I got a good one here! Just bought (good price) 68 SS? RS? 350 4 spd. Please help me save what hair I have left! I'm 90% sure I have an SS but RS is ??? VIN # 124378N313938 cowl tag 02D ST 68-12437NOR86684 BOD TR 712JJ,, I know 68 is hardest to decode. So the car has SS grille and gas cap emblems, chrome and mesh fake "louvers" on hood,chrome lower belt-line and wheel well moulding,spoiler on rear deck, O.K. for the SS, right? Now the trick, Solid rear roll pan (no backing lamps),,half & half tail lights(Red&clear),, HOWEVER, the front has hideaway headlamps, hood release under bumper, small rectangular park lamps under bumper. What do you think? Car appears unaltered, but I'm thinkin RS front clip in a shady past.(seller never even said the word "RS" ,, so I kept my mouth shut) Also, is it possible to find original engine info from these #'S ? Thanks in advance for any/all help.



[This message has been edited by wuntun (edited 12-03-2002).]

Here is your decode info. but it wont help you much on the RS/ss side of your question. 68 and 69's are not coded for RS in their numbers like the 67's were.
Tear apart the seats, look under dash for crumpled paper, even on top of gas tank for the build sheet, thats your only 100% way of knowing. Others will throw in some ideas here soon too. Good luck.
Click


1 = Chevrolet
2 = Camaro
4 = 8-cylinder engine
37 = coupe body
8 = 1968 model year
N = Norwood, OH assembly plant
313938 = vehicle serial number sequence

Decode for body number: 086684

02D = Built the Fourth week of February.
68-12437 = Coupe.
NOR = Built in Norwood Ohio.
712 = Standard Black Bucket Seats.
J-J = Car Color is Rallye Green



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69RS 350/255 LM1, Balanced, TRW forged pistons, .30 over, TH-350 auto.,
Dover White,Blue Vinyl top, F&R spoilers,pdb, close ratio ps,am/fm,3.08 Posi., A/C, fold down rear seat
My RS www.brainerd.net/~knudsen/69RS (http://www.brainerd.net/~knudsen/69RS)

In '68 the SS got the finned hood on the small block and the planter boxes (like you describe) on the big block. Look for signs of factory dual exhaust, drum or disc was correct on the front, 12 bolt rear end.

I've seen so many cars that seem unaltered that don't have an orig part on them. After 30+ years you never know what went on unless you have complete owner history and have talked to each owner. I don't mean to sound negative but I suspect your car was parted together during a restoration sometime in the past. It could have been an RS with rear end damage, an SS with front end damage or a plane jane with SS emblems and an RS front end slapped on it.

If the car is nicely done and you enjoy it is the most important thing. Check in the trunk for signs of rear end repair and check under the hood for proper vacuum parts and hose routing for the RS lights. Also look for the SS hood springs. I haven't covered it all, I'm sure others will pipe up as well... Also check out www.camaros.org/diffs68.shtml (http://www.camaros.org/diffs68.shtml)

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...Dennis
"The '69 (http://chevelles.com/showroom/ww.jpg), the '96 (http://www.camaroslimited.com/graphics/memcars/96ss.jpg) our local club (http://camaroslimited.com/)"
and the "daily driver" (http://chevelles.com/showroom/DjD/dsc00016.jpg)

Thanks for the info. Click and Dennis. What was meant by 'ss hood springs', Dennis? I was pretty sure that I was buying a 'parted-up' car but the price was for a plain jane. So now I'm really to the good,in the fact it's looking like a true SS, however, the site Dennis pointed Me to (excellent source) is proving the car to originally having a big block. (has small now, cleanin 4 #'s to get cubes) But still a good buy. I think I'm going to nickname this baby "ying-yang" (for half & half) Thanks again Guys, <<Rogainin'>>

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69 Z28 71 Nova RS 67 C10 99 GMC CC 3500 + at least a dozen waiting their turn (:

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the VIN and trim tag don't match. That's a Sept VIN and Feb tag. Oopsie.
If you find the partial VIN on the cowl, that will tell which one is original to the car. See CRG for the location.

And what on the site is leading you to think it's a BB?
What's the axle code?

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Kurt S.
CRG www.camaros.org (http://www.camaros.org)

[This message has been edited by Kurt S (edited 12-09-2002).]

Kurt, I hate to give up(check my 'numbers matching' post), I know you know, but how do you know the vin is sept.? As far as BB goes, 4 reasons, hope they are right,----- I'm 4th owner, 3rd bought from brother and remembers when brother went to SB, but more concrete, heater core exits composite cover in center, speedo cable enters firewall on pass. side of steering, big radiator.---I have still got to get to the rear (12 bolt)and tranny, 'looks' like a muncie, but I'm no expert, so I'll post #'s soon. Thanks
One more I found @CRG, "venturi stacks" on hood, BB only.
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69 Z28 71 Nova RS 67 C10 99 GMC CC 3500 + at least a dozen waiting their turn (: Newest baby^^^^^ 68 SS BB^^^^

[This message has been edited by wuntun (edited 12-09-2002).]

Wuntun,

All the leads the other guys gave you are good things to track down in your search. Remember don't get too hung up on what it is or isn't, enjoy the car. That said I'll add the following things to help you. Defeinitely not a RS rear, easy to add the RS front clip. Check beneath the master cylinder on the firewall. The RS has a hole punched in the firewall here approximately 1 to 1 1/2" in diameter (I'm going from memory here) that the vacum hoses for the headlights passes through to the headlight switch. This harness has a grommet with two holes for the vacum lines. This hole should be cleanly punched in the sheetmetal, it should be easy to tell if someone cut it in unless they used a chassis punch, which most guys don't do. All RS cars have this hole, the standard cars do not. Also look at the front parking lights in the lower valence and make sure they are mounted from the back side of the valence with a bolt screwed to the tab on the valence, this is correct for a 68 RS, the 67 RS had a valence without the tabs and the lamps had chrome rings around them that installed the lamps from the front of the valance and were held in with a u chaped sheet metal bands from the back side of the valence. It is very common to see buys put the 67 valence and lamps on a 68. Also the 68 had vertical chrome bars running across the grille, the 67 did not. Check the lower rocker molding is the three piece design mounted up along the body crease and doors, not on the rocker like the standard cars. Some people I've seen fill the holes and remove the three piece moldings. If you car is void of the rocker moldings remove the door panels and check for the necessary large holes in the bottom of the door along the body crease line where it may be filled. If the holes are not there you are dealing with a standard car, or replacement doors at the very least. Does the gas cap have the correct cable retaining it to the rear valence and the correct hardware mounting it? If it's a true big block car you'll have the larger diameter fuel lines and I believe a second return line. Also if you have an under the hood lamp, which side of the hood is it on? The small block dip stick was on the left, the big block on the right, most lights Ive seen were placed on the side of the hood to illuminate the dip stick at night. Under you heater cover on the outside firewall I believe is another set of VIN numbers, check those also. Where is the washer bottle mounted, RS was different. If it was truly a big block car, most had the rear valence painted black, pull back some of the weatherstriping around the trunk at the valence and look for signs of black paint there, remembering car has probably been repainted a few times, you still may be able to see it. Good Luck and happy hunting. Sounds like a nice car either way it turns out.

The VIN corresponds to a Sept build date, they assigned VIN's sequentially.
What's the partial VIN on the cowl?

Hard to prove it's a BB, esp with things being changed around on the car.

And no factory 427's in 68 Camaros.
The hood stacks were used on SS350 cars during 68 (we'll update that section of the site so it's easier to figure out), so that's not helpful.

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Kurt S.
CRG www.camaros.org (http://www.camaros.org)