Home at last after 47 years, the history of my 1969 Camaro Z28:
The ’69 Camaro Z28 was ordered by my then-girlfriend, who later became my wife, and the car came along with the deal.
The marriage situation changed a long time ago, but now the car has returned.
There are so many memories of places like the Connecting highways, Bronx River Parkway, the Hutch, and the White Castle on Allerton Avenue in the Bronx.
The Camaro was ordered on September 27, 1968, from Pape Chevrolet, Tremont Ave, Bronx. The build date was the first week of November 1968
VIN #124379N537973. I have the original window sticker and the bill of sale.
We sold the Z 28 around 1972-73. We had two small children and the Camaro was too small.
A few years later, Tom Rambo purchased the car, which now was yellow with white stripes, had a new interior, and the original 302 DZ engine had been replaced with a 350.
Rambo drove the car for two years and sold it to his brother, Wayne, who said Tom bought the car from someone who blew the original engine.
Wayne Rambo drove the car until December 1980 and sold it to Cliff Kitz, who realized it was an original Z28 and planned to restore it to the way it had been built by Chevrolet. He started, but family priorities put the project on hold and the car was kept the car in a heated garage for 17 years.
Willie Keillor, a teenager, contacted Kitz about acquiring the car. Instead, Kitz went to work on the next phase of the restoration. But then Kitz got divorced and the restoration was delayed and the car was sold in 2003 — to Willie Keillor. He had the engine rebuilt, but over time lost interest and sold the car in 2015 to a friend.
The friend wanted to verify that the car was, indeed, a Z/28. I’d posted on Camaro forums that I had the window sticker and bill of sale and the friend found me and I would up buying the car.
The car had been off the road since December 1980, but it is running now.
How many people get their car back after 47 years, and a Z28 on top of it?
Good things come to those that wait, and I waited 47 years.
— James O’Hare, Margate FL
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I wanna know what happened to that 302.