@4:33 I took that picture. It was shot June 20, 1987 at the 3rd annual USCC Grand National Meet in Norwood, OH. It was a static display for the show and all those red IROC's were bound for Canada. This pic has really made the rounds on the internet!
The dash shown in the video with the 626xxx vin has had the VIN removed and replaced into a replacement dash top/ the squared off corners in the "vin window" are from a replacement. The original dash tops/ vin windows have rounded corners not perfectly square. -firstgenaddict
Good catch. This could be the problem about seeing the car. With this guy knowing so much history on this car, how could the current owner explain things that wouldn't make sense...such as if this car was magically un tubbed? Switching VIN plates is certainly not unheard of.
@@TheJagjr4450 Right, but if there is no suspicion about the car and no intent to sell it in a way that it requires a hard core inspection, without serious reason who's ever gonna look that hard to find out? DMV or police on a random stop probably never would. And then here comes this pesky guy who knows every detail about it, on some Scooby Doo mission wanting to see the car. That's what I think it could be.
Nuh uh. That change didn't happen until after the first stamping die wore and the die repairman changed the geometry to increase tool life. So very early stamping are different than they were after print revision 1. I know because I'm making this up.
My dad’s best friend as a teenager had a 4 speed hemi Cuda as his first car. His brother owned a car lot and he ended up buying and selling the car 7 times. Each time he made money on it. Then the car just disappeared off the face of the earth. Years later he decided he wanted the car back and started looking for it. I think he ended up finding out where the car is but same situation as here and the current owner wants absolutely nothing to do with him
He knows what he has. Why he wouldn't want to talk about it? Maybe he thinks someone is trying to get info to steal it. 4 speed HEMI ''Cuda,. Big money.
@@AnomalousOne1401yeah He's still alive and I'm on the younger side, but I sold it when I bought my first house and needed the money and just now was able to buy it back
I recently located my mom’s 1970 VW Beetle. I spoke with the last owner who unfortunately sold it to a business. Turns out the business sent the car to France. I waited too long to try and buy the car back. We always saw the car driving around town for years after my mom sold it. Always wanted to get it back but waited too long.
I was on a Top Fuel Hemi nostalgia race team for three years. Why would anyone sell a car to cash 4 clunkers for a small percentage of what they could get for this car as a whole or rolling chassis and sell the drivetrain parts???? #1.This wasn't a clunkers. #2. A '69 Camaro is one of the most popular vehicles to build,( by the way, I'm a Molar fanatic) #3. The money to be made on a '69 Camaro drag car would far outweigh ANY buyback program. #4. The price, whether for complete car or rolling chassis would be five to ten times as much. Even Warren Buffett does not waste an opportunity like that. That car was NOT crushed.
I know you’re being sarcastic, but there was an age cut off for the cash for clunkers. I couldn’t trade in my 1974 C2 that was rusted to hell and even get one of those new C 20s or K 20s that people were crushing. The cash for clunkers program was a disaster and unless you were a junkyard selling parts.
I grew up in a 1969 Camaro too. An SS396. Hugger orange with the black hockey stick (if you know, you know). H-Shifter with the 4 gauge console. My dad bought it in 71. Unfortunately, the car was set aside in the 80's to later be "restored". Eventually, from Michigan salt (it was a daily driver for a LONG time) and then just sitting in the grass for years, the rear sub frame rotted out and collapsed. The guy who bought it, bought it strictly for the VIN number and build plate to put into another car he could call an "original". I was sad to see it go. My dad had taken out the interior, which was still in perfect shape (including the center console and shifter). He still has it in hopes of one day finding another Camaro to put it in.
On 1969 Camaros, the hole in the sheet-metal dashboard near the vin tag originally had rounded corners. Your vin photo shows square corners, so the upper dashboard was probably replaced with a reproduction panel. Also, Norwood workers installed the vin rivets from below, so this vin tag was detached from the car at some point. Both of these issues are commonly seen on restored 1969 Camaros and they might not be a big deal. Just the same, you'll want to check the hidden vin on this car if you ever see it in person.
Awesome story! I searched for a car my dad had in the 80s when i was a kid, a '71 Chevelle station wagon, that i had a lot of memories with. It took me about 15 years of searching, but I finally located it at a guys shop in Kentucky. I had planned to buy the car back, but it's too far gone. But I had so much fun searching for it and learning the history of the car through the different owners. It breaks my heart with how far gone it is. Oh well, I'll find another one.
I’m a LUCKY one - my dad too owned a first gen Camaro. He straight traded a 69 chevelle for a 67 camaro RS/SS when he was 18 also in Tennessee (small world). But lucky for me he never got rid of it! We lost him in 21’ and at that time the car had just gotten media blasted for its second restoration to begin so I took it from there and I’m about 85% complete on the resto/build. It too was also a Norwood car! I have been filming the build here on my channel if anyone’s interested! Hope you find your dad’s car! I know it can mean the world to some of us!
I found my first car and it was a Camaro too. I wanted to get that car back so bad I found it in a nearby town. The guy wasn’t ready to let go of it and when I reached out to him again after some time passing he told me he sold it. Couple years go by I was visiting in a different town and happen to notice my old car off the side of the road. I immediately turned around and pulled over to see it. And sure enough, it was it! Only to find it totaled by the guy who owned that ran it over with a tractor.. on purpose.
I saw my 68 Mustang Fastback I sold 42 years ago at a car show few months back (2024). Had the same license plate! Talked to the owner and it was the son of the person I sold it too. I own a 82 Capri RS 5.0 since new for 42 years! I said to myself I will not make that mistake again.
Did not buy it new, but recently bought back my 1969 Nova SS, which was my first car at age 16. Luckily, kept in touch with the guy who had it and was able to buy it, when he offered it to me.
For what it's worth. A '69 Camaro is one of the most popular chassis for building a street or a drag car. I was on Top Fuel (Nitromethane) nostalgia race team for three years. My take on this is the last guy at the bar was either the current owner of the car you are looking for or possibly a close friend of his. You my friend are or were VERY CLOSE. Some people you cannot figure out why they do things. If it were me, I would be willing to talk to you, even if I didn't want to sell the car. Suggestion: if you have the VIN, could you talk to someone from the police department just to verify who has the car???? Not sure. Or maybe the DMV in that area. Possibly worth it to check it out. I hope you are able to make progress in your search. All the best and may God bless.
At least you have a vin number. I am trying to find my grandfathers 1957 Nomad he bought new, it was yellow with a white top and sold in Wisconsin Rapids. He had it a short time, transmission failed, and bought a Cadillac. Photos of it are in black & white.
I'm not hunting it , I have it! But I got my great grandfather's 51 GMC 5 window, short bed pickup that he bought new. It had been sitting outside in a field for the last 40 years. Its rough but the cab, doors, and hood are in remarkably good shape...the fenders are available aftermarket and I'll build a new bed. The old bed and rear fenders will become patina patio furniture.
Drag racer and car guy who DOESN'T want to talk about his car??? That doesn't add up. Not many introverts drag race. We encounter hundreds a weekend at the track
my grandpa had a camaro back when he was a teenager, but I'm likely never gonna find it. All he remembers is that it was a blue 1969 that he bought from his brother for $500, and then sold to some random guy for $500, and that at one point he raced a Porsche 911
I would love to know if my father's old black 1957 Chevy Bel Air 4-door still exist. It had a black and silver interior. 235 inline 6 cly powerglide. Dad traded it in at the long gone Coronet Dodge in Kirkwood Missouri. I'm sure the car still exists somewhere in the St Louis area automatic
Bought my 69 hugger orange SS/RS matching Endura bumper, egg crate hood & 350 with Muncie rock crusher to celebrate my first full time job fall of 74. Neighbor had it with 4 sale sign taped to rear window. Told him I couldn't afford it all at once but will pay every week so 2400$ later got the title 2 weeks before Christmas 🎄. Still have the car with original paint & and the payment sheet on notebook paper. Sits next to 72 Pace car convertible.
My dad bought a grand national brand new when he was stationed in berlin and id love to find it but he has no old eocuments of the vin, is there a way around this?
I still work on my first car/truck. 1999 two door Tahoe white 4wd with a 2 inch lift. I sold it to my local town back in 2011-12 and it was turned into an auxiliary fire dept support vehicle. Still had my DL number wrote on the sun visor because I was bad about not carrying a wallet and I hadn’t remembered my DL number at 16 years old. Still on of the nicest 2 door Tahoe’s I’ve seen but it has lights and light bars all over now. They are about to see it and because the government is so PC now I can’t outright buy it and when it goes to a government auction I’ll either buy it back for a great price or not be able to afford a stupid auction price because they are a little more in demand then when I sold it for 6k almost 15 years ago.
I never really heard him say he wanted to buy it back. Most everything is for sale unless it's something sentimental. You can probably find him at the track any given Saturday. Once his buddies start telling him how much money you're willing to pay. Or pay him for his time to speak to you. Most likely, he will start talking to you about the car and their history together. Ain't it funny how money makes man act funny?
When we got married, my wife had a V-6 1981 Camaro. Because it needed a lot of work and we were starting to have kids, we sold it. The new owner turned it into a drag car, as well.
Or maybe-and hear me out here- the owner just doesn't want some rando's coming by to look at his 5h1t. Maybe. But real silver lining of that father/son time.
Given all the stories about people who had their car stolen decades ago Rwanda getting it back after the current (innocent) owner is forced to hand it over, I'm not surprised the guy doesn't want to meet.
Unfortunately I know exactly where my first car went. It was a 78 Camaro. Shortly afterward the guy who bought it blew the motor and sold it for $200 and a lether jacket. Where it was stripped and junked. I always was disappointed i sold it and always wanted another. 30 plus years later i found out my wife's uncle had a 1978 Camaro hidden away. He purchased it in February 78. 350 4 speed Sport coupe. So after 6 years of putting bugs in his ear if finally got to buy the car. So he knows exactly where it is. And that his fears of selling it and someone scavenging parts or turning it into a resto mod or cutting it up for a drag car are put to rest. And believe me he checks up on his first new car.
Stalker much! 😂😂 I worry for his ex's! When you say goodbye to things, you' gotta accept you've got zero rights to them after the fact... let things go free man, if THEY still love ya, they'll come to you. Overly tenacious hunting and invasion of privacy is bang out of order no matter what or who it is.
Car guys typically tend to help out fellow car guys in these situations. He didn't say goodbye. He was a child when the car left him. I get it.....but I'm a car guy!
