OT: '69 Camaro?

[MrGoodpliers]

I have a line on a 1 owner low mile '69 Camaro. It is a SS, 350/auto, console, ps,pb,air, vinyl top car. All original including paint. Owner says it has been garaged since new. I have never owned one of these cars before and was wondering if someone could help me out with things I should look for, mainly rust problem areas. Also, what do you think it's worth? The bad- it's brown with a brown top. The good- perfect white and black interior, so I see an easy color change.

[Burnsman]

That is an awesome find. To be honest with you though, it is worth alot more with the original paint. Especially if it is an SS, it is worth alot more bone stock. If you were planning on modifying it, you may be better off finding one not so original.

[Perchjerker]

I hope you don't buy that car and change it all up. That would be terrible!

[boraxman]

I had one in high school (79/80) ss 350/4spd. Nice cars, jump on it and keep it as original as possible.

[nightmare]

i'd say if it is bone stock, all original, it would be worth around $25,000 - $30,000, if it has no problems or rusted out areas, especially if it is a true ss.

as far as rust areas are concerned, the trunk area is the worst. also the floor pans, check everything though.

[MrGoodpliers]

I'm not planning on touching the car. I'm looking at it as more of an investment to sell to someone who has always wanted a certain color and is willing to paint one. Of course the factory paint whould be a great selling point for this buyer, since they would know that it has no filler.

[bagged91]

Since the car is garaged it is probably OK but here are some of the problem areas to look for in the 67-9 F-bodies incase someone else needs to know.

Convertibles: These come with a body brace that bolts on underneath, make sure it is there(keeps car from twisting up).
Check the windshield posts out as the headers tend to rot and leak water into the posts & rot them out along with the top of the dash. Check out power top if optioned with it. Parts are very expensive to replace/hard to find. Manual top cars are fine.

Check the trunk floor REAL good(lift up mat and look for rot/repairs)

Look for "bubbles" under the vinyl top near the trim on the rear window and across the top of the windshield. These cars are prone to rot in these area's with a vinyl top. The bubbles are the rot underneath the top.

If there are backup lights in the rear pan on a Camaro, then the car was an RS also, make sure it has the hideaway headlights as they are very expensive to obtain a nice, complete & operating RS nose clip(the RS fenders do no interchange with regular fenders on the 69).

Crawl under car & inspect the rear unibody over the rear diff. especially. They are prone to rot and sometimes even crack the rear framerail in these areas.

Rockers are usually OK, check the inner rockers and floor pans. While you are underneath, inspect the 4 subframe to body bolts. The subframes tend to rot where they bolt to the body(around the body bushing).

Check the top of the dash between the dashpad & windshield as they are prone to rot there.

I bought my F bodies in the early 80's when they were cheap but now most are picked over. A find like this Camaro you are talking about is seldom heard of anymore and would bring top dollar to a Camaro purist. I changed the color on my 69 RS/SS to Garnet Red as I couldn't stand the Gold that was originally on it but left everything else original. My 3 69' Firebirds are restored to original.

Good luck on the car & let us see some pics if you do get it! Cross your fingers for the JL-8 rear disc option!!!!

L8R- Joe

[MrGoodpliers]

Thanks, Joe. As you guys can probably tell, I'm not a Camaro guy, so I need a good education. Looking at Trader online it becomes clear very quickly that the value of these cars is greatly affected by options/model/engine and originality. I saw cars similar to this one except for new paintjobs priced at about 28,000. So where does that put a rust free (if it is) original in need of paint?

[FirstGen]

I've had a few first-gen F-bodies and I'd say you could easily get $15K+++ for a real "rust free" original, unmolested SS. It all depends on the buyer and the documentation. Documentation is very important to a buyer in this situation.

There is really no telling what you can get for it. Watch some of the ebay auctions and you will learn real quick what these cars have come to bring today...

[Short-Fuse 72']

As stated above the trunk area rusted out a lot, also they were known to rust below the rear window edges.

[bulldawg_GW]

Hey,
I'm in the 1st Gen business... if you have any particular questions about id codes - or anything else for that matter.
I'm not looking to sell anything... just trying to help out. Send pm if you have any interest.