Whereabouts of Grumpy Jenkin's Camaro Toy IV

[Pro Stock John]

Right that's a concern shared by a few that the car just fell apart over time. But I thought some of us (including me) would be inspired to check with our older racing contacts in KY to see if anyone remembers the car, we might find some info. I'm not looking to purchase the car.

I have some magazines I'm in my 50s.

[Too Many Projects]

I would think it had to be delivered reasonably close to a drag strip...maybe even Beech Bend ? Too bad Joe doesn't remember the area/town where he delivered it.

[Pro Stock John]

He told me KY, I saw in another article he quoted as saying he delivered it to a location with escavation/paving equipment. Other states have been mentioned too. Ideally I'm hoping to talk to him on the phone some day. If anyone is friends with him please ask him to reconfirm.

[FTC]

Cool story. I like hearing about people finding "ordinary" cars they had in the past,....but it's especially cool when it's a search for a famous one.

[Pro Stock John]

One of the things that makes the car difficult to find is the lack of information and/or pics of the construction of the car.

Based on some of the pics and I saw a reference to fitting 32x14 slicks on it, the car must have gotten tubbed and backhalfed. Given the era, the car would have early ladder bars or relocated leaf springs, anyone know?

I think sometimes folks don't share info because they're worried someone will find the car and they won't.

I reached to Bob Veniero, we'll see if he sees my email.

Also anyone know if Bill Hayes Auto Weld is still around? I'd think he'd remember the chassis modifications.

I thought it would be fun to encourage folks to look around for the car. I'm thinking it would have an acid dipped body that might not be doing well and a original non-acid dipped nose.

12/10/23 edit notes:
-Early research had Bob Veniero as the person who bought IV from Carmen. Carmen said he did not sell it to him but he did sell him a '61 Corvette. So I removed Bob from the timeline.

[Pro Stock John]

Added 2 more pics to post #1, thanks Tony Jenkins.

[JoeC]

I believe Bill also had a set of fiberglass fenders that he ran on Toy III and Toy IV.

These fenders were different then the fenders normally seen on Toy III and Toy IV.

They had no side light like on the 68 and no emblems like on the 67 .

[Pro Stock John]

Good to know.

I think all we can go by at this point is that Joe Algieri said that he sold off the nose, it was in sad shape and I think he said it was acid dipped. I'm not familiar with the racing classes the car campaigned in and whether they required stock sheetmetal, and for example if Bill was making changes all the time for competitive advantage.

If anyone is a good friend of Joe, maybe they could ask him more about that as well as the chassis configuration at time of sale. When I contacted him I was just another person who he didn't know who asked him a dozen questions in rapid fire.

I got a strong lead to someone who might know the car's history after 1980, we'll see if he calls me back. It's tricky to contact strangers and the older they are the more guarded they are. I'd safely assume the promotion of another car as the genny IV would make someone even more guarded if they don't care for drama.

[Pro Stock John]

Jerry Orn on FB says that this is Toy IV when Carmen Rotonda owned it. I'm told Carmen and Frank were buddies. Maybe one of you guys knows for sure, or can ask Carmen my understanding is he is still around. I don't think I've seen this pic before:

Also Richie Schmidt on FB shared some comments:
Joe put a fiberglass nose on it before he sold it. He said he still had the fenders from the car. Jenkins sold the car to Brooklyn heavy and there are pics of it without the RS reverse lights. When Jenkins ran the car it had the non RS lower valance on it so maybe it wasn't an RS when new. Maybe the RS back up lights were just lenses screwed on.

My guess is that you had the same pics as in this post which are the same ones I have. I got them from Joe Algeri when I spoke to him about the car. Jenkins found the car down in the southeast a few years before his death and said the car was too hacked up to be restored. I tracked the car for a few years past when Joe owned it. The car was painted black and belonged to a guy named Wild Bill who ran it in a "super shifters" type club. The car was named the most dangerous car in the class because of how hacked up it was. I later tacked it to the Carolinas where the trail went cold.

I'm saving the various comments from the FB Post I made in the Vintage Camaro Drag Racing Group on FB. In some cases the comments conflict with others but I'm not in a position to call up Joe A on the phone but I'm happy to update the thread if someone knows him and chats with him at some point. I also did reach out to Bob Veniero via FB but have not heard back.

[JoeC]

there is some disagreement on which of the two Brooklyn Heavy Camaros was Toy IV