Archives for August 2012

I finally found an inexpensive fuel line support bracket on EBay. I bought it and it came in today.  Hurray!!!

15 minutes ago, I was checking a few things on CRG, and according to JohnZ, “The added fuel line clip/bracket didn’t start until around July/August 1969.”

That means I shouldn’t have it on the Z.

The CRG thread is here, but you need to be registered to be able to see the pictures: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=9906.msg72697

JohnZ also has an excellent picture of the passenger side of his carb in reply #2 here:
http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=9379.0

Update….5/1/2014   The fuel line brackets that have a triangle with a PR in them are reproductions made by Paragon Reproductions.

That means the one that sold for $504 on EBay is worth exactly $22.00.   Holy Moly.

The original ones say “Stamp Rite” on them.  The CRG thread with all the info is here:  http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=12107.0;all

 

I now have a picture of Placke Chevrolet in St. Louis MO. AWESOME!!!!

I believe this is how the building looked when Alfred bought the Z/28 back in 1969. The picture was titled “Mr. Hartman with Don Placke at Placke Chevrolet Company. Negative by Edward Goldberger, 1954”.

I believe that Don Placke is still alive in St. Louis MO and that as of August 2012, he is 86 years old.

If this is correct, he was 28 when the picture was taken 58 years ago.

That means that Donald C Placke is the gentleman in the dark suit.

According to the Camaro National rules, to get into the Legends class: “Entrants who had their car approved by a Legends judge; their entries and completed pre-qualifications sheets will be received from February 2nd until the class closing date or the class is full. No more than five (5) new cars will be accepted in any year unless there is room in the class and approved by the American Camaro Association and the Legends Concours judges.”

For 2013 there is no way it will be completed in time to have a judge check it before entering.  Therefore, I am planning on trying to enter the Bowtie Class.

I think this is a better class for me anyway.  There are many details that judges expect to be a certain way.  For example, in the Legends class, the underbody is expected to be a uniform 30% gloss black with a small amount of overspray.  Every original underbody picture that I have ever seen is not uniform 30% gloss black.  There is usually a lot of gray primer, black (and some cars have red oxide primer) and then overspray.  A lot of the underbody was done my hand.  Almost all of the pictures I have seen look like a “mess”.  I don’t think that GM took a lot of care to make the underbody look nice and tidy and I don’think the original owners back in 1969 cared one bit about the underbody.

I think that looking at wild variations on the underbodies made the folks in charge of judging decide that it should be uniform to make the judging consistent.

I took a lot of pictures of the underbody as I found it on my Z/28.  It had a lot of gray primer and I am going to make my car look as close to the original pictures as I can.

PS: For anyone interested in how GM painted the underbody on a 1969 Camaro, the GM Heritage Center archives had a document titled “1969-Chevrolet-Camaro.pdf”.   On page 49 (as labeled on the page) is “Exterior Paint Process”

which is written up as:

EXTERIOR PAINT PROCESS

1. RUSTPROOFING. Assembled car bodies are chemically sprayed to clean and etch the metal surfaces for corrosion resistance and paint adhesion. Unassembled sheet metal parts follow the same process.

2. BODY AND SHEET METAL PRIMERS. Four corrosion resistant primers, specially formulated are had sprayed on the body in areas where rust might develop. Lower areas considered especially vulnerable are coated with another rust inhibiting compound.

3. PRIMER COAT is applied to all outside and inside surfaces of front fenders and hoods. The parts are mechanically dipped or flow-coated to insure coating in all seams and secluded areas, and baked at 390 degrees F for 30 minutes. A coat of sealer is then applied by hand spray to all surfaces requiring another coat of lacquer.

4. FLASH PRIMER AND PRIMER-SURFACER COATS. An air-dry flash primer coat is hand sprayed on surfaces below the body belt line. Then a gray primer-surfacer coat is hand sprayed on all outside surfaces of the body and oven baked for 45 minutes at 285 degrees F.

5. INITIAL SANDING. Power wet sanding, followed by hand sanding, is done on all body surfaces requiring lacquering. This insures a smooth surface for the lacquer finish. To remove the water, the body is wiped and run through an infra-red oven.

6. LACQUERING. Three coats of acrylic lacquer are spread on the exterior surfaces of the body and sheet metal parts to build up a finish of the required thickness for each color.

7. INITIAL BAKING………….etc through step 11.

and when I shorten this up only to look at the underbody stuff, can be shorted to:

2. Four primers on underbody in specific areas.

4. Air-dry flash primer coat is hand sprayed on surfaces below the body belt line. Then a gray primer-surfacer coat is hand sprayed on all outside surfaces of the body.

Bill Gould and I spoke with Dave Brock that lives in Wichita Falls, TX on 7/25/12. Wichita Falls is where Alfred sold the Camaro and where Larry bought it.

This Dave Brock was never in the Air Force. He is 56. During high school, starting at age 15, he was a mechanic for Kmart and started buying and selling cars. He also had quite a few businesses and started his first business when he was 12 years old.

After graduating high school he started buying and renting houses. From 1974 to 1980 he was a mechanic with his own auto shop and during this time he bought and sold about 200 cars (he said “hot rods”). He would usually own a car for less than a year.

He was 18 years old when he bought a green Z/28.

He wasn’t sure, but he thought that an Air Force guy was renting his first “rent house” or lived near his first “rent house” and the guy was shipping out. The car had some problems starting. After he towed the car home, Dave figured out that the problem was the coil and the timing was a little off. After he replaced the coil, the car worked great.

He said he had two Z/28’s at the same time. The green one which had a flat hood and a white one. He liked the white one a little better since it had the cowl induction hood.

He said the he bought the green Z/28 from an Air Force guy and ending up selling it to an Air Force guy. He also said he remembers there being a lot where Air Force cars were bought and sold, but he does not remember exactly how he sold the Z. I mentioned to him that there was a lot “the lemon lot” where cars on the base were bought and sold. He said he knew the lot and had sold a few cars on it, but he didn’t remember how he sold this one.

Some things make sense with this being the correct Dave Brock that owned the Z and some things don’t.

Things that don’t make sense:

1. Alfred thought he sold it to an Air Force guy that was a little older than he was and was a fellow instructor. However, he was not 100% sure about this and said that it could have been that the older fellow instructor was someone that told him about Dave Brock.

2. Larry thought he bought the car from an Air Force guy that was a little older. I’m not sure how certain he is on this. If Larry is 100% certain it was an Air Force guy he bought the car from, then this is the wrong Dave Brock.

3. In 1974, could someone that is not in the Air Force have put their car for sale on the Sheppard AFB lemon lot? If this is not possible, this is the wrong Dave Brock.

Things that do make sense:

1. This Dave Brock owned a green Z/28 with a flat hood in 1974.

2. This Dave Brock lived in Wichita Falls, Tx and made a living buying and selling cars. He knew of the area on the base where the guys would be fixing and maintaining their cars.

3. Whoever owned the car between Alfred and Larry only owned it for a very short time period. It would have been for no more than 7 months in 1974. It makes sense that someone that just bought and sold cars quickly would not keep the car for very long.

Bottom line……I am not 100% sure this is the correct Dave Brock but how many green Z/28’s with a flat hood owned by a “Dave Brock” could have been driving around Wichita Falls in 1974 ???