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.

Awesome stories; it’s fun to ride along through this thread!

I hear you guys like docs. Window Sticker and Shipping data report.

^ wooo hooo!!

yes!

That is amazing.

Here is a very early photo when original owner Bruce Cremean raced the car. Check out the trophy on the hood. That is also his '55 tow wagon. I apologize for the low quality. I'll upload a better quality photo when I can.

I love this thread!!

This car, now, has serious creds!!! Congrats!

Dang is that the original window sticker???

Yes.

NICE! What an addition to the (story of the) car! YAY!!!

Here are the dates on the sheetmetal. It appears as if the tailpan was replaced. The decklid is a '69 repop. I believe the front valence and header panel are original but I can't seem to find the stamps. I'll ad those to this post once I locate the stamping. The quarters have been patched but thankfully are savable.

The RH fender stamp was so light and very difficult to capture a photo. I've flipped the image to make it easier to spot but it's definitely a 14. Next post will document the glass dates.

Tailpan LH 9, RH 52
Quarters LH 14, RH 16
Doors LH 15, RH 16
Doorframe LH 14, RH 16
Fenders LH 16, RH 14

Here are the photos of the glass codes. All photos were taken from outside the car. I've decoded the dates and the windshield has clearly been replaced. Anyone want to take a stab at dating the windshield? Next I'll post dates found of other items on the car.

Back Glass NZ January 1967
LH Quarter NZ January 1967
LH Door XZ February 1967
LH Vent 126 December 1966
RH Quarter NZ January 1967
RH Door XZ February 1967
RH Vent 86 August 1966
Windshield REPLACED

Here are other dates found on the car. This area along with others will be expanded as new parts are dated. Please PM or comment if you can help identify dates/information.

I found multiple burned wires and foil wrapped fuses. You can also see where the circuit is burned on the back of the cluster. I'm assuming this is what took the car off the road years ago. It's a miracle this car didn't catch on fire.

Console Gauges April 18? 1967
Cluster April 7, 1967
Hold Off Valve 75-7 (Thursday March 16, 1967)
8515 Booster 82 (Thursday March 23, 1967)
Rear End Casting L296 (December 29, 1966)
Axle Stamp 0303 (March 3rd, 1967)
Vin Plate 557 9 I need help with this one. I'm guessing dealer delivery of May 5, 1967? Not sure what the 9 means?

Wow - congratulations on the paperwork and original engine find - hopefully you can talk the current owner of the engine out of it.

Excellent detective work Jose. As I've said privately you've done a great job on connecting the dots.

I've followed this thread since you started it last year and it just gets better and better with old photos and now documentation. A 67 4K car is pretty great in itself but a factory black one makes me think it's just a little more special. As the owner of a factory black first gen, it seems like the legitimate ones are an endangered species. Seeing every new post you make on IG makes me eager to see updates in this thread. Following for more updates!

And a factory 4.56 car to boot, talk about cool!!

A black/black '67 L78 Camaro w/4.56 gears, paperwork and original engine has to be close to a 1 of 1.

Not sure if the original engine will be reunited to the car but it would sure be cool.

I don't have the original window sticker, just a scanned copy taken years ago that was provided to me by the current owners of the engine. The original copy is still with Bruce the original owner. I'm working on reuniting it with the car along with other items.

The current owners of the engine had it rebuilt back to stock with the best of intentions to keep it original. It is in a running driving vehicle and well taken care of. On the engine dyno it made 408hp but he says it could have made more if it weren't for the bad exhaust headers/manifolds? bolted up for the run.

There are a lot of variables up in the air right now and I'm simply not in control. I didn't anticipate the work it would take to get this far and I haven't done much to the car. With that said, I am grateful for what has come to light about this car, and I'm also thankful that those Ohioan Hotrodders don't throw anything away.

It's been very nice having support and guidance behind the scenes from members here including Bentley bbbentley, Darrell cook_dw, Jason supernovass, Anthony anthonys and others including previous owners and their families.

I also really enjoy sharing the story as it unfolds of this special car with anyone interested.

Kudos to your work and persistence to dig up what you have Jose!

Tim

Not many updates on the car except I've been accumulating parts. Unfortunately, no progress toward acquiring the born with complete engine and no progress on finding original transmission.

I contacted the Petersen Automotive museum to search for photos of the car but after a few weeks they replied saying they didn't have anything from the area pre 1972, "We did a pretty thorough search and unfortunately, the only images we have from that dragway and surrounding area are from 1972 and after."

Bruce says he raced the car on the strip since new well into 1968. He remembers his original license plate number is "BC 1200".

Because the car had the tailpan replaced, I decided to call Bruce (Original Owner) and ask if he was ever in an accident. Before I could finish he said, "Yeah, guy hit me in the ass God Damn!". This confirms the tailpan was replaced during the first ownership and why the Bobb Chevrolet emblem holes were gone.

We were talking for a bit and he said back then he'd run a set of slicks with two grooves for the street and a set of traditional slicks for the strip. The car was raced all the time on the street.

There is a show/cruise in being planned Saturday August 6th in Logan OH and I feel it's the right thing to do to bring the car back so all of the previous owners and their families could enjoy the car. With gas prices soaring, it will be a big undertaking for me as I've never done such a thing. Thus, I'm rushing to get the car running. For me, this is a car guys dream to be able to meet the original owner and God willing come home with original documents, parts, photos, and stories.

Very cool. OH is one heck of a hike from CA. Would be epic to do it Two Lane Blacktop style and cruise it across the country.

^ hey, which way you headed?

East.

That’s cool, I never been East.

Jose, you should have it trailered both ways.

If I had the money, the time, and security escort I'd consider it ;)

You remember every line of that movie don't ya?

That is the plan, but it will be expensive. I still need to figure it out.

GoFundMe ???..:flag:

I've managed to buy more parts and wrench on the car a bit more. Doesn't look like I'll make it to OH this summer but I told Bruce lets shoot for spring. Maybe fuel prices will be down.

Installed:
Axle seals/bearings
Gas tank
Fuel Line
Rear Shocks
Rear Wheels
Rear Brakes
Original GM leafsprings
Squarebar Lakewood traction bars

Speaking with Bruce again he thinks the trophy on the hood in the old black and white photo is from Hyde Park not national trails. He also said he had a Line Lock on the car and as soon as I got of the phone I got an old line lock solenoid and sure enough I found where he had it mounted.

I also carefully degreased one side of the firewall and noticed the reason why the factory marks and even the white spray on the trim tag is preserved is because the firewall was poorly sprayed black and since has been flaking off. The plan is to use enamel reducer and see if I can reveal what else is hiding underneath the paint. I also noticed there was a pattern left behind on the cowl where the seal for the plenum air cleaner once was.

Rear tires are pro trac N50 15's that were stored in an attic with a protective film and are like new. Wheels are 1972 Cragar SS 15x10 3.75" bs direct drill.

Shroud is one I bought a while back for 90 bucks. Looks to be a GM original. Friends have helped out with the Rad, Tag, and other parts.

Windshield I custom ordered to match the back glass date NZ March 1967.

Added photo of axle with factory markings.

Jose, where did you order the front windshield from? Jeff

Every time I open this thread I wish I would have bought that car! Great progress!