Driving back to SoBro from an errand downtown, I didn't waste the chance to go motoring down the tree-lined curves of Fall Creek Parkway with the top down. It turns out I wasn't the only person who had that urge...
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| What's this, then? A '68 Camaro? Been a good week for vintage Camaro-spotting! |
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...a traffic light further down the road and a better shot. Having the top down and a camera with an LED viewfinder on the back makes shots like this possible. This pic would have been nigh impossible in a hardtop and/or with an old film camera. |
In future, don't forget to fuzz out the licence plate number. In an age of corrupt public administrators, you never know who might covet that car and have the resources to find where the guy lives.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I already did. :)
ReplyDeleteI see 1968 on the plate, is that an Indiana indulgence for "old" cars? Or Tam up to some tricks?
ReplyDeleteThis is taken with which camera, Tam?
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
Man, I wish Dad hadn't traded his '69 RS coupe in on a pickup truck.
ReplyDeleteAnd that the girl who bought it right after that hadn't wrapped it around a tree two weeks later.
The correct plate on the back is a plus! We can do that here too. Nice touch and a great looking ride.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, that cross-body muffler doesn't look right on a Camaro. Otherwise, very nice looking car!
ReplyDeleteI've had a few rag-tops: '57,'60,'61,'62 Chevy's, '62 Alfa, and drove a lot of others that dad brought home, but I've always felt a bit unsafe in them. Probably due to dad's autobody/towing business, and building that big block '57. Driving a car that can spin the tires in 4th gear at 100+, tends to sharpen your perception of bad possibilities.
Yep, 1968...
ReplyDeleteI've had two convertibles in my life. A 1982 Rabbit I took to Italy for a tour there, and a 2007 Wrangler. They were both wonderful cars, but highly impracticable. Not least because they were both sticks and my wife can't drive a stick, so she hated them.
ReplyDeleteMy wife sees that '68 and I'm in trouble, I lied to her and said they couldn't be found anymore ...
ReplyDeleteI take great enjoyment out of driving my elderly XK 120 on sunny warm days. Top down, two seats, loud exhaust, real wire wheels.
ReplyDeleteI've owned it 25 years or rather, it's owned me for 25 years. At this time I think that both the car and myself are classic antiques.
It is a '68. You can always tell '68s from '67s across all American cars, because 1968 was the year that side marker lights became mandatory for production, so you'll see turn signals in fenders. You can also identify a '68 vintage from a '67 if you look at the interior. 1968 required collapsible steering columns for the first time and most have a double stacked column, and all 1968 cars had to have seat belts (lap obviously). Nicely, a ton of vintage rides have been retrofitted with seatbelts, but the collapsible column and side-marker lights are dead 1968-model giveaways. Some folks might have upgraded from the "Spears of Death" columns, but I've seen very few where folks retrofitted side marker lights into their pre-68 cars. Mostly because unlike today where they are nicely integrated with the body work, in 1968 they look like J.C. Whitney tack-ons, much like the goofily trimmed ones found in the rear quarters on that there '68 Camaro.
ReplyDelete-Rob
The 67s & 68s are also identifiable by the small egg crate grill on the front & the gas cap on the back. In 69, they moved the gas cap behind the license plate.
ReplyDeleteOn a historical note, the Camaro was never intended to be a muscle car. It was actually intended to be another economy car like the Nova. The first Camaros featured an in-line six cylinder engine and four wheel drum brakes. During development, Chevrolet called them school teacher cars.
Jerry,
ReplyDeleteThey were designed to compete with the Falcon-based Mustang and, like the car that created the category, offered trim levels from thrifty secretarymobiles with sporty styling all the way up to hairy-chested fire-breathing top-end models marketed to the kinds of dudes whose copies of Car Craft had sticky pages.
The easiest way from a distance to tell the difference between a 67 and 68 Camaro is the lack of vent windows on the 68. Viewing from the front, the parking lights on the 67 are round and the 68's are oval.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if you happen to be looking at one from the bottom, the 67 rear shock mounts are both on the same side of the axle. The 68's are on opposite sides to reduce wheel hop.