1969 Camaro Z/28 LeMans Blue / CE302 M22 - SOLD

[hubleyman]

<span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">1969 Camaro Z/28 LeMans Blue / CE302 M22 Rockcrusher 3.73 Posi / SOLD </span></span>



Offered for sale is my 1969 Z/28. I call it a driver survivor – not restored or perfect - but a blast to drive anywhere! I haven’t even washed it in the last couple of years – just dust off and go… Lots of original stuff plus some new, along with some fluffing… Thought I would give SYC a chance at it for a few days, and then list it on Ebay. Attached are some low resolution pics to get things started. I’ll try to post some better detailed pics later, including the underside.

This car previously belonged to a lifelong friend of mine. Sadly he passed away over a decade ago and is no longer with us. The first time I saw this Z was when Danny called me back in 1980. The car was just brought to California out of New York and he wanted me to check it out for him. It was all stock and unmolested at that time, that is until Danny started making changes. He was an avid drag boat racer, and into hot rods and motorcycles, and couldn’t care less about date codes, part numbers or originality. Basically he liked things fast, loud and shiny. As such, he ended up chroming many parts under the hood of this car, and what wasn’t chromed he painted blue – even the engine. Also did the typical black paint on everything under the car, gas tank and all, moved the battery to the trunk, etc. This car was a show winner at many events - Super Chevy Sundays and others, and a local favorite at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma as well. Now on to some details about the car…

Early Norwood built Z/28; 10A of 1968, N515415 (both hidden VIN’s match). Less than 50K original miles on the car itself. NO FACTORY supporting documents in my possession. Wanted to do the NCRS dealer search, but sadly this car is one from the group that they don’t have shipping docs for. Original flat hood car with the factory installed short spoiler package. Has a CE9 302 engine (recently rebuilt), born-with matching numbers M22 Rockcrusher (not a made up M22) and the original 3.73 Posi. Jerry M. was at my house a few months ago certifying a bunch of Camaros, and I should have had him cert this car, but wasn’t planning on selling it at the time so I didn’t (but now wish I did). I do want to mention that Jerry used this Z quite a few times as a reference guide to show the other Camaro owners many parts which were factory original and correct when he was inspecting their cars, for what that might be worth…

According to legend – the original owner blew up the DZ 302 within the first month, and a warranty replacement block was installed. Perhaps one of you viewers remembers this car, supposedly from somewhere in the New York area? Not many LeMans Blue factory M22 Z/28’s were built, so it might sound familiar to someone. If so, please chime in and share the info with all… I would love to know any historical details from 1968 through 1980 for this car.

Most of the body panels are factory original to the car, other than the two fenders and the cowl hood. Back in the 80’s, one fender got damaged, Danny went to the dealer and bought a new one (ah, the good old days). I believe the fender extension was also replaced. The antenna hole was never punched on the replacement fender and I left it that way. Sometime later the other fender was damaged and replaced, and the cowl hood was added at that time. It’s an original GM date coded cowl hood, and I think it may have originally been on another car. It has hood locks installed in it, but there are no signs of the related hood pins ever being attached to the radiator support.

Some of the paint is original, and some has been repainted (the front end for sure). Door jambs and inner trunk are original, as well as perhaps the roof and rear sections of the car. Minor rust bubbles on the bottom of the quarters, but they are solid. The paint looks great from 10 feet away, but has the typical age issues you would expect. The pics don't show the cracking, fading, spots, etc. but they are there. The header panel is original and still has original LeMans blue paint and white stripes under the grill reinforcement. There are still remnants of the original blue paint and white out under the cowl area as well. The trunk floor has small pinholes in the lower section but the rest is solid with the original unrestored finish. I added a trunk mat to cover and protect it rather than try any restoration efforts.

All original glass in pretty good condition. Excellent mostly original interior - except for carpet (replaced long ago) and the rear package shelf that I installed. Curled dash pad of course. Walnut wheel has separation crack on the bottom. Everything works except for the wipers, clock and reverse lights (no linkage). Originally had an AM radio, which was tossed and replaced with a crazy stereo. I removed the stereo system and installed a repro radio delete plate. I prefer to listen to the car versus the radio. Exhaust is aftermarket chambered system, but is too quiet for my taste, but does sound good when you get on it. Wheels on the car are generic 15 x 7’s (Danny tossed the original set), but included is an AD spare (freshly stripped and ready for paint).

When I got the car it was not running. Danny spun the bearings and it sat dormant for ten years before he passed away. I recently had the engine rebuilt (roughly $10K) to oem 302 specs, but with some HD upgrades for strength and longevity. If I recall it’s a late October of ’68 dated 618 block. The oem crank was not so great, so I purchased a custom ultra-light Scat 302 crank. Went with 6” rods and custom made pistons (.020 over) to achieve a true 11 to 1 CR. Had the heads updated with screw in studs and guide plates, hardened valve seats, etc. Has rollers rockers. Broke the engine in properly on a dyno and did a few light runs achieving about 340 HP. Didn’t care about maxing out HP, just wanted it to run great and be strong. Has new replacement carb, non-original dist, repro exhaust manifolds, repro cowl air cleaner assembly, repro deep groove pulleys, etc. Runs like a bat outa-hell……

Freshened the M22 when I built the engine. It was in good shape, but I replaced second and third gear since it was apart anyway. Still have the original gears that came out of it. Rear end is internally unrestored original, other than some cosmetics, axle bearings and brake parts.

I had to undo all of the blue and chrome customizing under the hood, and detail the bottom of the car as well. Tried to duplicate the factory look but wasn’t trying to do a complete oem resto. Had to remove the front end for those efforts, so I replaced all the bushings, ball joints, subframe bushings, brake lines, wire harnesses, etc. at the same time. Everything is fresh with less than 5K miles on it at this point in time. I kept most of the original parts that were not restored or reinstalled, and they are included with the car.
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Original parts not installed but included with the sale:</span>
Front calipers (unrestored), Brake booster (painted black), date coded gas tank (painted black and scuffed on bottom but still good), date coded Hurst shifter body (I installed the oem handle assembly in a new shifter that doesn’t use the rubber inserts on the rod ends so it shifts much better), date coded radiator (I ran it until recently and it worked fine, but replaced it with a new repro to feel more reliable), manual steering box (I upgraded to P/S, coincidentally with correct date coded items), master cylinder cover (chromed), deep groove harmonic balancer and water pump pulleys (chromed), 7708 harmonic balancer (painted blue), horn cap (wouldn’t stay on the repro horn contact I installed), non-cowl air cleaner base (I used the lid on my other Z), M22 2nd and 3rd gears and internal parts, and probably more oem items that I can’t think recall at the moment.

The personal license plates are not included (unless you convince me otherwise) They are bookends to my other Z/28 (2 NASTY Z).

Thanks for taking the time to read my listing!