The Chevrolet Camaro was introduced as a 1967 model, which I consider was as a consequence of two aspects: Ralph Nader's book “Unsafe at Any Speed” and the big success of the Ford Mustang, introduced in late 1964.

It took Chevrolet about two years to bring the Camaro to market, which is pretty quick within the automobile business. Chevrolet management held a big press conference to announce the brand new automobile on June 28, 1966, and announced that the brand new automobile can be called Camaro, as is common with model names starting with the letter C. An Automotive Press author asked, “What is a Camaro?” The answer was “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.”

In the 1967 model yr, Chevrolet sold 220,906 Camaros, a pleasant increase over the past Corvair model yr, 1965, when only about 6,000 units were sold. Of course, Chevrolet wanted to advertise its exciting latest automobile, and one approach to do this is to make it the official pace automobile for the Indianapolis 500 race, held yearly on Memorial Day weekend. This race attracts thousands and thousands of spectators world wide and between 200,000 and 250,000 people participate on this very loud event.

Since the track opened in 1911, there has at all times been an American pace automobile as a Stoddard-Dayton led the assembled starting grid across the track. Other pace cars used through the years with great reputations and names that may now only be present in history books included Stutz, Marmon 6, Duesenberg, Cole V8, Rickenbacker 8, Studebaker President, Hudson, Nash and just about all three major brands . I believe that the manufacturers are exchanging some serious type of compensation with Indianapolis 500 management to designate their automobile because the official pace automobile.

Manufacturers typically produce 2,000 to three,000 Pace Car replicas which might be sold through their dealers. That's the case with our feature automobile today. Bill O'Connor of Danville has owned this edition's replica 1969 Chevrolet Camaro convertible for about 14 years. “I found the car online in San Jose and it had just come out of an estate sale. It was almost done. There were only small things that needed to be fixed, for example the electric top didn’t work.”

O'Connor claims he isn't really mechanically inclined, but I consider he has greater than only a pair of pliers and a screwdriver in his toolbox. Over the years he has worked on 30 collector cars and currently owns half a dozen. O'Connor's has had several brands but has a penchant for Camaros. The first Camaro was purchased shortly after his marriage in 1979, when he found one with only 60,000 miles within the College of San Mateo parking zone and acquired it for $1,500. “That got me desirous about Camaros. Then I purchased a '67 Rally Sport Camaro, then we bought a '67 Camaro Convertible, then a '68 Camaro Convertible, then this one got here up and I assumed the value was right.”

The proud owner paid $40,000 for the car and estimates its current market value at $60,000 to $70,000. And he takes good care of this car. “I drive the car often in the summer and not much in the winter months. It has never seen water since I've owned it. I clean it with detailer and leave it waxed. The car is really reliable and suitable for highway driving.”

O'Connor's car features a 350 cubic inch V8 with a 4-speed manual transmission with power brakes and power steering. It is beautifully upholstered in orange and white to match the exterior colors. The owner estimates this car would have sold for around $3,000 when new.

The car was repainted and O'Connor added “OFFICIAL PACE CAR” stickers to the doors. He took me with him; The automobile is quiet, tight and fast, and likewise has the gorgeous sound of a Chevy V8 engine that’s music to most automobile lovers' ears.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 4:59 am