Finally got me a 1st Gen (Camaro)
I’ve liked 1st gen Camaros for a long time. I’m not sure when I started liking them. I’ve never known anyone who had one (at least when I knew them) so my guess is I saw them at car shows, in magazine articles (like Hot Rod’s Crusher Camaro) etc. I think it is a pretty popular opinion that the 1950s through early 1970s produced the best looking cars. Before fuel economy and safety standards took a stronghold on vehicle design.
Like many things, they used to be a lot cheaper, but they were always well out of budget for me. Initially I flat out couldn’t afford them and then later they cost more than I thought they were worth. The catalyst for me was seeing a number of fellow 6th gen ZL1 owners also owning a beautiful 1st gen. How cool would that be to own the first and last generation Camaros. That lead to a few cycles of researching and looking at classifieds over time slowly but surely building up my desire to own one and my willingness to pay the premium associated with them.
In my research I determined my preferred year was 1968 as they had a few small improvements over 67 and I strongly dislike the 69 dash. But before ever actually going to look at anything I’d come to be senses and say these cars are not worth what people are asking for them. That changed in March. A 1968 Camaro…in Grecian Green of all colors. Like the ZL1’s Krypton Green I had never heard of Grecian Green but I liked it as soon as I saw it. At least on this car. It had the right black accents (vinyl top, z/28 style stripes on the hood and trunk, and SS(ish) style stripes along the side. I came to find out that like Krypton, Grecian Green is another rare color. In fact, it was only offered for 6 months, 1968 only.
The color was right as were the mods:
383 stroker with CNC ported heads
Long tube headers, H pipe, flowmasters for that classic sound
TKO600 5-speed manual
12 bolt 3:73 posi rear
subframe connectors
Lakewood traction bars
tubular front suspension
large anti roll bar
front disk brake conversion
Even with all those mods it was priced significantly lower than most of the other cars that had caught my eye, and those were typically a pedestrian 350 and a 4-speed. (I did not consider buying an automatic). To add to that, it was only 90 minutes from me so needless to say I gave him a call, went and looked at it, left a deposit, and came back a week later with my trailer.
