Looking for past history of my 1968 Dana Z28
 

I'm not sure if this site is the best place to search for past history of this particular car but it is worth a shot. My car is a 1968 Z/28 sold new through Dana Chevrolet in South Gate, CA. I don't have paperwork for it but the NCRS Muscle Docs report shows Dana as the original dealer. The cowl tag shows the car was built 07B (July 15, 1968, per NCRS) so it may have been the last '68 Z they sold. It was originally LeMans Blue with 714 black deluxe interior, no spoiler, Z21 style trim, console/gauges, 3.73 posi, radio, and all tinted glass.

In 1984 it was purchased by Frank Brown from Walnut Acres/Woodland Hills (San Fernando Valley area) as a roller with no engine and trans. It did then and still does have its original 3.73 posi 12-bolt axle and 4-leaf rear springs. Four random wheels and tires were put on it to make it a roller so I have no idea what wheels and tires were on it previously. The car was painted black by this time with white stripes and that was its fourth paint job. I believe the black paint job was on it as far back as 1978 and maybe earlier. After the original LeMans Blue paint job it was repainted a teal blue and then a light blue. I can't tell if there were stripes on the car during those middle two paint jobs.

Frank sold the car rather quickly to Gerry Collins of La Crescenta, CA, north of Glendale. Gerry took pics of the car when he bought it. When I blew up the license plate, blue plate 388UEG, the registration sticker was a white one from 1979 so this car was evidently not driven since 1979 and spent the five years prior to 1984 sitting in somebody's driveway or backyard.

Gerry put an engine and transmission in it and some Centerlines on it and his son drove it until 1989. It was then sold without engine, trans and wheels to Merle DuPrey who parked it for the next 28 years until his passing in 2017. I bought it after that.

Basically this car has had 5 years of activity since 1979 as far as I can tell and most of the activity was abusive in nature so the long periods of rest probably helped it survive. Interestingly the seats in the car are the same recovered ones from the late '70s and they are not the original ones that came in the car back in '68. The stock upholstery under the covers is gold, not black. The rear upholstered panels are recovered with white material that was spray canned black so I'm not sure if it had white upholstery in it during the '70s or not. The door panels are missing and somebody had switched the inside door release handles from deluxe to standard. No idea why other than I guess it would be easier to recover standard door panels than deluxe molded ones. Speaking of white, it is evident that the rear drums were painted white at one time. Maybe that will be a helpful detail to jog someone's memory. The trunk lid was changed and there are four screw holes in some odd places on the lower valance so somebody might have had spoilers on it at one time but the two trunk torsion rods are the same size so it didn't get spoilers from the factory. One of the screws left in the lower valance had a chunk of fiberglass left under its washer so it may have had some kind of aftermarket front spoiler of some type.

Ordinarily I would have passed on a car like this but when I found out it was an original Dana Chevrolet car, I bit the bullet. I have wanted a real Dana car for years and they are not exactly growing on trees. I've got a lot of nice stuff for it now and am bringing it back from near death. It just would really be cool to see how far back I can trace its history and hopefully someone here may know something. Thanks for any help.


Pics as purchased circa June 1984 by Gerry Collins...

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...pspg95ypgf.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...pskmx0kggl.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psywbc22l6.jpg


Blue California license plate 388UEG showing white registration sticker in upper RH corner. This is a 1979 sticker so car must've sat idle from '79 to '84.
This plate was probably put on the car circa 1977. I don't currently have any information on what the original CA black license plate numbers were.

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psdcmsjt6w.jpg


Pics as driven in the late '80s...

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...pszhx42but.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9qemnyx1.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psa2iog0r8.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psvlnb5fvl.jpg


Recovered seats that date back probably to the 1970s...

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psepogykux.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...pscagmupqg.jpg


White brake drum...

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psk4rudqov.jpg


Now under my ownership prior to revival...

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...pskif3yfs5.jpg


Paint progression shots...

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psxsvifawr.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psiuad8wzs.jpg

Here's part of the NCRS report showing Dana Chevrolet as the original dealer. The car's VIN is 124378L347636

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...pswlvohevh.jpg


I found a December '69 dated Coke bottle under the driver's side quarter panel window mechanism. Was sure glad to find that and get it out of there. Somebody playing a little prank evidently.

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4uf9po63.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psb0htz6i2.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psdvzjjrz7.jpg

Jon, so looking forward to see this one come back.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to bringing it back. The car really has some personality to it.


Here are those holes in the lower valance which I guess were for a spoiler. One screw left there in place with fiberglass underneath it. Some sort of home-made spoiler I guess?

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psgv7h2e6x.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psywdv6l0y.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psdh9ydyfj.jpg

I know you’ve owned both 67 and 69 z’s. Is this your first 68?

No, I also owned a special paint silver '68 Z with stripe delete. One of my best friends owned it in high school.

Nice project can't wait to see it restored. Thanxs for sharing.....Dave

Being a west coast guy I love the Dana link but what makes you believe its a z/28? no paperwork, no orig engine/trans. Every camaro I knew of as a kid had a 12 bolt. Just trying to learn more as I thought 68's were next to impossible to confirm and have passed on a few similar cars.

Beside the usual Z28 clues it does still have the signs of the original stripes and the original white-out on the top of the cowl. There is also another 07B Z28 from Dana that is equipped identical to my car but 100 or so numbers earlier and special paint red instead of my blue. It's a real Z, just not documented. Good enough for me but maybe not anybody else. It has the original dated front fenders with nothing but the correct holes for the Z emblems up front.

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psn6d3pibt.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psdtochxze.jpg

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psaxp6dayt.jpg

Looks pretty solid

What's the tire sticker on the glove box door say?

Cool car Jon! Best of luck with the resto...

Thanks for the compliments. The car is pretty solid but did get tagged in the LH rear very early on when it was still LeMans blue. I've got that all fixed now.

The remnant of the decal is a reproduction Z28 tire pressure sticker so that's no help. I feel the factory applied white paint on top of the cowl on a LeMans blue car (U-U paint as shown on the cowl tag) is stronger evidence anyway.

https://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...psyyodsefr.jpg

If you have the tank out you might find the build sheet. If it still has the original front springs the tags will read EE....Joe

There was no build sheet under the tank but it does have the EE front springs.

I found more history on the car. I know several guys who worked for the old Petersen Publishing Co and still work in the magazine business. Since some of them lived (and still do live) in the San Fernando Valley, I asked them if they recognized the car from my 1984 pictures. One said yes, that looks like my friend Doug Starks' old car from Canoga Park. We checked with Doug and he agreed it was his old car that he bought back in 1977. He saw it advertised in the LA Times (Sept 25, 1977) and it was down in Orange County. The phone numbers appear to be from Westminster but they got the car in Placentia which is next to Fullerton and above Anaheim. They went down to buy the car driving in my friend's '69 Z28 and said the seller looked to be about 19 years old. The price in the ad said $3100 but the recollection was they paid about half that. That advertised price was way above average for the time. The 302 engine was not in the car when they got it and may have been yanked to bring the price down. It had a more generic small block in it, maybe even a 307 but they don't know for sure because Doug resold the car pretty quickly. He does not recall who he sold it to and Frank Brown does not recall who he bought it from but it did stay in the San Fernando Valley by all accounts. The black paint job was pretty fresh in 1977 and the rims on the car at this time were Chevy rally wheels. Interestingly, the blue CA personalized plate read MR Z28. The plate was changed to 388UEG by whoever bought it from Doug.

Hopefully this new information will lead to further ownership history. Maybe somebody down in northern Orange County remembers a car with the license plate MR Z28 on it back in the 1970s?

Does anybody have a cross-reference telephone directory like a Polk Directory from that area that could put a name with those phone numbers?

Jon, how is it progressing?

I haven't found out anything new over the last few months but have got some other options that I'm going to pursue.

Excellent news and fantastic work. I love stories like this. Please keep us posted on any more good news.

The fact that you stumbled onto someone that knew the car and previous owner is like finding a needle in a hay stack, or at least thats what it seems like to me. Wish I could find history on our Z but every avenue I pursued was a dead end.

Latest update: I found the owner from 1977 who placed the ad in the LA Times. He's the one who painted the car black and put the MR Z28 plates on it. His name is Larry Bienz and he graduated from Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, CA in 1976. It sounded like it was black before he graduated. I have so far not been able to get any photos. He told me the car had the 302 in it at that time. I was given the name of the person he bought it from and unfortunately no luck with pics there either. Anybody here from Garden Grove remember the car?

Great detective work Jon. While photos would be great to find, piecing together the ownership details is the important step.

Excellent that you're finding the prior owners. Did you get that license plate frame in the one pic with the car, the "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN" one? If so, that would be great to put back on after restoration.

Thank you both. Yes, I did get that frame with the car.

Jon have you found any suggestion the car was raced early on, or was it street-driven throughout?

Tim, the couple that owned the Camaro before the owner who painted the car black had a 32 Ford and some sort of station wagon that they drag raced. She had a split window Corvette as a street car and it sounds like the Camaro was only used on the street also. There are no signs of a roll bar, hood pins, or anything of that nature.

That is amazing I have a 69 camaro with lots of options. I was told by the original owner it came from Dana Chevrolet as well I would love to also find the history of my car. Any clues on how to go about it I would really appreciate

Thanks. That's nice that you know who the original owner is. The NCRS has a webpage for finding the original dealers for classic Camaros, Chevelles, and Novas and they most likely will have that info for your car. Here's a link...

https://www.chevymuscledocs.com/index.php

I had a nice conversation yesterday with Larry Bienz, the owner from the mid-'70s. Due to some personal family events in the past year, it has affected being able to find any old photos of the car. When things get better it sounded like he was willing to help so I am just needing to be patient.

I found out the car was painted black (with stripes) in 1976 at the Jaguar and Triumph dealership in Brea, CA. Larry the owner knew a guy that worked there in the body shop and if I remember correctly he traded some stuff in exchange for the paint job.

If you need info from him I know Frank Brown, can make contact for you, he lives out of state now.

Thanks, SpeedyB. I actually was able to track Frank down and discuss the car with him. Turns out we had some friends in common. Frank is an awesome guy. He invited me out to his place, said I could stay in the guest room and we could take his cars out for a drive to look around the area. He's got some great classics and loves to still wrench on them but I'm sure that's not news to you.

Jon, any new progress on your Z?

Not much progress lately. I got myself another '67 Z, plus I have a bunch of Bultaco motorcycle projects, a '68 C10 fleetside, my maroon '67 Z, plus this Dana. I might have to sell something but I like it all and it would be a tough choice. It is a full plate.

Another '67? Do tell....

I'll have to do it in another thread when I get an opportunity. Don't want to take this one off course.

Bull-Taco, God those bike put a Hurt on me in the 70's as a newbie rider,
Start the Chant- New thread, New thread, New,,,,

Left Rudder JOHN!

Jim

Oh, please do. I’m always excited to hear about a new 67 Z!

Cant wait for the final outcome

Jon, did you ever ride at Valley cycle park also known as Muntz?

No, I did not. I didn't get into the cycle stuff until the '90s even though I had been interested in it previously.