1969 Camaro Brochure Oddities

......Camaro- Untold SecretsCamaro Flashback

	"The magic of GM Photographic" By Wayne D. Guinn Same guy, same car... different engine?
	When the 1969 brochure was first released, .the base V8 was the 327 as pictured above. Later in the production year, the 327 was phased out and the 307 phased in.	A little Graphics Department magic helped make the transition to the 307 very simple. This "re-touched" photo was incorporated into the revised 1969 brochure.
	1969 Camaro Brochure ODDITIES...
	When the 327 gave way to the 307 as the base Camaro V8, updating of the brochure became necessary. Changing the text was easy, but what about the photos? Rather than go through the expense of creating a completely new brochure, Chevrolet called upon the talents of the Graphics Department. Keep in mind... The graphic alterations they made to the brochure photos were done without the aid of computer assisted programs. Manual air brush techniques and overlays were utilized very effectively and economically. The graphics department also gave support to Chevrolets "Design Group" by reworking photos to find pleasing colors and graphic designs. Various color combinations and stripes were experimented with, some made it to production... some did not.
	Here's a few more examples of some very cool work...
	Below is the '69 Z/28 as it appeared in the 1^stversion (D-67140) of the '69 brochure. Notice the narrow '68 type spoiler and how the emblem extends outside the stripe on the trunk lid...	Again below, the '69 Z/28.. but now from the D-67140 R-1 revision of the '69 brochure. Notice how the rear stripe is wider and the emblem is within the stripes boarders... (See detail in photo below). Also, note the addition of the ZL2 hood (See pop quiz on hood below).

	Quiz Time... What's wrong with this picture? Did someone forget to place the 302 emblems on the hood??? There must be a lesson in this somewhere... Could it be this? When restoring your Camaro to factory specs, don't rely solely on the literature... Not even Chevrolet literature!!! Variations occurred throughout the 1969 model year just as they did the previous two years. Therefore... Play it safe, restoration work is expensive, avoid costly mistakes by consulting with the Camaro Research Group (CRG). If you're not sure about a part change, stripe color or what originally came with your car... the CRG can help you out! *So far, we've seen four variations from the "norm" on the Z/28 alone.* Narrow spoiler. Although, the narrower '68 type spoiler did appear on some early '69 cars, the majority of production cars came through with the full width spoiler. Rear stripe size variation. Simply a graphics department faux pax. Trunk lid emblem placement. Even though the emblem location is the same in both brochures it appears to be drastically different because of the stripe width. The narrower stripe width places the emblem partially outside of the stripe, while the wider stripe shows the emblem within its borders. Emblem-less ZL2 hood. The "Special Raised Panel Hood" (RPO ZL2) was "applied" by Chevrolet Graphics department and the lack of the 302 emblems was simply an oversight.
	The bottom line is this...
	The graphics department was good... R-E-A-L good. However, many informational and graphic inaccuracies ended up in the literature... Some resulting from a lack of interdepartmental coordination, while others were symptomatic of the inability to keep up with the constant evolution of the production vehicle... It didn't matter much back then. As a buyer, you ordered what you wanted and it came through as production would have it. *It's now* in retrospect, that we scrutinize every aspect of the literature and find these little, sometimes amusing, but always confusing details....**