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The Greatest Street
Legal Camaro Ever Built
Story provided by John Miller and
David Tom
The 1970 Camaro
below is the first production line built 1970 Camaro. By the end
of October 1969, Chevrolet Motor Division decided to debut the
1970 Camaro in early 1970 as a 1970 model. Many 1969 Camaros
were still being produced at Norwood, Ohio assembly. The demand
for the 1969 Camaro was still strong and there was some
sentiment to continue with that design as a 1970 model. Indeed,
some of the 1969 style Camaros were eventually sold as 1970
models.
There were
fifteen 1970 Camaros built in November 1969 and two in December
prior to the actual startup of the line on January 2, 1970. The
Camaro below is the only one of those seventeen Camaros known to
exist.
The pilot
production run of these seventeen cars began with the assignment
of VIN 123870N500001 to the Camaro you see below. This 1970
Camaro was built by shadowing the assembly line work of the
final 1969 style Camaros, but not built on the same line. It was
built on a mobile 'buck' or dolly that was moved along the
assembly process by hand.
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During
the restoration of this historic Camaro, many traces of
hand assembly and production glitches were discovered.
Most of these were corrected using with welding or
fabricating parts on the fly. None of the common
inspection or approval paint marks were found, but hand
written measurements were discovered on the doors as
evidence of repositioning attachment points throughout
the car. The restoration was completed in 2007. |
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The partial VIN
0N500001 was hand stamped into the body on the firewall. The
full VIN was found on the drivers door federal compliance decal.
This full VIN indicates this Camaro was to receive a
six-cylinder motor, however research has led to speculation the
car may have actually received the Z28 Cross Ram 350 power
train. However this Camaro was equipped when it left Norwood, it
would soon arrive at Chevrolet Engineering in Warren, Michigan
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It was
at Chevrolet Engineering where this pilot 1970 Camaro
would really become the unique vehicle that it is today.
In the late 1960s, Chevrolet used three outside
organizations to help in testing and evaluation of High
Performance Chevys; Chapparal Cars, Penske Racing and
'The Best Damn Garage in Town' Smokey Yunick. Since
Roger Penske left Chevrolet in late 1969 for AMC, that
left Jim Hall and Smokey to work their magic on the 1970
Camaros. |
Factual data
from Chevrolet Engineering in this era is scarce. Much of what
you see in this car is gleaned from published data, anecdotal
stories, photos, forensic discoveries on the car, and most
importantly, the bevy of parts discovered in Smokey's own garage
that fit the description of how this Camaro was equipped when
Smokey picked it up from Chevrolet.
This Camaro was
purchased from Smokey Yunick by David Tom in 1989. All of the
High Performance parts on this car are authentic with the
correct Chevrolet part numbers and dates.
It is believed
and much evidence supports the contention that this Camaro was
the vehicle used by Chevrolet Engineering and Smokey Yunick as
the FIA Homologation test vehicle for all of the various parts
used. Homologation is the process through which a manufacturer
must go to demonstrate the legality of any part of their
designed vehicle to be raced in FIA races such as SCCA Trans-Am,
IMSA or NASCAR. This Camaro was used for the purpose for the
1970 and 1971 FIA Certifications.
In addition,
this Camaro was the test mule used at Chevrolet Engineering for
the design of the COPO three piece rear spoiler. Smokey also
tested his ground breaking research on high/low pressure frontal
air for radiator cooling and compressing cold carbureted air on
this Camaro - notice the fabrication work behind the grille and
under the hood. It is thought that John Delorean did not want a
Cowl induction hood on the 1970 Camaro, so this method was
tested.
The current
owners of this car are John Miller and David Tom. They are
seeking any additional information about this car as well as
other rare 1970 Camaros. You may contact either of them at
www.RacePast.com
You may also
join the discussion on this car in our
FORUM
For more high
quality images of this car, visit our image
gallery
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