know the classics

Agee

Well-Known Member
As I slowed for a stop light slid up next to a new Camaro SS, in the classic Orange-black color scheme (assuming that was classic) and thought what a nice looking ride, caught the two young mens' attention in the vehicle, commented on their ride and they smiled large. Told them I've driven one of the classic 68 Chevy Camaro SS's and asked if they had ever seen one, they didn't have a clue... SO if your going to drive a representative of a classic wouldn't you want to know about its heritage, especially when your shelling out 40 to 50 K for the vehicle.

I'm guilty, car snob and respect for all things muscle!~
 

Bird Dog

Bird Dog
PREMO Member
They wouldn't know a classic if it rear ended them.....I had a 68' Camaro RS/SS package a 350. It cost a lot less than 50K and I am sure it was a lot faster......and I bet the owner doesn't know how to drive a stick...
 
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Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
They wouldn't know a classic if it rear ended them.....I had a 68' Camaro RS/SS package a 350. It cost a lot less than 50K and I am sure it was a lot faster......and I bet the owner doesn't know how to drive a stick...
Buddy of mine in HS spent what was then a stoopid large amount of money to buy a used '69 Camaro SS convertible....$3500. 1974, it was.

Factory 427-4 speed car....all black. One of very few made, I learned much later in life. Would be worth a small fortune now.
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
Buddy of mine in HS spent what was then a stoopid large amount of money to buy a used '69 Camaro SS convertible....$3500. 1974, it was.

Factory 427-4 speed car....all black. One of very few made, I learned much later in life. Would be worth a small fortune now.
Saw one of those 'lists' of muscle cars with their price as new back in the day and what it would be worth today...Think the top of the list was a 71 427 Chevelle that was around $4k and now worth $400k restored, numbers matching. Pretty amazing list, all cars new were 3.5k to 4.8k and most now worth 30-40 times the original price.
 

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
Saw one of those 'lists' of muscle cars with their price as new back in the day and what it would be worth today...Think the top of the list was a 71 427 Chevelle that was around $4k and now worth $400k restored, numbers matching. Pretty amazing list, all cars new were 3.5k to 4.8k and most now worth 30-40 times the original price.
I think I paid $1200 for my '67 Camaro back in 1981/2.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Saw one of those 'lists' of muscle cars with their price as new back in the day and what it would be worth today...Think the top of the list was a 71 427 Chevelle that was around $4k and now worth $400k restored, numbers matching. Pretty amazing list, all cars new were 3.5k to 4.8k and most now worth 30-40 times the original price.
I think my best "what it cost then" story was the 1968 Shelby GT500KR that my HS best friend bought off a Chevy dealer's used car lot (just outside Baltimore), in 1975, for $1500. It had somewhat faded paint and had interior upholstery wear commensurate with the 95,000 miles on the odometer. Totally rust free. The previous owner obviously used it as a daily driver. 428CJ-4V engine....ran like new. My friend never put it on the road except for the Senior Prom, which he did with temporary tags.

It sat in a barn after that. Sometime in the later 80s he sold it for $8500 and was real proud of the profit he made. Today...that same car is worth way beyond 6 figures.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Heck, even the '66 Mustang GT 289-4V/4-speed I drove as my daily in HS would be worth a ton today.
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
Heck, even the '66 Mustang GT 289-4V/4-speed I drove as my daily in HS would be worth a ton today.
Took my drivers test in my b-in-laws 66 Mustang GT..3 speed. He sold it in 70/71 to a soccer player for one of the defunct DC pro soccer players, then lost track of it..He ran across it in the early 2000s, bought and was going to restore it..He had torn it down to the frames and then lost interest. He died in 2014 and my sister gave it to my youngest sister's hubby (owns a car shop). Last I talked to him (3 years ago), it was still sitting on the frame in his shop with various boxes of parts waiting. Doubt it will be restored by him..wouldn't surprise if he has sold it.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Took my drivers test in my b-in-laws 66 Mustang GT..3 speed. He sold it in 70/71 to a soccer player for one of the defunct DC pro soccer players, then lost track of it..He ran across it in the early 2000s, bought and was going to restore it..He had torn it down to the frames and then lost interest. He died in 2014 and my sister gave it to my youngest sister's hubby (owns a car shop). Last I talked to him (3 years ago), it was still sitting on the frame in his shop with various boxes of parts waiting. Doubt it will be restored by him..wouldn't surprise if he has sold it.
Wow...a 3-speed GT? That's a new one on me. I have a BW T-10 4-sp in my pile-o-stuff that is correct for the '66 Mustang..even has the correct shifter on it.
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
Wow...a 3-speed GT? That's a new one on me. I have a BW T-10 4-sp in my pile-o-stuff that is correct for the '66 Mustang..even has the correct shifter on it.
Yes...unique, didn't really think much about it at the time but as time went on, I wondered why he got a 3 speed instead of 4..I think it was the only one on the lot and he wanted a mustang NOW, thats how he was. Even worse with his boats..:lol: He must have gone through 20 boats from 1970 to 2014, loved his deep sea fishing, had a boat in OC and one in Fla.
 

GregV814

Well-Known Member
here's my Bovine Fecal Matter story....

we were so poor, as sharecroppers in dustbowl Oklahoma, that our mule died of starvation...my Uncle Milo sent me over yonder to get some newspapers from a neighbor, 30 miles away, to start a fire. The classified ads had an offer to sell a 54 Cheverlay for 45 dollars. I waited my turn on the party line at the General Store to call the lady. Well, I got ahold of her and she told me her nephew was in the Navy in the South China sea and came home for Easter. He went to Elmer Figgs Chevrolet dealership in Cornpone Ok. and bought him a new Chevy. Well, he went back on ship and fell overboard and drowned!!! That old chevy was in her barn for 22 years but she needed to sell it.

We walked to her barn and looked under the tarp to find a pristine no mileage Corvette!!! I gave a hunnert twelve dollars!
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
here's my Bovine Fecal Matter story....

we were so poor, as sharecroppers in dustbowl Oklahoma, that our mule died of starvation...my Uncle Milo sent me over yonder to get some newspapers from a neighbor, 30 miles away, to start a fire. The classified ads had an offer to sell a 54 Cheverlay for 45 dollars. I waited my turn on the party line at the General Store to call the lady. Well, I got ahold of her and she told me her nephew was in the Navy in the South China sea and came home for Easter. He went to Elmer Figgs Chevrolet dealership in Cornpone Ok. and bought him a new Chevy. Well, he went back on ship and fell overboard and drowned!!! That old chevy was in her barn for 22 years but she needed to sell it.

We walked to her barn and looked under the tarp to find a pristine no mileage Corvette!!! I gave a hunnert twelve dollars!
:duh:
 

PrchJrkr

Long Haired Country Boy
Ad Free Experience
Patron
I waited in line for my only real muscle car. My cousin bought it second hand in the 70s and drove it until gas got expensive (haha). He gave it to his father, who didn't have a real interest in cars, to use as a daily driver on the outskirts of NOVA, Next was my brother's turn. He bought it before he graduated HS and drove it to the local community college in La Plata for a couple years. He parked it for several years while starting a family.

Finally when my turn came around, most of the floor pan was shot, the original engine went MIA from his friends auto repair business, and the top needed replacing. I started restoration, but then our family was expanding, so it was sold uncompleted.

It was a 1965 Impala SS ragtop with a 327/300hp under the hood. Unfortunately the trans was a lethargic power-glide 2-speed that I replaced with a TH-350 and healthy 350ci engine. My daughter and I got exactly 2 rides in it with the top down before it was sold. Second child was on the way. I got the better of that deal. :yay:
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
As I slowed for a stop light slid up next to a new Camaro SS, in the classic Orange-black color scheme (assuming that was classic) and thought what a nice looking ride, caught the two young mens' attention in the vehicle, commented on their ride and they smiled large. Told them I've driven one of the classic 68 Chevy Camaro SS's and asked if they had ever seen one, they didn't have a clue... SO if your going to drive a representative of a classic wouldn't you want to know about its heritage, especially when your shelling out 40 to 50 K for the vehicle.

I'm guilty, car snob and respect for all things muscle!~

So is it a nice car, the new one? If so, are people not allowed to like/buy nice new things unless they fully appreciate any and all vaguely connected history (and that's a stretch, the car has ZERO relation to the old one except color/name)?
 

Agee

Well-Known Member
So is it a nice car, the new one? If so, are people not allowed to like/buy nice new things unless they fully appreciate any and all vaguely connected history (and that's a stretch, the car has ZERO relation to the old one except color/name)?
Yes, see your point, buyers wants and cash are what matters. Personal thing, a generation with little knowledge of America's heritage and icons are breezing by what we are as a country.

cheers and thanks
 

Kinnakeet

Well-Known Member
They wouldn't know a classic if it rear ended them.....I had a 68' Camaro RS/SS package a 350. It cost a lot less than 50K and I am sure it was a lot faster......and I bet the owner doesn't know how to drive a stick...
Manual trans part I agree but the new camaros,mustangs and challengers will outrun the old muscle cars with no problem even with a V6
 

Kinnakeet

Well-Known Member
Buddy of mine in HS spent what was then a stoopid large amount of money to buy a used '69 Camaro SS convertible....$3500. 1974, it was.

Factory 427-4 speed car....all black. One of very few made, I learned much later in life. Would be worth a small fortune now.
396 is more like it chevy never put a 427 in a camaro some dealers like yenko,baldwin motion did remove the 396 for the 427 the only car that could have a engine bigger than 400 cid was the vette those were the corperate rules at the time
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
396 is more like it chevy never put a 427 in a camaro some dealers like yenko,baldwin motion did remove the 396 for the 427 the only car that could have a engine bigger than 400 cid was the vette those were the corperate rules at the time
Sure about that. Thought you could get a 427 COPO Camaro in 69.
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
From Hagerty -
In 1969, about 1000 Camaros left the factory with Chevy's L72 427 that was rated at 425 hp. Since then, the performance of these cars developed into the stuff of legend—and their values reflect it. A pristine, well-documented car will fetch upwards of $200,000.
 
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