After 47 Years, Home At Last: 1969 Camaro Z/28 Makes Its Way Back To Original Owner

On Sept. 27, 1968, this 1969 Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro was ordered from Pape Chevrolet on Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y. Today it would be considered an early-production 1969 Z/28 with a build date during the first week of November 1968. The car was ordered by my then-girlfriend, who later became my wife, and then my ex-wife. Like my then-girlfriend, the Z/28 left, but in 2015 the car made it back home.

There were so many memories with the Camaro, such as traveling the Connecting Highway, the Bronx River Parkway, the Pelham Parkway, The Hutch and — oh, yeah! — The White Castle on Allerton Avenue in the Bronx for street racing. If you were from New York at this time, you remember what we did then and there! Needless to say, tires on the Z/28 did not last very long.

The Z/28 was sold around 1973 as we had two small children and the Camaro was too small. We were also moving to Florida, so it was simply time to sell the Z/28.

A Z/28 loses its identity

If you are familiar with the 1969 Z/28 Camaro, you know that, prior to December 1968, there was no cowl tag information (such as X33 or X77) to denote the Z/28 high-performance package. This did not happen until after December 1968. So, authenticating a pre-December-build 1969 Z/28 is near impossible, unless you have the original Z/28-only DZ 302 engine with the partial VIN to match. 

Unfortunately, the original factory 302 V-8 in our Z/28 was destroyed sometime after we sold it in 1973. Sometime between 1973 and 1976, a 350 engine was put in the car. However, the car still had the Z/28’s larger gas line, correct exhaust bracket, chambered exhaust and stripes and badges, but still, there was no way for other people to prove it was a Z/28 without the documentation that I had kept when we sold the car. To this day, I still have the original bill of sale and window sticker, plus various other documents to prove its authenticity. Between the 350 engine and the car’s lack of the optional rear spoiler, you can see how subsequent owners questioned whether it was a real Z/28. Now that it is home after 47 years, with its original owner and paperwork, we can authenticate the car.

A ‘Z’ bounces around

Who was the Z/28 sold to? That was the missing link when I went searching for it. I do know that a Shawn Holleran purchased it sometime in the early 1970s. At that time, it was yellow with black stripes, and the 302 engine had been replaced with the 350. But who did he buy it from? Who painted the car yellow?

From the factory, the Z/28 was painted Fathom Green with white stripes and a Parchment interior. Around 1971, I painted it LeMans Blue with white stripes. Around 1976, Shawn sold the now-yellow Z/28 to Tom Rambo, and I spoke to Tom’s brother, Wayne, in 2016. Wayne said Tom drove the car from around 1976 to 1978, then Wayne purchased it from him. Wayne said he had to go to South Carolina to get the car from his brother.

By this time, the Z/28 Camaro had seen better days and needed a lot of work. Wayne drove the Z/28 Camaro until December 1980 and by this time, the car had gone through enough owners that no one knew if it was a real Z/28. The car was then sold to Cliff Kitz, who was going to take a chance and restore it as a Z/28. A friend of Cliff’s by the name of Laura helped document the process with photos of the restoration, which I acquired.

I haven’t been able to contact Cliff or Laura, but Cliff’s brother, Tom, told me how Cliff restored the car. Cliff found a correct DZ 302 engine complete with heads, and it even had a date code just a few days after the build date of the car. 

In January 1981 the 350 engine was removed, and by February 1981, the nose was removed. In March 1981, it was towed to George Wright for a total restoration. Work moved quickly and by April 1981, both of the rear quarters were replaced with original General Motors quarter panels. (The GM stickers are still on the inside of the panels.) At the same time, the interior and doors were removed. By May 1981, the complete car was primed and ready for paint. One month later, in June 1981, the frame, front subframe and rear end and all of the door jambs, rear frame and firewall were painted by George. The rear end and front suspension were restored with GM parts.

By Sept. 12, 1981, the complete car was back to being painted the original color of Fathom Green (Code 57). Even correct rally wheels with the proper August 1968 date code were located. 

After the paint was finished, Cliff apparently had other family-related priorities, so the Z/28 was towed from George’s house back to Cliff’s house where it stayed for the next 17 years. By this time, nothing had yet been done to the 302 engine located for the car, and it was still in need of a rebuild.

Tom said that in January 1998, a teenager named Willie Keillor contacted Cliff to see if he wanted to sell the car. Cliff told him it was not for sale, but this sparked Cliff to get back to work on the car. Cliff grew excited again, and the next phase of restoration started. Tom put me in contact with Frank, who helped Cliff with the second phase of work in January 1998.

Frank told me that the Z/28 was sent to Joe Kessel Auto Body in Rocky Point, N.Y. I spoke to someone there in 2016, and they remembered the car. They said the Z/28 was stripped down and primer sealed and painted again, as they found out that the stripes were incorrectly spaced during the previous repaint.

During the second body restoration, Cliff and Frank found a low-mileage 1969 Camaro that the owner wanted to turn into a race car, so they took all of its mint-condition black interior and transferred it to the Z/28, which originally had a Parchment (white) interior. At this time, every piece of stainless trim and every emblem was replaced with original GM parts. The original parts were stashed in the trunk and back seat. When I found the car, all of the car’s original stainless trim and emblems were still there, stored in used GM boxes. The wiring harness, every lens, all brakes, brake lines, bumpers, etc. were replaced — just about every nut and bolt.

Frank told me they even took out all of the window regulators from the doors and restored them, but still no work had been done to the engine.

Cliff’s priorities changed once more, so the car again got put on the back burner. By 2003, Cliff had altogether lost interest in the car and he told Frank to sell it for him. As the story goes, Frank sold the Z/28 without an engine. Two days later, the buyer called Frank and said that, since the car could not be verified as a Z/28, he wanted his money back. Frank honored his request and took the car back, and then it sat for another two years. 

Then along came Willie, the teenager who wanted to buy the Z/28 back in 1998. Willie purchased the unfinished Z/28 with the DZ 302 engine and matching transmission, which still had to be rebuilt.

Then Willie’s life changed. He was away a lot with his job, so the car continued to sit until 2009, when he decided to have the engine rebuilt. It was sent to M-W Engineering in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., for a total rebuild.

In 2016, I spoke to Peter, the owner of MWE, and he still had the information sheet showing every part that was rebuilt or replaced, and the dyno information. The cost was more than $13,000. 

Since Willie was still away a lot with his job and the car continued to sit, his friend, Mike, offered to purchase the car. Willie had lost interest in it, so he agreed to sell it to Mike. He first wanted to determine if it was a true Z/28, and started doing some research on the internet using the VIN. That’s how we found each other.

Putting the papers back with the car

Many years ago, when I found the original window sticker and the bill of sale, I put a notice on the Camaro forums that I had it. Mike found my old post on one of these forums and emailed me. After negotiating with him, he put me in touch with Willie, and I purchased my original Z/28 back in October 2015, almost 47 years later to the month of the original build date.

Among the original stainless that had been replaced, I found in the trunk some of the original trim pieces that still had traces of the LeMans Blue over spray from when I repainted it back in the day. In the dash, I had added a disconnect plug for security, and the hole for it remained in the dash.

The car has been off the road since December 1980 and showed just 46,449 miles when I bought it back. There were still some parts missing, and to bring it back to original, I have had to locate them. So far, I have found an original Harrison radiator with the proper date code and markings; an original AM radio (that is what we ordered); chambered exhaust (all Z/28s and big-block Camaros came with chambered exhaust until December of 1968); original date-coded exhaust manifolds; and an original master cylinder. I even found an original DZ Holley carburetor that came from the factory in the trunk date-coded to August 1968.

I also found the original seat belts in the trunk and an original smog system. Eventually I found a correct starter and alternator, along with a date-coded distributor.

Cliff was a perfectionist, and the body seams are perfect as he had been restoring it to a concours level. The Z/28 is now running and on the road. She is looking and running better now than when she came out of the factory. 

Cliff changed some things to make it more to his liking, most of which were factory options. He added gauges to the console, a clock, tachometer, frame extensions and old-school traction bars. He had changed the interior to black, but it is now back to the original Parchment. The cowl hood was something that I added around 1970, but from the factory, this car had a flat hood and no rear spoiler.

About two years after buying the car back, in December 2017, I found what I believe to be the original DZ 302 engine that came with the car from the factory. It’s a properly date-coded block casting (“J 2 68” for Oct. 2,1968) with an engine build date of Oct. 12, 1968 (coded V1012DZ). The heads are also dated 1968, and it has the correct crank code (1178). This engine was rebuilt sometime in the past and the VIN was machined off while truing up the block, but all else leads me to believe it is from this car. I am going to do a total rebuild of this engine to factory specs.

How many people get their first new car back after 47 years, and in better condition than when it left the factory? And for how many people is that car a 1969 Camaro Z/28?

I would still like to learn the car’s history from 1973-1976, including the person from whom Shawn bought it (when it went from LeMans Blue to yellow with black stripes). There may be one clue as to this owner: the name “Jeanne” scribed on the steering wheel center, and then crossed off (did she and the Camaro’s owner break up?). If you think you know this Camaro Z/28,  please email me at photoman51@aol.com.

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