'67 Camaro Fisher Body #1

"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69) 06/29/2020 at 06:36 • Filed to: chev, chevy, chevrolet, GM, General Motors, gmauthority.com, c1967

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camaroboy68ss > pip bip - choose Corrour 06/29/2020 at 09:07

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While a neat car and interesting, I spot a few oopsies on the restoration. Unless their are photos of the car from when it was brand new, the interior is not correct for that car. I think it was a standard interior car and they added the deluxe. It missing the rear armrest of a deluxe interior car, as well as the unique C pillar dome lights that only 67 deluxe interior cars got , the front seat backs look plastic, should be metal and painted red to match the seat, the steering wheel and column should also be red. A decent restoration on a low vin car, but its not a very high end stock restoration. 

pip bip - choose Corrour > camaroboy68ss 06/29/2020 at 09:08

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those little details i wouldn’t have known

:)

kanadanmajava1 > camaroboy68ss 06/29/2020 at 18:11

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I’m not a Camaro expert but I do now that very early production model tend to have minor differences compared with the later ones. Some components could be arriving late or the first batches have major quality issues.

GM built 52 prototypes before the actual production begu n. 49 of these were made in Norwood and 3 in Van Nuys/ LA . Officially the LA prototypes were finished in the last day of August 1966. So I guess this one wasn’t finished in August but followed soon after. The LA prototypes had VIN numbers L100 001-L100003 and this one has L100016. So 12 car likely did exist between this and the last proto type. But this has still the first Fischer body that was made. Or maybe not.

I found this from the Camaro enthusiasts page. A pparently they might have made four “first” bodies.

“ 1967 Van Nuys Fisher Body Numbers

The body numbering from the 1967-68 Van Nuys (LOS) plant is the most difficult to explain, with the 1967 data possibly being the most perplexing.

Not only is the highest known 1967 Van Nuys body number (39907) well below the 65008 vehicles known to have been built there, but there appears, at first glance, to be total chaos in the organization of the body numbers. However, given enough data, sorted properly, it eventually becomes evident that there are four distinct “threads” of body numbers (listed below as A, B, C, and D). Within each of the four threads, the body numbers correlate nearly perfectly with the build date and Fisher model number (12437, 12467, 12637, 12667). Furthermore, adding up the totals of the maximum known body count for the four separate “threads” yields a body build that correlates well with the total vehicle build.

...

A = coupe with standard interior = 12437

B = convertible with standard interior = 12467

C = coupe with custom interior = 12637

D = convertible with custom interior = 12667

...

1967 LOS Ramifications

Because the total of the highest known body numbers (65,037) is higher than the total 67 LOS production of 65,008, some order numbers must have assigned and then the orders were canceled before they were built.

Body numbers below about 21000 are not unique in 1967 at LOS. Body numbers between about 2000 and 21000 can have a duplicate, and body numbers below about 2000 can have a quadruplicate.

It is even possible to have a duplicate body number in the same production week, since there are some weeks in which the body number threads overlap. This is true especially in the earliest few weeks, and possibly in week 11B for threads A and C. There may be other weeks where some overlap is possible for A/C or B/D pairs.

However, due to each thread corresponding to a unique model, the cowl tag is always guaranteed to be unique.

Each distinct Camaro Fisher model number will have a body number that will fall within known patterns for that model. This allows, among other things, verification of correct cowl tags. It also allows us to know approximately how many coupes and convertibles were built at Van Nuys, and how many of each were equipped with a given type of interior. For example, one interesting fact revealed by this data analysis is that Van Nuys built disproportionately fewer numbers of convertibles than did Norwood.”

camaroboy68ss > kanadanmajava1 06/30/2020 at 00:23

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there are slight variances in the early cars, but stuff like the dome lights were there from day one, the seat backs would be red as well as Chevy had always color coordinated interiors . I can see the steering wheel and column being a different color, but the lack of major pieces that have been observed on cars built in October /November of 66 really makes me question this car. Another big oddity to me is the complete lack of emblems on the body. All of the other known early cars have at least the Chevrolet Camaro badges on the header, trunk, and front fenders. For assembly line testing they would need to be added to check tooling and installing process. I can see the lack of the cross flags and 327 badges that all normal production cars had. I went to the auction page and looked at the engine bay photos and alot of stuff doesnt jive. Not say the car isn’t rare due to its early build status, but without documentation to prove it was build like that, it looks like a restoration shop that didnt know Camaro’s or how Chevy built cars did the restoration work.

kanadanmajava1 > camaroboy68ss 06/30/2020 at 16:25

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The mentioned restorer (Jerry MacNeish) seems to be regarded as an expert on Camaros. He has even published books about their restorations. It would be very weird if he would make such mistakes in a “well known example”. But everyone do make mistakes.

They could have of course forgotten the em blems in the factory too but how would the restorer know this? Just t he lack of holes in the body doesn’t tell if it left the factory like this.

I guess we could just ask f ro m the guy...

camaroboy68ss > kanadanmajava1 06/30/2020 at 18:01

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Jerry is THE Camaro guy and he is very through. He will certify a car and give a full report of what is correct and not correct and the car will still be certified. This is a common thing mainly with 69 Z/28's. The certificate you typically see with the cars he has done are just a cover sheet. There is still a massive report that should be tagging along with that, but people will just take the cover and then use it to pass off a car. Basically you can have a real 69 Z/28 but its got all of the drive train is pieced together with correct, but not original to the car stuff, the report will state that stuff has been replaced, but there would be enough original stuff there for him to say the car is a real Z/28. Then when the car is sold the next guy or dealer will just pass along the cover certification and then claim the car is all original numbers matching. and sell it at the value those cars are worth instead of a real Z with correct but not original stuff. Its a very common problem in the first gen community and there are a couple of cars that are really bad and pop up every couple if years.

The factory would not have forgotten emblems, as most the handful are on every Camaro regardless of engine, most of the time the holes were punched before paint, so for a car to have no emblems is suspect. The 68 front end could have been replaced with new sheetmetal prior to restoration as they would have no holes in them.

I know of running changes and early production stuff as I restored my 68 Camaro is was built right smack dab in the middle of the mid year updates. This car while its vin and body number make it very rare and unique, the restoration job still leaves questions.