1968 Chevrolet Dave Strickler's Z/28 World Champion "Old Reliable"
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1968 Z28 Camaros are very special. (OK, I'm predjudiced. I have one.) They were built for racing and in the beginning, only sold to the general public because 500 cars had to be built to compete in the SCCA Trans AM Racing Series. They were barely streetable and came with such things as all internal forged engine parts, special solid lifter cam, big cylinder heads, 11:1 compression ratio, aluminum high-rise intake manifold and Holley Carb. A 7,000 rpm redline required special deep grove pulleys to keep from throwing fan belts. No automatics, no power windows, no A/C, no convertibles. Included was a required close ratio 4-speed trans, heavy duty 12 bolt rear end, big front disc brakes, special suspension and more. Although rated at only 290 HP for insurance purposes, street versions of the '67-68 Z28 actually generated about 375-385 HP from a small 302 c.i. V8. Trans AM race cars got about 425-450HP from the same engine. In 1968, Camaro Z28's won both the Trans Am Series (Penske/Donahue) and the NHRA Super Stock National Drag Racing Championship (Dave Strickler). Below is a picture of Dave Strickler's '68 Z28 in action back in the day leaving the starting line. It's a pretty impressive launch for a little 302 "stock" Z28 engine. Also included are a couple of pictures of my just re-done 1968 Z28. I did it all at home except for the paint and I'm happy with how it turned out. It was in pretty poor shape when I got it. It had been dissembled and in storage for many years. It's back on the road again now and never fails to make me smile when driving it. It has the nastiest engine sound of any car I've ever owned and the exhaust system is stock! I think these early Z28's are soul mates to the early 911 race cars.
Wow! Awesome car Richard.
Curt. Thanks for your complements. My '68 Z28 was a fun project and I've enjoyed it as much (maybe more) than my Porsche projects. I bought the '68 Z28 from a friend who purchased it from another friend around 1990. The car was rough, but running and drivable when friend #2 decided to buy it. Friend #2 decided to "restore" it. You can guess the rest. He only got as far as the dissembly stage and lost interest. The car sat in the back of his garage (dissembled) for 10-12 years until a guy I raced in SCCA with (who owned a '68 Z28...back in the day) and I went to look at it as a possible project for my friend. He decided it was too much work and passed on buying it. Being a sucker for old hi-performance cars and old race cars I bought it. Of course I underestimated the project. (I'm sure none of you guys have ever done this on an early 911 project.) Luckily the previous owner had all the original parts in boxes (or piles and the rare engine parts were stuffed away at a friend's machine shop). With the exception of a few original parts that were changed out many years ago when the car was used for drag racing (note the yellow traction bars in front of the rear wheel and not shown is the huge nitrous line, special rear axles and gears and more) everything was there. A lot of these early Z28s didn't survive because back then they were just "old race cars". Luckily, this one did...and with only 57xxx original miles....probably because it was in storage from the mid 1980s on.
The attached pics are of the car when I found it. It looks pretty bad...but keep in mind that almost all the parts not shown in the picture were there...but in piles or boxes...it would have been even a much bigger project without them. Compare these pictures to the pictures above and you'll see what was involved in bringing it back to life. But I've got no complaints. This early Z28 delivers big time! It's pure race car that somehow got sold on the street so Chevrolet could have a go at winning the 1968 Trans Am Championship...and along the way they also picked up the 1968 NHRA SuperStock Drag racing Championship with another '68 Z28. This car was worth putting back togther....and it was fun too.
Great color too! One of my all-time favorite drag cars was Ben and Dave Wenzel's 67. Built and raced in the 60's and 70's only a few miles from my house. They were rumored to have had a lot of 'backdoor' help from General Motors with this car. The drag strip was abandoned long ago but the tower in this advert still stands. I think they're still racing the car to this day :eek:
Edit: found a recent color photo!
Hi Richard,
Cool Camaro. Nice job on the restoration.:) The background on the '68 Camero is very interesting, I had no idea they were basically a homologation special.
Speaking of '68 Camaros my good friend Tom found this Camero a long time ago and has had quite a bit of fun with it over the years.:D
Brian,
Your friend Tom has one very cool and valuable '68 Z28 (Assuming it is one of the original Penske/Donahue Trans Am cars.) There were 2-4 Penske/Donahue constructed early Z28 camaro race cars each of the three years that Penske/Donahue competed in Trans Am Racing during 1967-'68-'69 period until they switched to AMC in 1970. (Probably a total of about 8-10 cars.) The SCCA required Chevrolet to build 500 Z28's to qualify for racing under Trans AM rules. All the big pony car manufacturers (Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler, etc.) were competeting under the theory "win on Sunday...sell cars on Monday" and the SCCA wanted these cars to be available to the public and not one-off race cars. The top professional team cars like Penske/Donahue were really full race cars but many of the other less well funded teams ran Z28's or Mustangs much like they came from the dealerships.) In 1967 approximately 600 Z28's were built; approximately 6,000 were built in 1968, and by 1969 they were very popular because of their racing success and over 20,000 were built. These early Z28's are known as 1st Generation cars (much like our SWB 911's) and are especially popular because they were built with very little compromising for street use. The "Z28" name came from the Chevrolet factory assembly manual. It was called RPO (regular projection option) #Z28. The first Z28's wore no badging and could only be identified from the outside because they all came with twin hood and trunk stripes (the only Camaros that were painted with stripes at the factory.) As their racing sucess grew they started badging the cars. First with a "302" emblem with the early 1968 cars and and by March 1968 with a "Z28" emblem. Chevrolet began using the "Z28" name in their promotional campaigns to sell camaros...and from then on the Z28 name became well known and race winning success lead to sales success. By 1970 SCCA rules changed and the street version no longer had to have the radical, high winding 302 V8 (which wasn't really too good for the street.) Although the 1970 Z28 was in some ways a better car than the 1st Generation Z28's the raw racing edge was gone forever. Porsche also competed successfully in early Trans Am racing until about 1969 in the under 2.0L category (the Z28's ran in a 5.0L) category. But the crowds came for the noise and power of the 5.0L cars so the 2.0L category was dropped from the Trans AM format about 1969 and after that only V8 cars competed in Trans AM. Attached is one picture from an early Trans Am race. An early 911 is about to be overtaken by an early Z28. Note the twin white stripes on the Z28 indicating it is a Z28 bought for racing at a dealerhsip and not a purposely built race car like the Penske cars.) I have seen another picture (which I can't find) at a race around 1967-68. It shows a number of early 911's and also several early Z28's which are again identifiable by their twin hood and trunk stripes waiting to start the pace lap. It was a great time in American racing. A time when if you knew how to order it, you could go to your local dealer and get a car built purposely for racing...and with a few tweaks...you could race it the following weekend.
Here are a couple more Camaro race cars for you guys.
This is a 1970 car that had an extensive documented history in SCCA and raced in a couple of T/A events (the owner was a privater, so didn't do well against the factory sponsored cars).
The current owner bought it from the second owner in Roswell, GA (he raced it in SCCA). It was a basket case. After a concours restoration, the new owner invited the widow and daughter (he paid their expenses) of the original owner to the HSR Walter Mitty to see the car again after 35 years. As it happens, the second owner was at the race as a spectator and came rushing over to see the car.
The car has been accepted into the Monterey Historics this summer (so the paperwork is in order).
The third picture is a 1967 car. It also has a proper original SCCA logbook and a letter proving it to be in the Trans-Am registry. The logbook shows races at Riverside. Here it is at Road America a couple of weekends ago:
This car is well known for its very fast vintage results. It has been rebodied after an incident at VIR.
not to hijack your thread, but I just have to say-Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
soul mates- that phrase is a perfect description;
Back in the day one of the many cars I have been fortunate enough to own was a 69 Camaro- it was set up with super short gears (5:56 I think was the ratio) 4-spd, w a 396 96 with the requisite 750cfm Holley four barrel on a high rise manifold (your post Curt reminded me of the reverence I used to have for Holley carbs!) The car was incredibly fast, like dangerously fast on the street. I loved it. I lived in Brooklyn at the time, and it was a regular standout for the street racing we used to do down at the abandoned Navy yards (late 70's- early 80's), and other totally illegal locations.
One day a friend shows up with another blue Camaro with white rally stripes. Yes, the legendary Z28. I spend most of the afternoon maligning his little smallblock and laughing at the suggestion that he thinks his car is quicker than mine. I go for the bait. Money is put up. That night down at the docks we throw down for the big run. We launch in unison, my car is an animal- tires screeching the car launches hard, hood twisting up and I am clawing for air banging second so fast I am sure he is a speck in my rear view mirror. There was a sudden blur to my right, a flash of blue as the Z28 blew past like a screaming banshee.
Ever since that night, I became a total, absolute convert to the concept of short stroke engines. And the next day, when my friend let me drive his car, I was totally amazed- essentially the same car as mine, but it was so fast, so nimble, handled SO well in comparison to mine.
Fast forward another 20 years, I find myself the owner of a long hood 911- a 69S, with a 2 liter mechanically injected motor. I will never forget the first time I drove the car after finally sorting out the injection and tuning issues. It was fate, because I was not educated enough to realize what exactly I had until I drove it in anger. Somehow, out of all the cars I could have settled on, out of all the Porsches I could have bought, I ended up with the factory short stroke motor- the out of the box race car equivalent to the Z28.
I just gave one away for $28K and it was perfect.
1968 396 SS. Very original. Best color I think.