Best story I’ve read in a while ! Congrats

Unfortunately Alan Mason the 3rd owner of my 1967 SS L78 Camaro has recently passed. His family has been very kind and sent me these photos of my car when he owned it circa 1979-80. Alan was known for driving his cars very hard and had a lot of very cool cars go through his ownership including this one. Alan eventually traded Richard Buckley this car for a 69 Dart Swinger.

EDIT 1/20/22: In the photos I noticed the rear end is painted red which explains the peeling red paint still found on the car today. The seats appear to be firebird front seats with headrests. Alan Mason bought Richard Buckley's 68 Firebird 400 and made it into a derby car with Richard Buckley's sister. It is very possible those seats came from that car. John Goss's (2nd owner) high school friend on facebook states he remembers listening to the Rolling Stones on the 8 Track in the car in '77. These pics show the 8 Track in the car. If you look closely at the glove box there appears to be a small screw holding it closed on the right near the two white stickers. That screw is still needed to hold the glove box closed as the lock cylinder remains damaged to this day. The 67 Fastback in the photos also belonged to Richard Buckley.

Just a few updates:

Bruce (original owner) jokes that I'm making his brain hurt but he has confirmed the car had disc brakes and a woodgrain steering wheel.

He says when he bought the car, the salesman told him not many knew about that model, and that there were "only about 27 out there with that engine" at the time.

He won a lot of trophies with the car but after a bad fight, his wife trashed them. He says he has photos of the car with the trophies.

Bruce says he trimmed the rear wheel lips to "fit those big slicks under there"

A gentleman by the name of Paul Shepherd says he remembers Bruce Cremean's Black Camaro from National Trails. He worked at National Trails as a teenager in the late 60's - 70's.

When I asked him about any memorable races, he said he once lost to Mary Ann Foss at National Trails. I asked him what happened and he replied, "well, once you lost that's it no second chances!"

I finally made successful contact today with Judy who says she owned the car from 1982 up until the 2000s when she sold it to Baxter. She bought it from James Rooker when he was in the service. James is Dean Rooker's brother. (This explains the two guys who came to buy the car from Richard Buckley). She says she was dating Dean at the time.

Dean's son (Dean Jr.) says his father (Dean Sr.) installed the big rear flares when he was still in high school. Judy said the Camaro had a 350 in it when she owned it. She went to prom in the car!

Judy also states she too has photos of the car and will provide them to me.

I'm now actively searching for the original transmission. The next guy to contact is James Rooker who I found on facebook.

When I told Bruce the news about finding Judy he said he once remembers driving around in the 80s and seeing the car parked in a backyard but every time he tried to ask about it nobody was home and one day it disappeared.

Judy says she sold it to John Baxter for his son. Judy sold it while her father was sick and she was helping him.

Amazing research. How about the engine and the post you shared that it might be in another car?

One of the best parts of getting a new old car is the hunt for its’ history! Nice job…

Yes it is in another Camaro Bruce spoke of. I'm carefully working on reuniting it with my car but it isn't a simple process. I hope it isn't decked beyond recognition.

I have located the original engine. It has never been decked. It's all original from carb to pan including valve covers, exhaust manifolds, and distributor.

The current owners are not interested in parting with it and understandably wish to remain anonymous.

I'm now turning my full attention to locating the transmission.

Congrats on the find! Go find that trans and a replacement engine for the people that have yours:grin:

I bet that engine can be bought somehow, you just need to want it more than they do.
Great story and amazing detective work!!

Hopefully, it is being run in a vehicle and not sitting on a stand rusting inside.