(suspenseful music)
- I'm Stefan Lombard with Hagerty.
Today I'm here with this 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396.
It was the third year of the first generation Camaro.
Today we're gonna talk a little bit about what you
should be looking for if you're in the market to buy one.
The Camaro was Chevy's response to the Mustang,
taking just two years from design to production.
And between September 1966 and November 1969
700,000 Camaros hit the road.
These first generation Camaros came in two different
body styles: a two-door hardtop coup,
and a two-door convertible,
and they were available from mild to wild.
Really, however you wanted to spec them,
and there were dozens and dozens of options available.
Really mundane things like clocks and deluxe seat belts,
some really rare stuff like a fold-down rear seat
and a front bench seat, and some really neat factory
stuff like headers, and four wheel disc breaks
in the JL 8 package.
When we're talking about first generations Camaros
we need to talk about paperwork and documentation
because unfortunately, GM records aren't the greatest
so it could be hard to tell if the car
that you're looking at came that way from the factory.
It's not uncommon to find a SS 396 big block car
that was originally a six cylinder car
because all the parts are available
to build your own SS car if you want to.
And one of the best things you can do,
if you're looking at a first generation Camaro,
is either have a mark expert with you,
or take it to a mark expert
for a thorough pre-purchase inspection.
They can get it on a lift, they can look at all the codes
that are imprinted on the car, and give you an idea of
whether the car you're looking at
is the actual car you think it is.
If you're lucky, and the car you're looking at
has it's original protecto plate, you're in business
because that protecto plate was imprinted with
lots of valuable information from the factory:
original owner, VIN, carburetor information,
axle information, assembly dates, all that stuff
which is valuable in making sure
that the car you're buying is authentic.
In addition to the dozens of options you could spec
on your Camaro, there are also some special packages.
The Camaro paced the Indy 500 in 1967 and '69,
so there are Indy 500 replica packages.
Additionally, the RS, or Rally Sport package,
was an appearance package and it included things like
RS badging, hideaway headlights, special stripes,
body moldings, and fun parking lights and rear taillights
which were mounted below the bumpers.
Now beyond the RS appearance package, there was a
performance package called the SS, or Super Sport.
But what that got you was unique badging, a special hood,
a sport suspension, and bigger engines.
Either a 350 V8 or a big block 396 in various outputs
from 325 to 375 horsepower.
Top dog in the regular production Camaro world was the Z 28.
This was a high performance, high revving machine,
that made it a 327 cubic inch block with a 283 crank,
and the yield was 302 cubic inches,
perfect for trans am racing.
It also included 15 inch wheels, a sport suspension,
unique exhaust, and quick ratio steering.
Now beyond the Z 28 there are the ultra rare COPO cars.
These were 427 big blocks that put out 425 horsepower,
or in the case of the ZL one COPO cars,
was an all aluminum engine putting out 430 horsepower.
No matter what engine's under hood,
whether it's the smallest six cylinder,
a 327 or 350 small block, or a big block,
what you're looking for is kind of the same:
the condition of the belts, the hoses.
You want to squeeze all this stuff
and just check the vitality of all that rubber,
your plug wires, you want to pull the dipstick,
check the condition of the oil.
Is there water in it?
That's a problem.
You want to check the motor mounts
because those might need to be replaced.
In general, all the engines that came in these cars from GM
were pretty stout, and if you do need to do any
major mechanical work to them,
it's not gonna be that expensive,
and it's not that difficult.
They're incredibly popular and there's a huge
after-market supply out there,
and you can pretty much buy everything you need
to build an entire first generation Camaro.
(engine revs)
And you can get them in just about
every flavor you can imagine.
From a base 230 cubic inch inline six,
to a monstrous 396 cubic inch 35 horsepower beast.
The Camaro was all about options.
It was all about giving buyers a choice
on they wanted to spec their car and make it
completely unique to their personal taste.
These cars were never gonna be the kind of handler that,
say, a second generation Corvette was,
and they weren't suppose to be.
They're pretty bare bones in the suspension department.
Up front you had upper and lower A-Arms,
coil springs, tube shocks, and a anti-roll bar.
And in the SS cars the springs and shocks
were upgraded a little bit.
And in the back it was a leaf spring setup.
And in the earliest cars, the '67's, it was a mono-leaf
which, if pushed, would lead to some axle bind
and wheel hop, not necessarily a favorable thing.
So, Chevy revised that late in the '67 run
to a multi-leaf setup, and that's typically what you'll find
on the bulk of the cars.
The basic principle is that all the cars that came with
a 12 bolt rear axle had a multi-leaf spring setup.
But the cars with the 10 bolt axles
typically will be the mono-leaf setup.
When you're out test driving one of these first gen Camaros,
as with any car, you want to make sure that it does
everything that it's supposed to.
So you want to listen to the engine.
You hear any knocking in the bottom end,
valve noise in the top, any hisses, any squeaks,
any vibrations, rattles, that sort of thing,
try and find out where they're coming from.
Could just be a loose piece of trim.
And beyond that you want to test everything.
All the buttons and gauges and knobs and whatever there is,
turn them on, flip them, make sure everything works.
The sound of braking on these cars was
manual drums on all four wheels.
Not exactly high-tech, but you could upgrade that
to discs in the front, powered or unpowered.
And power disc brakes are a nice thing.
And there was also a full wheel disc brake option
which most of these cars do not have,
but if you find one that has it, it's a rare option.
It adds value to the car.
In terms of options for how your Camaro went down the road,
you got a lot of choices for rear axle gearing.
331 rear end was kind of standard on the small block cars.
There was some economy gearing for your base cars,
273, 256 gearing, but that's no fun.
But optional gearing was 307, 355, 373,
and if you really want to have some fun,
you'd get 410 gearing, 456, 488.
And those three all required positraction limited slip
rear end for good reason.
For a long time there was a huge debate
over what the word Camaro meant.
And eventually, GM executives came clean,
said they just liked the sound of it.
And let's face it, who doesn't like the sound of this?
(loud car engine)