Can anyone tell me if a1969 Camaro was ever sold with a 396 engine that wasn’t a SS car?
My Camaro has a 3/8 fuel line and a big block heater core but is not an X- xx car tag.
GM Official Production Date: September 23, 1969
ST 69 12437 (69 Camaro V8 coupe)
VN31900 BDY (Van Nuys plant body assignment number)
TR 723 (interior trim midnight green standard interior)
All 396's were SS cars. Van Nuys cowl tags didn't have X-codes.
I take it the original engine is gone ? How 'bout the transmission and rear end ? Have you check the codes to see if any of the drivetrain is original ? Does it have 1 or 2 fuel lines from the gas tank ?
Surely must be September 1968 production not 1969? There seems to be a digit missing from the body number you stated, but VN had ceased production of '69 MY well before September.
I think they all had 3/8 line in 69. Maybe not 6 cyl. ? With out the return line would indicate no Quadrajet carburetor. The only SS (350 & 396's) without a Q-Jet was the L78 (396 solid lifter) which had a Holley.
You should check the rear end codes. Front disc or drum brakes ?
OK, thanks for that. It's a Special Paint car, per the '-' on the tag, with Parchment vinyl top.
Curious though - where did the September production date come from? Car has a May 1969 trim tag. Is the VIN around 9L530xxx - 9L531xxx?
All 69 SS cars had front disc brakes. It appears to have been a small block, non SS (assuming it has a V8 VIN) and the BB heater core has been modified/changed.
Here's the rear end code locations. 1967-69 Camaro Drivetrain Decoding There isn't a partial VIN so build dates are used to determine if it fits the car build date. Should check the casting date on the differential as well...
EDIT: I should mention and as you know, without a numbers matching engine, transmission or documentation, almost anything is possible with these 50yr old cars. Usually things have been changed/modified over the years. An example would be those front drum brakes. Hard to imagine someone replacing disc brakes with drum, but even that has happened as some drag racers preferred drum ! The rear end may be your best clue.....
Well, that is interesting! Your car was built as car 380 in the A period with a BDY of 319000, my car was built as car 208 in the A period, but has a BDY of 335864 (order number was later then yours). My SS350 convertible model might have held it back a bit in the line
Joe, your car has special paint with a parchment top, any idea what was special about the paint?
ps, I wish people (hope it wasn't you Joe!) would not sand the cowl tag modern phones can do a close up and read the numbers just fine, no need to damage the tags.
Wow, that was a big miss by NCRS, LA plant stopped making Camaros in July 1969. The last batch were all 5A dates (1st week May), but actually built June/July. I would say your car is one of the early ones as my 05A has a later BDY number then yours.
From a CRG post
In 69 there was one strike at the Los Angeles assembly plant that basically ended 69 production there. It started April 19th and ended in Mid June. They only reopened the plant to clear the cars that were actually on the line at the beginning of the strike, which was about 1200 Camaros, plus probably the same amount of Chevrolets, and Impalas.
Hey Steve, your database has the BDY numbers too? I'm curious do you track those as well? Were they usually in sequence with VIN? Or all over the place like NOR?
Yes. The body # was the order number for both plants in 69. And orders could sit for a while before being fulfilled. That body # is really low - I'll guess the special paint held up the car.
I wonder if it was originally frost green. Probably some other light green. You'll have to look in some protected places to find the original color.
I am afraid I am guilty, I used steel wool, so the custom paint is the rally stripe going all the way down to the rear cowl panel. This is the only picture I have ever found showing these stripe. These were a dealer installed option.
Normally for an SS-396, Fisher would paint the Rocker and tail pan blackout.
If the car required Z28, Z10, or Z11 stripes or a black rear end panel or rockers, they were masked and manually sprayed in the in-line repair booth/oven system after the reflow oven, including the cowl vent panel; spoilers were painted body color separate from the body, and were final-installed to the deck lid just prior to the repair booth. The rear window filler panel, deck lid and spoiler were masked and sprayed stripe color in the repair booth, and baked in the repair oven before the body went back downstairs to the Trim Shop. The paint guns in the repair booth were fed from manifolds that were part of the main color circulating system so that the repair booth used exactly the same paint the main color booths were using.
And the only reason behind the "-" special paint was for Fisher to do something different with the paint process from the firewall back. A special color or a Z/28 stripe delete.
For an SS was a tailpan or rocker blackout delete even orderable?
Joe, if your car was a Frost green with parchment top and normal blackouts, then I cannot figure out why the "-" was on there.
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