Garage, Project Home, Part I - Page #: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Progress Documentation Links

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Before taking on a large project such as this one, it's important to determine what options the car came from the factory with. Many cars are faked or cloned into looking like a higher-end model. You do not want to dump a ton of money and labor into a car and findout that the car wasn't what you thought it was. In this case the car is an RS/SS 350 4-spd convertible with a blue top. But is it ? Well, yes and this is how I know:




We first start with the trim Tag. Here it is with every indication that it has never been removed from the car:




The code in the top left corner indicates the month (06=June) and week (C=3) that the body was manufactured on. So knowing this one should expect the car to have late-67 features on it and all of the date coded parts should have dates no later then the 3rd week of June.

Too late to be a pace car replica by the way, since they were all built no later than May 67. It is interesting to note that there were some Canadian Festival cars that were pace car replicas built the same week as this car though. Unfortunately, the VINs are known on those cars and this isn't one of them......




To translate the code in the upper right corner you have to indentify the plant where the car was produced. This is appears on the tag as an NOR for the Norwood, Ohio plant. It would have read LOS if it was built in the Los Angeles/Van Nuys plant. This car was built at Norwood so the code R represents the interior paint code, which is Bright Blue. Otherwise, the code in that location would have been the body scheduling code for the Los Angeles plant.




The code next to "ST" tells you about the type (or style) of car it is. The first 2 characters "67" represents the model year (1967). The first 2 digits "12" after the "-" indicates the model type, which is Camaro. The 3rd digit "6" after the "-" indicates the interior style, which is Custom (it would be a 4 if it had a standard interior). The last 2 digits "67" after the "-" indicates the body type, which is a convertible (37 would be coupe).

So far so good, the car is obviously a 1967 Camaro Convertible with evidence of the dash and rear interior upper panels painted bright blue.




The code next to "TR" (for trim) tells you about the type of seats the car came with. "732" is the code for bright blue custom bucket seats. The "Z" indicates that the seats did not have head rests.

I didn't get the car with its original seats, but it did come with the correct style 1967 seats that can be reupholstered.




The code to the left of "PAINT" indicates exterior body color and top color (either Vinyl or Conv). On the this car the "C" indicates an Ermine White body color. Being a convertible the "4" indicates a blue convertible top. A blue top is kind of rare. Out of the 25,141 convertibles built that year only 1,346 came with a blue top.

It should be noted that a paint code of "O" indicates a special paint color. All Pace Car Replicas have an "O" though they were believed to have been paint Ermine White (code "C"). The "O" may be an indicator of the blue stripe that appeared on those cars. So, this car is not a Pace Car Replica simply based on the color code.




The remaining line of codes (when present) lists the car's major options. 1968-69 cowl tags do not have these codes and therefore makes it harder to identify whether installed options are factory or not.

Starting with the group 2 options, signified by the number "2" followed by the letters "LG", the letter "L" indicates a 4-speed floor shifter Regular Production Option (RPO) M20 and the "G" indicates a floor console (RPO D55). What specific transmission (Muncie or Saginaw) and what specific console type (with or without gauges) can only be determined by interpreting the remaining codes and examining the body if the original running gear is missing like this car. An examination of this car's body shows that the factory had drilled the holes for a speedometer cable that goes to a Muncie transmission. If the holes had not been drilled, then the transmission would have been a Saginaw 4-speed and the car would definitely have not been an SS-350.

The group 3 option, signified by the number "3" followed by the letter "L", indicates the RPO Z22 Rally Sport Package. The most noticable feature of this option is the hide-away headlights and the tail panel with integrated reverse lights mounted below the bumper.

And finally the group 4 option, signified by the number "4" followed by the letter "P", which indicates that the car was originally equiped with an SS-350 (RPO L48) or the 327ci-275HP w/ Saginaw 4-speed transmisison (RPO L30/M20). The only way to tell the difference (if the original running gear is missing like this car), is to examine the body. As previously stated the factory had drilled the holes for a speedometer cable that goes to a Muncie transmission, so therefore it is known that the car is an SS-350 (RPO L48) and that the transmission is a wide ratio Muncie 4 speed. Because of this, it is known that the console was equiped with gauges as part of the SS-350 option.It should be noted that Pace Car Repricas have a "4P-" on their tags.



So based on the cowl tag it is known that the car was originally a 1967 Camaro RS/SS Convertible, built during the 3rd week of June 1967 at the Norwood, Ohio plant. It was originally Ermine White, with a bright blue custom interior and a blue convertible top. It was equiped with hide-away headlights, an SS hood and a black nose stripe. It had a custom interior, a console with gauge and the seats were without headrests. It had a 350-295HP with a Muncie 4-speed transmission, traction bar (square) and a 12-bolt rear end.


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