1968 Dick Harrell Chevelle's/Camaro's

[bkhpah]

Does anyone out there have a figure for how many 427 1968 Harrell Chevelles would have been built? I would have to think less than 12. I was told by a salesperson from Bill Allen Chevrolet that he felt only about 5 were sold. This would be a very rare Chevelle at either number. A SS@DI magazine from 1968 states that @ 100 Camaro and Chevelle 427 conversion cars were built. I feel that this number is very high considering the number of cars that have surfaced for the 1968 era...
BKH

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

BKH;
Up until a short time ago, I was not aware that Harrell made any '68 Chevelles or Camaros. What issue of SS&DI has this article?
A non-Nova, '68 Harrell car must be among the most rare of all Supercars - no matter how many were made.
M

[sYc]

Brian; In researching my FC, I ran across someone who worked for Dick during that period. He did much of the engine work on Dick's race cars as well as worked in the shop doing engine swaps, performance build ups, etc. His brother worked there also and did a lot of the paint work.

He also thinks 5 or less '68 Chevelles and remembers just 4, 2 red, 1 med. blue and 1 light green. He said that there were several '68 Camaros and of course Chevy IIs. In 1969, they built several Chevelles, Camaros and Novas. As we thought, they did a lot of work on cars not sold by Dick, including Vettes and other race cars. He was there when they did the magazine test run on ZL-1 #1 before it was turned into a race car. He was also there when a magazine did an article about Dick putting a turbo clutch transmission into a 1969 Camaro. The first turbo clutch transmission Dick built was made from the "original" turbo 400 out of Zl-1 #1 and installed in a 1955 Chevy. He is a very interesting person and I have hopes of having him at the next reunion to meet everyone and talk about "the good old days".

[bkhpah]

I would have to agree that only a handful of these cars were built. The survival rate on any of the 427 cars is very low. 1968 is the first year for Harrell converting cars in his new shop. A 68 Harrell in any condition may be a very rare find....
BKH

[JoeC]

Tom “ that is great investigative work. I have that article where Harrell set up a 1969 Camaro with the B&M TH400 with a clutch. If I remember correctly the car was a COPO 427 Camaro and after the work was complete they drag tested it against a second COPO Camaro.

[sYc]

The clutch turbo is an interesting trans. It is a turbo 400 with the front cut off and a steel bellhousing added. It uses a Mopar clutch disk and pressure plate, no torque converter. You start out using the clutch, then once under way, you shift it like a regular turbo 400. This is what is in the Gibb/Harrell ZL-1 Camaro. If some ones wants to put one in their COPO, let me know, as I have a mint one setting in my shop, built by Dick Harrell, it came with my FC. Before they changed the rules at the Pure Stock Drags, we thought it might be the ticket to run with the "built" Buicks, etc. Tom

[COPO]

The July '68 issue of Hi-Performance CARS has a good article explaining these transmissions. They claimed a reduction of 0.5 in ET.

[bowtie3168]

Tom,
I was watching a video on the career of Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick and there was a similar "set-up" used by Pontiac Motor Division in the 1963. Pontiac needed to make a car that would be more competitve. They put a SD 421 in the lightest car in the line-up, the Tempest. They built some coupes and some wagons (the idea behind the wagons was better weight distribution).The Tempest used a transaxle instead of a conventional configuration. Somehow they made a manual 2-speed with a clutch mated to a 2-speed automatic. I will get more info and post it tomorrow.
Andrew

[JoeC]

There is a 427/450 hp 1968 Dick Harrell Camaro in Nov Hemmings. The ad states it is a 26k mile original 4sp, sun tach, fiberglass hood red/white stripe car.

[bkhpah]

The 68 Camaro is the car Kevin is looking into. The car was discussed on a previous board. I have not heard of an outcome on this car. I would like to hear about the Harrell Chevelle that is still in the original owners hands Tom...
BKH