Peter Falconi's Motion prepared 1968 SS Camaro!

**Xplantdad** · #1 08-18-2008, 12:05 AM

About 2 years ago while having lunch with a friend (Tony) he asked me if I wanted to buy his 68 motion Camaro project, that he and his son had started to restore. Well I almost swallowed my tongue! He was going to sell the black Camaro?? Yes, he was going to sell it because his son had discovered girls and that beat sandblasting parts for the camaro all night long.

I wrote the check for the car on the spot.

Tony had this project for about 5 years, all the while collecting NOS parts for this project all of them went with the car-two pick up trucks full! I knew that he did a lot of research on this car and it paid off , finding the original owner after an exhausting effort. He gave Tony the original Bill of Sale as he still had it .Owner (Barry) ordered the car brand new in Windsor Ontario

He wanted a 427 instead of the 396 375 hp motor, but it was not available-even to a GM engineer working on the team to develop the engine for NASCAR. Shortly after receiving the car and waiting for the car at the dealership...when it arrived he took it to Motion Performance and had the transplant. He stayed at his Aunts place which was nearby while the car was being modified

Barry drag raced the car every night and raced the car every weekend..The car had a real reputation for being a street bruiser. Even today, car people remember Barry and his punishing black Camaro. On May 9 1969 Barry set the track record going 10:45 at the Detroit drag strip. He would not part with the original certificate for the record so he gave me a copy of it. I understood how important the original was to him.
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Throughout this restoration Barry was a great help, and he sent me most of the documents
that he could find on the car. Other documents will be sent to me as soon as he finds them in a house that he has lived in for 40 years.

When I received the documents from the Ministry of Transportation I noticed that there was a new name on the record that was not there when Tony changed the ownership to his name.
I traced the name and found the second owner (John) of the car after some creative investigation
on my part. I called him up and asked him if he was the owner of the black 68 Camaro. He said that he was and I then told him his name was on the title history .Well he was very excited that the car was still alive and I said to him that I was in the process of restoring the car.

John told me he knew the first owner well and followed the car until Barry sold the car to him. John confirmed the history of the car and he told me some of the history of when he had it. John said that he made a lot of money with the car drag racing on the street. The car was turning 10:60s. One night he was racing a Hemi ‘Cuda 4 speed for $100.00 per gear...winner take all! The black Camaro ate the ‘Cuda and at the end of the quarter mile the cops had a blockade set up and their guns out and motioning John to stop, Well the ‘Cuda stopped but John did not and went around the blockade. As he passed the cops they shot at the car, missing the tires and hitting the rear quarter. The bullet went into the rear seat, ricocheted off of the seat springs then up into the rear deck and came to rest just behind the speakers!

"Did you find the bullet hole? ", John asked. I told him I did not notice the bullet yet but I would search for it later. He had a lot of balls to try and out run the cops. He hid the car for a month or so, as they were looking for this Camaro really hard..John repaired the car and repainted it.

John has pictures of the car at the track, time slips and a lot of drag racing memories as well .I hope that we can get together soon so I can get some more history of this car from John. Oh yes...I did find where the projectile came to rest when I was on my back installing the rear speakers!

The documents speak for themselves, and when I get more information and/or documents from Barry when he finds them on the motor implant from Motion I will be sending it to Joel for confirmation. I have sent Joel all the documents I have, and hope to get the work order from Barry.

In the mean time this car is now finished and its scary! With the 427, the 4:88's and the screaming M22...WOW! I am thrilled every time I drive this black monster.

Peter