Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Jim Zane got back his original 1969 Camaro Z/28 that he had bought brand new. Jim raced it for years in Stock, Super Stock and finally Modified C/SM before he sold it to help offset the costs of building the Opel GT. He had always knew where it was with the help of friends. Finally, the chance came to get the car back and Jim jumped at the opportunity. It came home last Wednesday, 11/10/10, about 31 years since it left.
What will the future of the car be?? Race car or restored street car???? I guess time will tell.
Congratulations Jim and Donna on the return of your Z/28!!


Hi,
What a wonderful day. The Camaro made it home. After all these years. There is something special about it being the one you owned before and not somebody elses. Recognizing all the modifications and tweeks we made all those years ago, make it seem like a long lost teddy bear that has been returned to its rightful owner. We are all warm and fuzzy inside again. Break out the champagne!!!
Love,
Donna & Jim

Oh well... pictures to follow.. Darn work computer.... The gallery here has a couple of the Camaro..

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Thats GREAT.....My 68 Z/28 was stolen and striped back in 1969.

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Glad to hear Jim has some wind in his sails again.
I saw him earlier this year at a rod run ,and he was'nt sure about a traditional SS engine for the truck, or something else. ...Well I guess this is the something else !
Tom

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

C/SM class runoffs at the SummerNationals........You really had to be there to see real drag racing as it once was....

I was and I do recall Jim's car in the feld of close to 30 cars......

Modified eliminator was the best....and C/SM was a show all by itself....

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Wish i could find my 68 Z28, i sold it to an Airman at Warner Robins AFB in early 1970, i have not heard from him since! I do recall he was from up north tho!:confused:

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

It certainly is special getting HIS car back. Good Luck finding yours Woodro! Jim's friend had a '68 Z/28 and it was really neat seeing the 68 and 69 sitting or riding together! Our little town of 1500 people had a number of performance cars riding around in the day. There were two 68 Firebirds, 400's I think before those guys switched to 69 AMX's. A couple of Mopars, a Road Runner and a GTX along with another AMX and a SS Nova along with a Corvette. My sister, as Miss Four Seasons Campground, rode on the wing of a Superbird in a July 4th parade.

I think that there were 32 or more C/SM at the Summers. I seem to remember Jim saying that there would be 6 rounds of class and that the winner probably needed a fresh engine for eliminations....

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Jim
Have fun with it the second time around.

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

The shop I worked at.....3 of us had cars. I ran my 69 Camaro in SS/JA ( it was never very fast)
We also had a C/ED car...front engined for a time.....

and a C/SM......the C/SM was driven by Dennis Siderko and I traveled with him quite a bit. We spent an enormous amount of time working on that car and especially the engines for it. Dennis was number 3 on the qualifying sheet in '79 I think it was, and got down to 4 cars in class. We were subsequently tossed in the barn for a really miniscule infraction......but none the less no matter how much we plead our case we were out.....very heartbraking to say the least to us all and especially the shop owner.......I still recall the ET's.....GarleyDaniels went 10.32.....Billy Mansell was #2 and we went 10.42 for #3.......

The last 4 cars?....not sure here but we lost to Walt Siler in a close one.... and I can't recall who won that year. Maybe Roger White.......Garley redlit in rd 1 or 2 probably to save parts....His car was awesome and almost always faster than anyone else....

Dennis made one run on the back bumper into 3rd gear and ran a 10.60......

Billy Mansell won the eliminator.......

I loved the time I spent hanging in the lanes during Modified Eliminator in those days.......

Re: Out With the New and In With the Old.
 

Modified was indeed a special class. Hood scoops, shifting gears, wheelstands in every gear......

Now that I think about it, I made the last run in that car for our family. We put the engine from my street car in the Z, along with a slightly bigger cam. It was the first time I drove the car as we were trying to get some grade points for me so I could gain entry into next years Summers in the Opel. It was quite a pass for me with the firm launch and wheelstand on an 11.80 pass. Sure was different than my 70 1/2 RS/SS Camaro that had stock suspension. Next pass, the rod bearings decided that they didn't like 8,600 rpm with the stock rods and that 5.86 gear and parted ways. Boy that mechanical tach sure does go back to zero quickly with 6 spun rod bearings. What a blast it was!