Joe's (X66 714) 1969 SS 396 Camaro "The life & times of X66 714"

[Xplantdad]

Hi Bruce.

Here are a few starter pictures & my story.
Thank you for taking a look, Joe


In spring of 1981, after trying to purchase this car for the last 2 years, I was finally able to acquire it. A 1969 Camaro SS396 with yellow interior. On the previous day I had spoken with the owner about the cost. He ask me what I thought & I told him, because of some of the problems I would give him 1,300.00. He said he was thinking 1,500.00. We agreed on 1,400.00. The next day my friend Jim & I jumped into my 1968 Z/28 & headed out to purchase the car. When we got there the owner had pulled aside three 14x6 rally wheels with F70x14 white pin striped tires & also a beautiful yellow front bumper. The owner says "if you don't want any of this stuff I'll throw it out". My next question was why the bumper wasn't on the car? He says he likes chrome better. I loaded up everything, fired up the 396 & we drove it home. Never really thought much of the car as my plans were to take the interior & the tilt column to build a 69 Z/28.

The car turned out to be a very interesting Camaro. It had the 325hp 396, Th400, p/s, console, tach/gauges, tilt a/c, parchment vinyl top, rear antenna, deluxe seat belts, tinted glass, custom yellow interior & special front bumper. Today I believe the car might've been a dealer demo. It was built August 28th, 1969. Sold new at O'Rielly Chevrolet in Tucson Arizona on July 29th, 1970.

I'm the 3rd owner & when I purchased it, the odometer showed 83k. I restored it once & it now has 157k, so I'm restoring it again...the right way...hopefully.

More to come (Joe will add the restoration pics as he progresses!)



Thanks for looking,


Joe

[ZLP955]

Thanks Bruce and Joe, great to hear the back story to such an interesting car!

[NorCam]

A very cool car that I will be following as it's restored. Joe and I have spoken about the car a couple of times and I'm keen to see the workmanship and the details of its restoration.

Take it away Joe...and thanks for the vintage pics too.

[X66 714]

These are pictures of the restoration I did in 1982. Other than the obvious, I also put in power windows, am/fm & JL8. Also moved the antenna to the front fender. Sorry, I can't seem to fix the pictures. Maybe someone could assist Thank you, Joe

[NorCam]

[X66 714]

In 1982 I also contacted MVD in Az. to do a title history search. (you could do that then). I ask MVD for anything including the MSO not knowing that the original invoice could've been there. Had to wait about 30 minutes. Took everything home to review. There were only 2 other owners. I contacted the first to ask her about the car & to see if any paper work still existed. Took a while to convince her I had her old Camaro. She thought somebody was pulling a prank on her. She told me of the car's history. She was at the dealer getting oil change on he 1967 396 El Camino when she saw the car & bought it. She also told me of running it into the back of a 4x4 when the car had only 16k. Nice that she missed the bumper She told me she moved to Colorado for a year. She had stored all papers in the basement & there was a flood. The original owner also told me that other than the El Camino & this Camaro, she also had a 1969 AMX with the Go Pack & a 1969 SCJ Mustang. She went on to tell me of Hemi cars she had owned..Wild....Joe

[NorCam]

That's very interesting Joe. Do you know if she was married or who got her so deep into muscle cars? Sounds like she was every bit a muscle car lover and pretty rare to hear of a woman being so heavily into horsepower. I'm thinking her dad or someone may have been a big influence in that department (perhaps)?

Is she still alive today? If so is she still in the area and do you keep in touch?

[X66 714]

She's in New Mexico last I heard. She was married, I think, for a short time. I need to contact her to see if the wheels were on it in the showroom or did she have the dealer change them. It shouldn't had 14x6...Joe

Thanks for flipping the pictures

[X66 714]

From 1982 till 2005 I put 74k miles on the Camaro. During that time it was a daily driver & the Arizona sun had taken it's toll. The years before that, I had worked on returning the car back to it's original life. It's harder to return them back as now there's a ton of holes that will need to be fill before painting. The car sat in my garage until 2018 when I decided I would get it running & just enjoy it. One thing lead to another & now it's in a full restoration. In 1982 it was nice enough to be in the World of Wheels...Joe

[ruralrte66]

Great story, glad you kept it. Joe that is one cool, best option Camaro SS396 to have.