana generally preferred the Edelbrock valve covers and Nickey liked to stick with the stock chrome ones (most likely some exceptions for either case).

-Jon

[Keith Tedford]

I believe that Gorries Chevrolet in Toronto was doing the Black Panther 427 Camaro conversions in 1967. I don't know the time frame though.