'68 Z28

[daytripper]

I was in a dealer Friday and they had a car that they took in on trade . A '68 Z28 . I know there are some experts on here and need some info . The car was beautiful . But had 1 ,4 barrel . I thought they all had 2. It was not an SS . everyone I have seen was . It had a smog pump ,I know they all pretty much were removed but I didnt think '68 had one . Help !
I also was thinking how hard people try now to get these late 60's cars to look factory . In reality NO ONE had a car that was like it was just made . We all changed everything we could .

[AZCamaroFan]

no the 68's didn't have two 4 barrels. i believe that became an option on the 69s.

[daytripper]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

no the 68's didn't have two 4 barrels. i believe that became an option on the 69s.

Thnx, I knew someone would know . I cant believe anyone would take this car to the FORD dealer and trade it. It was in show car condition .

[Russell James]

Should have a 302, holley 4brl, 4 spd, 12 bolt, multi leaf rear springs...

See if you can get a good pic of the cowl plate. All the codes on that plate will tell the real story.

[daytripper]

Originally Posted by Russell James

Should have a 302, holley 4brl, 4 spd, 12 bolt, multi leaf rear springs...

See if you can get a good pic of the cowl plate. All the codes on that plate will tell the real story.

It has all of the above . A friend had a ' 69 , Z28 .I had a Hugger orange RS . His had 2-4barrels ,and cowl induction .It didnt slam you back in the seat like a real muscle car but was actually pretty darn fast . It also had a state of the art, high tech 8-track . We liked listening to Zepplin bounce around the speakers .

[daytripper]

Originally Posted by Russell James

Should have a 302, holley 4brl, 4 spd, 12 bolt, multi leaf rear springs...

See if you can get a good pic of the cowl plate. All the codes on that plate will tell the real story.

I think my new Camaro would be a much better car with a 4-speed and 12 bolt .

[Russell James]

2 4's was a common mod back in the day. I had a 69 Z28 back in the 80s that we put 2 4's and headers on. All else stock. I won a $100 bet once at a car show that it would rev to 10 grand. Those 302s would scream! No power down low, but if you geared it low and made it breathe, the top end was rediculous. With 4.88s you could wipe big blocks off the track.

Only way to know for sure if it's a Z28 is by the cowl plate. If it is real, it is worth a fortune if in showroom stock numbers matching condition.

[blazzin1]

Can you give some more info about this '68 Z? Are you gonna buy it? Dealer's name/location? Pictures? Color?

[blue89bird]

68's are very hard to document. If you're seriously considering it, it would be wise to have it inspected by someone like Jerry McNeish.

To answer your question though, it would have come with a single holley 4bbl. A crossram was available as a dealer option.

[daytripper]

Originally Posted by blazzin1

Can you give some more info about this '68 Z? Are you gonna buy it? Dealer's name/location? Pictures? Color?

I went to the Ford dealer to order a Shelby GT500 and they had it sitting there . It is for sale but they didnt have a price yet. It is a beautiful car. It's a real dark green .the interior it perfect .it has all the right stuff and marks . The dealer was King ford in Murphy ,NC .800-388-2897 . I would think it might be worth more than anything Ford makes . Except the Shelby of course . Tell them the guy that ordered the Shelby told you about it .
JIM

[MLL67RSSS]

Unfortunately the '68s don't have the option letter codes that the '67s had, and also don't have the Z/X codes they used in '69. So '68 cowl tag won't tell you if it's a Z/28.
They also should have the very-hard-to-find "DF" 15 X 6 Rally wheels and disc brake option. In '67 and '68 only the Z/28s came from the factory on 15 inch wheels. Should also have the 3/8" fuel line as well I believe.

[Russell James]

Originally Posted by MLL67RSSS

Unfortunately the '68s don't have the option letter codes that the '67s had, and also don't have the Z/X codes they used in '69. So '68 cowl tag won't tell you if it's a Z/28.
They also should have the very-hard-to-find "DF" 15 X 6 Rally wheels and disc brake option. In '67 and '68 only the Z/28s came from the factory on 15 inch wheels. Should also have the 3/8" fuel line as well I believe.

Ah, that explains it. I've only owned a '69 Z28, and I remember those had specific cowl tag codes. Maybe the '68 tag, you could eliminate it from being a Z28 by certain codes being there, but not confirm a Z by just the tag codes. Sounds like you would have to use a combo of codes and options.

[blue89bird]

I'd start here:

http://www.1968z28.com/document.html

How to Document your Car for the Registry
Documenting a 1968 Z/28 is not a straight forward process…

The 1968 Z/28 Camaro is the most difficult year car to document of the first-generation Z/28s. The Trim Plate on the firewall from both the 1967 and 1969 Z/28 give you information that verifies that your car is truly a Z/28. On the 1968 Z/28, you must have either the Protecto-Plate, Broadcast sheet (Production build sheet), or the correct Engine Production Code with the correct Engine Block Vehicle Code stamping to verify that your car is an authentic 1968 Z/28.

What makes the Z/28 very special is the limited-production, high-performance drive train that is unique to only this car. Everything from the 302 cubic inch high compression engine down to the deep pulley alternator (made to properly operate at 7000+ RPMs) was designed to make the Z/28 one of the most potent small block production muscle cars ever made. It is for this reason that 1968 Z/28 owners should carefully understand and document all of the drive train componentry for correctness. The performance and value of your car is heavily dependent on having the correct drive train components and the proper date coding. Bottom line: The drive train (especially the engine) is the foundation of the car.

A few recommendations to get you down the right road for documenting your car …

Before I get into some basic steps to document your car for the registry, let me make a few recommendations:


It is worth every penny to buy a copy of Jerry MacNeish's "The Definitive 1967 - 1968 Camaro Z/28 Fact Book". It gives you invaluable details on every aspect of the 1968 Z/28 and how to document it. www.z28camaro.com/publications.html
If you want to authenticate your 1968 Z/28 and get an expert opinion on its current market value, I again, refer you to Jerry MacNeish. Jerry is clearly one of the most knowledgeable persons on first-generation Z/28s. His appraisals are well worth their cost and it will give you piece of mind that the car own or are thinking of owning is the real thing down to every major component. www.z28camaro.com/consvcs.html

Note: I receive no royalties or compensation for these recommendations.

On to documenting your car for the registry…

To begin with, the primary goal of this documentation is to guide you through properly registering your 1968 Z/28 for the 1968 Z/28 National Registry. This guide is not an all inclusive documentation source. Secondarily, I would hope it helps you to gain a greater level of appreciation for your car as you gain knowledge through the registry process.

The VIN number:

The VIN is a 13-character plate that is located on the driver side instrument (dash) panel visible through the windshield. This is the unique identifier for each car and will be the unique key in the registry database. A 1968 Z/28 VIN will always begin with these first 6 characters - 124378
The Trim Plate:

The Trim Plate is located on the driver side firewall. The Trim plate will give you the interior color, exterior color, and build date (basis for documenting proper date codes on all drive train componentry). As mentioned before, there is no proper way to verify the car is a Z/28 from the Trim Plate (unlike the 1967 and 1969 Z/28s).
Supporting Car Documentation:

There are two sources of documentation that verifies that your car is a 1968 Z/28. The first source is the 302 engine itself which we discuss in a little more detail in the Engine section. The other source is the various supporting documents the original owner received when he purchased the car from the GM dealership. Unfortunately, after several decades, and usually several owners, these pieces of documentation get lost or destroyed. As mentioned, you can verify that a car is a Z/28 from the information gathered off the engine, but without any of the following supporting documents, the car options can not be tied directly with the car. Lack of supporting documents does not usually detract from the value of a car but does help to differentiate and make a car more attractive to collectors because they help to give the truest picture of the way the car was in its original form. It is quite common that most Z/28s were not heavily optioned since many were primarily purchased for racing purposes. A heavily optioned Z/28 is highly desirable and would be given a premium value if supporting documentation exists. This brings up the point that documentation is very important today because many of these options can be easily bought from specialty part dealers and added to the cars therefore making it difficult to distinguish an original optioned car from a car that was altered after the fact.
Protect-O-Plate (Warranty information card) - a small metal card that resembled a credit card. This card is fairly rare because it usually remained in some fashion with (or lost by) the original owner or taken away by dealers on trade-in (to protect the privacy of the original owner). This card gives the original owners name/address, Trim plate information, how the car was equipped, and all the pertinent drive train information.

Broadcast Sheet (Build Sheet) - This computer-generated piece of paper gave a complete account on how the car was manufactured on the assembly line. Build Sheets have been known to be place in just about any location on a car. Most are never found or destroyed over the years and are a very rare. [Find an example to display - see page 32 in Scott's book]

Dealer Invoice, Window Sticker, New Car Order Form, Decals (Posi-traction trunk lid decal, Tire Pressure Glovebox Decal, Ignition Timing Decal, etc) - These are all great sources of documentation that supports at various degrees what equipment a car originally came with.

Car Drive Train:

Engine - The engine is one of the most important sources for verifying that your car is an authentic 1968 Z/28. As mentioned previously, the 302 Z/28 motor is really the high point of these cars. It is arguably one of the hottest GM production small blocks made in the muscle car era. It is important to properly document this motor and is the most critical area of value to the car.
The engine can be verified by reviewing the two-part engine block identification code, which is located on the front of the engine block at the base of the passenger-side cylinder head. The first part (Engine Block Vehicle Code), a nine character code, will always begin with "18" followed by an "N" or "L" then the last 6 digits of the VIN. The second part (Engine Production Code) is a seven-character code that always begins with a "V" and ends with "MO".

Transmission - A 1968 Z/28 came with one of three 4 speed transmissions - the M21 close ratio Muncie 4 speed (which was standard) or the M22 heavy-duty Muncie 4 speed (close and wide ratio which were optional). For identification purposes, an M22 will have a drain plug at the bottom of the transmission case. An M21 has no drain plug (must be drained and filled from a plug on the driver-side of the case). An M20 wide-ratio transmission was also available but was seldom ordered. This is ironic due to the fact that the low torque 302 performed much better at the start with a lower 1st gear.

The Transmission can be documented by viewing the passenger-side of the transmission case. You will find a five-character code (Transmission Assembly Date Code) that will always begin with a "P8" then followed by an alphabetic character and two numeric characters. Directly underneath this code you should find a 9 character code (Transmission Vehicle Code) that will match the Engine Block Vehicle Code ("18" followed by an "N" or "L" then the last 6 digits of the VIN).

Rear Axle - The standard rear axle ratio for 1968 Z/28 was 3.73 contained within a 12-bolt rear axle housing. The Rear Axle Date Code for the axle housing is located on the center section of the Axle near the inspection cover. The first character of the code will be an "A" through "L" followed by "1" through "31". The last character will always be a "7" or "8". The Rear Axle Ratio Code will always begin with two Alphabetic character (translates into an axle ratio) then several spaces followed by 4 numeric characters (designating month and day). The next character is a "G" followed by a "1" or "2" (designates the shift when it was built). If it is a Posi-traction Rear Axle, a one character alphabetic code ("D" or "E" or "W") is located below the Rear Axle Ratio Code.

[daytripper]

I spoke with the dealer today and was told they had experts check the car and all is right. It is a dealer though . They are asking 39,000 for it . If interested ask for Shane 1-800-388-2897 . You can tell them you spoke with Jim who ordered the Shelby (662 HP )

[pincoin]

You cant tell by the cowl tag for 1968 to document a Z-28. Car must have a 302 engine, front disc brakes. Check in the glove box door for a sticker that says it has 15 inch wheels. Hopefully no one tampered with that decal.

[arod55]

Originally Posted by blue89bird

I'd start here:

http://www.1968z28.com/document.html

That's some great info. I found a 67 RS and did a lot of research to determine if it was a true RS and by the time I did all the research they had sold the car. $39,000. seems a little high, what do you think?

[blazzin1]

Originally Posted by arod55

That's some great info. I found a 67 RS and did a lot of research to determine if it was a true RS and by the time I did all the research they had sold the car. $39,000. seems a little high, what do you think?

If it's a "numbers matching" car, that's a pretty fair price....depending on condition. I've seen original '68 Z/28 RS cars easily go for mid-50's.

[its a syn]

Smog pump could be the key that it was a California car

[daytripper]

Originally Posted by its a syn

Smog pump could be the key that it was a California car

Was told it was a local NC car . I havent been back to dealer since . I try to get all my tracking info on my Shelby on line . Not as easy as it was on my Camaro . I hate waiting but the "Track Your Order" was kind of fun .

[pincoin]

Originally Posted by its a syn

Smog pump could be the key that it was a California car

smog was on all 4 speed cars for 1968, I'm pretty sure.

[f5journal]

Originally Posted by pincoin

Check in the glove box door for a sticker that says it has 15 inch wheels. Hopefully no one tampered with that decal.

As weird as it may seem, his comment is spot on. That decal is unique to the Z and impossible to repro and look old and original to the car. If you have that, and MO coded engine, oil filler tube style intake and at least two DF coded wheels left on the front..........then you can pretty much figure it's factory real. From there you continue to see what's missing or not right.

Another rarely mentioned thing is the tall rear bumper guards and the requisite mounting holes in the rear valance panel. Some say this was an option, but I personally have never seen a 68 or 69 Z without them...and they were rarely ordered on anything else.

[usa1camaro1969]

Camaros.org helps break down all of the first gen stuff.

[Sleez]

must look like this one?