"Long Lost Lovers"

Through a combination of detective work and pure dumb luck, I managed to locate the original owners, Stan and Donna, of my 1968 L30/M20. They've given me a brief history of the car during their ownership, supplemented by actual period photos from 1968.

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Donna shows off the exterior	...and looks great in the interior!!!

Interesting footnote: the Click and Clack auto repair columnists have previously stated that all female Camaro owners are named "Donna", or should be. (Flame them, not me, please.)

Stan and Donna loved this car; it was the replacement for the Corvette that Stan wanted but they couldn't justify. They got it at the end of college. They married, Donna soon become pregnant, Stan graduated and quickly joined the Navy. While Stan was in Navy training at various places, Donna drove all over the country following him around in the car with their baby girl in the back seat. Twenty-five states before the baby was 9 months old, she said. Stan ended up being a career Navy man; retired in '88 after putting in his twenty years. (He still does Navy consulting.)

During their service career the car was shipped to Guam (the origins of some of the rust that I am currently battling) while they were stationed there, and then back to the States again. By the early 80's, the car was less used, and Donna finally talked Stan into selling it to some neighbor kids down their street. She told me, only half-kiddingly, that he never forgave her for making him sell it. Stan hated how the kids were treating it, and he could see it being abused every day. They moved and Stan and Donna lost track of it. She said Stan still talked about the car from time-to-time, but sadly, thinking that it was probably rusting away in some field, or long since crunched by a recycling machine.

"Stan keeps the the new Brittish Green L30/M30 Polished"

They are both excited to talk about car, and eager to see it after it is restored (but not until then).

They have shared the original configuration details with me, as well as original photos from the first year, to aid in the restoration. The car went through seven other owners in the next 12 years and had a very tough middle life before I found it. Within the next year I hope to complete the restoration of this British Green RS, and Stan and Donna will be able to get reacquainted with their lost love.

"Greasy Orange Small Block, With Nothing Special"

 

Dave Loney writes:

Hello,

I just read the article on the Camaro L30/M20. I am currently and swiftly kicking myself in the rear. I purchased (and still own) my Camaro in February of 1985 from the second owners who bought it in 1972 from the original owner. When I bought the car, the only thing that wasn't stock was the tires, 8 track "under-dash" tape deck, and the air cleaner, oh, and cross flow muffler. I have a long story to tell about this car, including the strange (to me at the time) and extreme performance that it had. At one point I drag raced a 69 Mustang Mach 1 with a 390 Automatic, and ate him up. The guy forced me to show him the engine. I showed him: the stock greasy orange small block, with nothing special.

I still own the car, the reason I'm kicking myself is that it now has an Aluminum headed 461 BBC, with a TH400 and a Roll cage! (I was severely bitten by the drag racing bug) It still sports the 12 Bolt Posi, along with the factory faded Posi warning sticker inside the deck lid.
It has the brake proportioning valve you mentioned. I still have the original heads that were on the 327, and will double check the casting numbers. I sold the close ratio Saginaw and threw away the 10" clutch assembly. The car was kept in stock form for the first two years I owned it. It really performed well! I never got to the dragstrip until 87 and by then I had done a complete rebuild of the 327 with cam, bigger valves, etc. I'm sure it would have run a high 13.
Let me know if you would like any information on my car, I'm positive my car is one of the L30/M20 models. I remember the 10" clutch, and the close ratio Saginaw, and most of all the excellent performance. If I had any idea it was all part of a "special package" I would have never modified the car.

"From Nam with Love"

(Paraphrased from telephone conversations with the owner.)

I married before leaving for a tour of duty in Nam, leaving my newlywed wife to fend for herself. Surviving my tour in the summer of 1966, I completed duties in Japan before returning to the States. I realized that we would need new transportation when I returned to the States, and during the summer of 1966 I heard interesting things about soon-to-arrive 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. That Fall I wrote to my wife asking her to go to the Chevrolet dealership and collect as much information as she could get on the car.
I studied all the papers she mailed me, selected the options I wanted, and asked her to order a Camaro; and me without ever having even seen one in person! By the time I returned to the States the car was ready, and we took delivery of a real beauty (Deepwater Blue , RS). Stationed at Eglin AFB for three years, this car was our daily driver. But in 1970 I was to be transferred to Germany, and I decided to store the car rather than move it or sell it. I spent an entire week going completely over the car: draining the gas tank and removing the carburetor, putting oil in the cylinders, detailing the underside of the car to remove rust- attracting dirt, moth-balling the interior. I even went so far as to remove the bumpers, coat them with preservative, and wrap them in paper.
Four years later I returned, spent another week undoing the preservation, and it was as good as when I left. By this time the car had become a true second car, and the annual mileage became much smaller. In 1979 I decided to fully detail it for show.Today the car remains essentially as it left the factory: original paint, original spare tire. Only the tires and regular maintenance items have been replaced from when it left the factory, along with the factory air cleaner and traction bar.

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RPO 's L30/M20 Update