The First EVER Camaro?

[Lucky SOB]

So, do you think it really is?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/First...#ht_570wt_1165

Once in a lifetime opportunity to bid on and own a piece of American automotive History. This is the First production Camaro EVER built!!!!!! The VIN # is 123377N100001. The Camaro was built Sep of 1966 in Norwood Ohio. The car is in race car condition. Back in 1979 the car was turned in to a racecar and race until 1985 when it was parked. It was never wrecked. The car has No Motor Or Trans. The body of the car is in pretty good shape, some surface rust but very little clear thru rust. Quarter panels are in good shape and uncut, Rocker panels are in great shape. Has original rear bumper in near perfect condition. Doors are in great shape. Car has full FiberGlass front clip. It has a ford 9" rear, full roll cage. Nothing was done to this car that can't be undone if that is the way you want to go with it. I have many more pics if you would like to see more just e-mail me @ camaroguy76@yahoo.com If you have any questions PLEASE ask. I will do the best I can on the history. I have the right to end the auction early as the car is for sale locally. Shipping is the responsibility of the buyer. 20% of the final sale price is due within 48 hours of auction ending. GOOD LUCK and happy bidding.....

[white97z28]

why would someone turn such a rare car into a race car id figure it would be im gm's basement...

[ktl711]

Could be... then again, if it's truly authentic, it could only mean that it was the first production Camaro from the Norwood (Cincinnati OH) plant. If production started at the Van Nuys CA plant first, then the 100001 VIN from Van Nuys would actually have been the first. Probably have to do some serious research at the GM Heritage Center to be able to tell.

For the kind of shape it's in, with the original motor, original front clip, and original interior all gone, it's not really that great of a historical artifact. For some guy it could be a bragging point, but for it to be worth anything it would really have to be completely researched, documented, and then impeccably restored to what the original build sheet stated. And what if Camaro #1 from Norwood turns out to be Ermine White with the six cylinder, no power steering or brakes, and a Powerglide on the tree? Is it worth restoring it to that level? Worth it to whom?

[ITSSLOW]

Doubt it is. I'd imagine that car is in some museum, owned by some big wig, or locked away in storage in the bowels of GM.

[ktl711]

why would someone turn such a rare car into a race car id figure it would be im gm's basement...

Doubt it is. I'd imagine that car is in some museum, owned by some big wig, or locked away in storage in the bowels of GM.

GM didn't keep its First Built cars for every product line. Before the big consolidation at the RenCen around 1997-98, when the so-called Home Plants of Cadillac, Olds, Pontiac and Buick lost their divisional headquarters status, it was up to each division to maintain their own historical collection. Cadillac did the best job, having gotten started about forty years ago with the acquisition of the 1931 V-16 Sport Phaeton. They eventually started to keep their First Built and Last Built cars, like the 1st and Last Allantés, 1st and last Cimarrons (who cares?), last-ever Fleetwood from Arlington, last Clark Avenue-built car, etc. Olds was probably the second most collection-aware division, having started gathering a few select cars back in the 1930's, but not really going crazy until the 1960's and 1970's. Buick was good about keeping records and maintaining its historic show cars, but did not keep production vehicles. Every Buick at the present GM Heritage Center was an acquisition from outside the Company. Pontiac had about four cars in its collection, but did have a great archive of records. Chevrolet was the worst of the bunch -- they kept nothing. Part of the problem was that Chevys were always built in so many different places, and the didn't have a home plant like the other divisions. Chevy in the Hole up in Flint was probably the closest thing they had to a home plant, but the headquarters had always been in Detroit since the original GM Building opened on West Grand Boulevard in the late 'Teens, early 1920's. That made it hard to consolidate build sheets and such from the plants across the country, and no one was interested in doing so. And with the other divisions, well, it's more like a happy accident that they have old production records still in existence. With a big plant, things can get moved around and stored and hidden. Cadillac was likely the only division that always consciously maintained its production records, going all the way back to the first cars of 1902 and 1903.

[JoeliusZ28]

ive seen pictures of that car before as being the first camaro, actually i think hes been trying to sell it for a while.

[2002Z4CSS]

Too bad it will never have all of its original numbers matching parts.

[meissen]

Wow - if that truly is the 1st ever Camaro, that's really sad that it's been turned into that...

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

It decodes as a 6-cylinder coupe with a Grenada Gold exterior (no vinyl top) with standard gold vinyl bucket seats, and built the second week of September, 1966...which is probably why they chopped it up into a race car...

Interesting that the actual "release" date for the Camaro was September 29th, so this would confirm that it is a "slow-build" car.

So, yes, I'd say it's the real deal...the VIN numbers are sequential...there was no "001" for each of the Norwood and Van Nuys plants...only one "001"...

All that aside, this thing is so butchered up, all you're really buying is a VIN and data plate...

As an aside, to pile on to what Kevin said, nobody kept the first build cars back then...Ford didn't even keep the first Mustang built (a '64 1/2 white convertible with a 260 V8)...

Circa 1966 when they realized that it might be a historic car, they contacted the man who bought it and tried to buy it back.

He refused...he enjoyed it too much.

Ford eventually upped the offer, to a straight up trade for any Mustang that they made (and now think about what kind of Mustang could be had in 1967).

He refused again.

Ford kept in contact with the guy, and he finally caved in 1970...where he traded it straight up for a 1970 coupe with a 302 automatic in it...

As told to me by the Ford rep when they had it displayed at Meadowbrook a few years ago...even with the recalled "shin-shredder" spinner hubcaps on it...

[DtRockstar1]

Some people are asking why they would turn such a historical car into a race car. The one thing to remember is that it was turned into a race car in 1979. The car probably wasn't worth much back then. It wasn't the historical gem that it is today.

Chris

[tenpin842]

awww....poor camaro!

[ktl711]

So, yes, I'd say it's the real deal...the VIN numbers are sequential...there was no "001" for each of the Norwood and Van Nuys plants...only one "001"...

Just curious about the VIN ranges -- I know that we're talking about 44 years ago, but how did Norwood and Van Nuys manage to assign VINs from the same range without duplicating the last six-digit number? Did Chevy Central Office assign the VINs, or was each plant assigned a certain part of the range within the greater 100001-999999 range?

The reason I ask is because I work for GM IT, and one of the applications that I "own" is the one that assigns VIN ranges for all of North America, South America, and Asia Pacific, and nowadays we give each plant its own individual 100001-and-up range for each model year. I would have expected the same thing to have occurred in the 1960's, since computer time was pretty expensive back then, and the networks weren't as extensive or as robust as they are today. I would have thought that trying to coordinate VINs between plants would be a major PITA. I looked at the Camaro White Book for hints, but it's not very clear on this point, and our library of VIN reference cards only goes back as far as 1972. I'm just interested in hearing about how they used to do this back in the days of 2800 baud and punch cards and at least six different divisional order processing systems!

[BigJeffSS]

I sure hope the people bidding on that car did their research cause at 35k it hasn't hit the reserve and it would need another 50-100k worth of work and tons of searching for original parts to return it to something worthy of showing. Does anyone have a clue what it could be worth if it was restored to original being number one?

[MunsterZ28]

I sure hope the people bidding on that car did their research cause at 35k it hasn't hit the reserve and it would need another 50-100k worth of work and tons of searching for original parts to return it to something worthy of showing. Does anyone have a clue what it could be worth if it was restored to original being number one?

numbers matching parts in perfect condition im sure gm would sign a pretty fat check to get it back in there possession but i cant even imagine the amount of money they would offer.

[WMCC Gary]

Just curious about the VIN ranges -- I know that we're talking about 44 years ago, but how did Norwood and Van Nuys manage to assign VINs from the same range without duplicating the last six-digit number? Did Chevy Central Office assign the VINs, or was each plant assigned a certain part of the range within the greater 100001-999999 range?

The reason I ask is because I work for GM IT, and one of the applications that I "own" is the one that assigns VIN ranges for all of North America, South America, and Asia Pacific, and nowadays we give each plant its own individual 100001-and-up range for each model year. I would have expected the same thing to have occurred in the 1960's, since computer time was pretty expensive back then, and the networks weren't as extensive or as robust as they are today. I would have thought that trying to coordinate VINs between plants would be a major PITA. I looked at the Camaro White Book for hints, but it's not very clear on this point, and our library of VIN reference cards only goes back as far as 1972. I'm just interested in hearing about how they used to do this back in the days of 2800 baud and punch cards and at least six different divisional order processing systems!

you are correct.

1967-1969 Camaro VIN Interpretation

12ebbyaxxxxxx

1 = Chevrolet
2 = Camaro
e = 3 for 6-cylinder engine, or 4 for 8-cylinder engine
bb = 37 for coupe body, or 67 for convertible body
y = 7 for 1967 model, 8 for 1968 model, or 9 for 1969 model
a = N for Norwood, OH assembly, or L for Los Angeles, CA assembly
xxxxxx = vehicle serial number sequence

At each plant, the vehicle serial number started the year at the following number:

100001 for 1967 models
300001 for 1968 models
500001 for 1969 models


The first 1967 Camaro built at the Norwood, Ohio, plant had a VIN ending in N100001; the first built at the Van Nuys, California, plant had a VIN ending in L100001.