Early69 RS SS 396 Camaro with goofy hubcaps

[MosportGreen66]

Very cool and thanks for sharing. I love that the hubcaps and slots have been kept together with the car!

[NorCam]

Very nice car Charlie. Nice to see that it has remained unmolested and is so original. The caps/covers are quite interesting in that the outer dimensions of the cap seems to integrate perfectly with the cover. Ingenuity did prevail back in the day, as in...find some kind of work around and get this car delivered!

Would like to see some pics of the underside when you can? Thanks

[Charley Lillard]

I started another thread on dry ice blasting and they should start on this car today. It had been undercoated but years ago it was partially cleaned off.

[EZ Nova]

Charlie, nice car. PLEASE update these last 3 pictures after dry ice. That could be the twin to the front end of my '69 Nova SS396 L34 car. Might have to look more into that....

Thank You, John

[olredalert]

----If I was a betting man I'd put my money on a brief shortage of Rally's. Great car, Charley! Can't wait to see the undercarriage after dry ice!.....Bill S

[Lynn]

Guessing this has already been bounced around on CRG.

Pretty easy question: what is the earliest known YJ Rally wheel date?

Answer may not be so easy.

[Charley Lillard]

I asked on CRG and so far there is nobody that knows of a YJ Rally Wheel dated early enough for this car. 69 was the first need for a 14x7 Rally. All 5 XT rims are orig. paint and dated the same. If it had just come with XT's with poverty caps like a base SS or COPO the rims would have been body color.

[Steve Shauger]

This car absolutely came with the dated XT rims painted silver. The spare even has a job# and the silver paint is original. As Charley stated there are no earlier built cars with YJ date rims. I debated this with John Z and many others years ago. If you research, you will find threads just on the wheel /hubcap configuration.

What I am amazed at, is how the rally cap top was mounted onto the dog dish. Who the heck would have taken the time and effort to make this work. For those unaware an XT rim will not accommodate a rally cap which is why the goofy caps were configured.

Here's the original write-up I did on the car....

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=80469

[scuncio]

I also wonder what actually happened here. Was this a special cap made in the Design Center model shop or what? How was this the sanctioned workaround versus simply crediting the dealer for the rally wheel option that couldn't be fulfilled? So strange.

Awesome car, BTW.

[William]

There are 6 Camaro SS listed in the CRG db built prior to this car [Sep 23, 1968] listed as having been built with ZJ7. Sorry, no dates but one entry is noted as having its original spare. N508223 is stated as having 5 original XT paint wheels, dated 8-17-68. Hard to believe Norwood would have a 37-day supply of wheels in on-hand inventory; wheels are relatively simple to manufacture and the suppliers were close to the plant. If there truly was a stock out of 14 x 7 rally wheels, SS orders specified with that option would not have been scheduled for production. Option shortages are noted in dealer communications throughout the model year. Dealer orders specifying the option are delayed or cancelled.

So what happened?

I think N508223 was built as ordered and the wheels stolen, probably at the dealership. As the car was a customer order, a dealer stock Cortez Silver Camaro SS gave up its 5 wheels so N508223 could be delivered. Since the caps and trim rings were shipped in the trunk, it was a simple matter to get creative.

Chevrolet had nothing to do with those hub caps.

Just my 2¢.