Me and My Brother's 69 Camaros back in the day

[njsteve]

Back in the late 70's these cars were just...cars.

I was 14 when I got my first car - a '69 Z11 Indy Pace Car in 1977.

Let me frame this story in the right context: My dad was kind of confused seeing he and mom had five kids to tend to. Dad and I were out one day and saw this 69 Pace Car at a used car dealer and we decided to buy it (I had saved up enough money over the prior 14 birthdays being one of those annoying kids who always put their savings in a piggy bank and didn't waste it on stupid stuff). We get it home and my mom immediately says to him: "You know it's his older brother who just turned 16, your son with car is only 14 - remember???"

Well, Dad kind of forgot which kid was which so he had to start hunting and my brother ended up getting a Daytona Yellow SS396 Camaro within a few weeks. That car was really cool and scary fast. It was originally a 325 horse four speed car but the prior owner had converted the top end to 375 specs with the rectangular port heads and intake/carb. It was a Van Nuys built car from California originally and had the earlier vinyl top that went down the A-pillers. I still remember the seller's name: Vinny Racalbuto in Orange, Connecticut. My brother ended up selling the car to a man named Guy Ripa in Wallingford Connecticut several years later ...in order to buy a '77 Monte Carlo that he painted Candy Brandywine.

Here's some photos from 1979 when he got it and few months later when me and him drove our cars out to the 1979 Street Machine Nationals in Indy. I had a set of three deuces on an Edelbrock manifold on the NOM 350 in my car.