NorCam (Graeme Browne's) Lemans Blue 1969 Z/28

[Xplantdad]

Bruce,

Submission for a member's ride with a 69 Camaro Z/28 that I recently acquired

In the summer of 2019 was looking for another Camaro and had an ad running in the Cars Wanted Classifieds when I was contacted by Jeff Boone. (Whom I had dealt with a few times before) Jeff had just picked up a low mileage 3 owner Z/28 that he was preparing to sell and we got to talking about it in early September. It didn't take long to see just how nice this car was and Jeff and I managed to put together a deal on the car. The car didn't have a lot for documents other than its owner history, a few titles and an odometer statement from the second owner dating back to 1990. Jeff pulled an NCRS report but as it turns out, this was one of the late cars that didn't have any history on the dealer it was assigned to. Having back traced the owners and visiting with a couple of them, here's what was learned about the car.

The car itself was bought new in the Carolina's by original owner Woodrow Wilson Judge. It was traded in about a year later (1970) to Freddie's Performance Cars in Carlisle PA. Having 9000 miles on the odometer, the car was then bought by its second owner William A. Miller who traded in his 65 Impala SS to acquire the Z/28 from Freddie's. He drove the car and put about 35,000 miles on it over 20 years, and shared a story with Jeff Boone about driving the car from Pennsylvania to Daytona for the races back in 71/72. He owned the car up until 1990 and sold it for $12,000 at the time with 44,746 showing on the clock. The third owner was Wayne Harmon of Pennsylvania who owned the car until his passing in 2014 where the car then transferred ownership to his brother Dennis Harmon of PA.

Wayne had taken really good care of the car while only putting 4122 miles on it over the 24 years he owned it. From looking at old pictures (insert), it appears he also owned a Nova SS and Chevelle SS and really loved his GM cars. It was reported that Wayne had struck a deer with the car in the mid 90's and had the right front fender repaired by Tim Leiphart who owns Hot Rods and Restorations in PA. At that time, Tim had repainted the entire car and really did a great job with the repaint and the stripes. Upon the car being willed to Wayne's brother in 2014, it sat around while his brother Dennis had some routine maintenance performed prior to selling the car in August of 2019. Those routine repairs included having new front springs and shocks installed by a local performance shop near Carlisle, and he also had the original 302 gone through after it sat for many years. A replacement water pump and radiator were installed, the wiper motor was changed out and most of the original parts were kept with the car including the original radiator w/ UH tag, front springs and the wiper motor. In fact, the front springs were not in terrible shape and still have their factory paper tags intact so I may put those back on the car. The original radiator has since been re-cored, and Jeff Boone also installed a nicely restored DZ4053 carb onto the DZ302. Over the winter months, I plan on correcting a few other things like a service dated water pump that was installed, and hanging new exhaust under the car.

Since receiving the car and completely going through it, I was delighted to find it still wears its original front brake calipers, original rotors and has the 1177 rear drums which were all within mfg. spec. The original engine runs great, the factory M20 transmission shifts smoothly, and the rear BU diff runs nice and quiet. The car still wears a matching set of Sept dated YH wheels, and Jeff set the car up with some Goodyear wide treads before the sale was completed. I drove the car after it arrived today and aside from the bias ply tires, it one terrific old muscle car with a ton of originality throughout. My plans are to clean the underside and suspension and leave it much as it appears today. I will correct any irregularities in the serviced belts and hoses and will check all the fasteners while installing a few other odds and ends that are missing under the hood (lift brackets, original fasteners and such). A really great car that has a ton of things going for it, and one that is super clean and rust free throughout.

I love the fact the car wears all of its original panels, has all factory original floors, a super clean original interior and one of the cleanest firewalls I have seen in years. The original trunk paint & factory spare are intact, and the original PTB firewall stamps are clear and visible on both sides. A great specimen that is pretty much unmolested other than 1 repaint and a few service items. Think I'll be keeping this one for many years to come. Special thanks to Jeff Boone.

Graeme Browne
Calgary, AB

[Xplantdad]

And the rest of the photos!

[NorCam]

Thank you for the thread and for posting the pictures Bruce. You do a great job with these threads and your contributions are very much appreciated.

I plan on going through the car again today to identify all the bolt head markings and check further to see if I need to address anything other than what was noted above. Plans are to keep it mostly original and dress it with a few day 2 bolt on items including some vintage Cragar headers, a restored set of vintage Lakewood traction bars, and a set of Torque Thrusts with some Wide Oval Radials. The original YH wheels and tires will be stored away as will the original smog system and the factory exhaust manifolds. The car is a true gem, but will need some cleaning and detailing of the lower body and suspension where previous owners attempted to dress things to a limited degree. I don't think it will take much to revive it back towards being an all factory original car below the body lines and I will post more pictures of the car as I progress.

As an aside, a set of NOS door edge guards and NOS wheel opening moldings were added to the car by the third owners brother. Those trim parts will stay intact as I like the exterior trim as presented on the car.

I'm now attempting to track down the original owner and I have an associate in the US doing some title search work to see if the history of the cars first sale or original title exists as reported to me. The cars integrity truly speaks for itself and I was pleasantly surprised to see just how much of it remains original and untouched. With winter knocking on the door now, I have lots of time to go through the car and discover more about it. I will share things as I go through the process.

Cheers...Graeme

[Salvatore]

Great car GB. Booney is a good dude!

[67 Nova Boy]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Great car GB. Booney is a good dude!

X2 For Graeme and Jeff. Oh, and the Z of course!

Dave
67 Nova Boy

[Steve Shauger]

Congratulations! Great car and thanks for sharing the detailed history of this fantastic car.

[70LT1Z28]

very nice 69 z28 Graeme.

[cook_dw]

Would you care to clean off the diff stamp a little further to the left of the BU. Curious if it has a peened “C”. Thanks & congrats.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Wow great Camaro!!!

I can’t wait to see the detailing on this great canvas!!

Ryan W31

[GrumpyJeff]

WOW!!! looks like a Keeper ?!?!