1968 Chevrolet Camaro
Ben Fitch is one of a growing number of classic American enthusiasts who are discovering that when it comes to purchasing the perfect classic American car, often provenance outweighs al I other considerations ...
B en Fitch came to American cars like a surprising number of other enthusiasts:via an interest in VWs. Ben explains: "I bought the car in June 2018, two weeks before my first-born boy, Arthur, arrived. I'd owned a 1975 VW Camper for 10 years previously, on which I'd rebuilt the engine, suspension, bodywork and even resprayed it. I met my wife Maria while I was halfway through the resto'. But I had been hankering for a muscle car for some time. I knew we had a little boy on the way and I didn't see us going camping with a baby, so I took this as my time to sell the camper and get a weekend cruiser...
"I wasn't sure which American car I wanted exactly, but I knew I didn't want a Mustang as it was a bit too common (sorry Mustang owners!). I soon started to look at Camaros and realised the budget was slowly creeping up and so increased my internet search to nationwide ... and it didn't take long to get obsessed with them. Then, after a few months, a convertible came up in Sudbury, Suffolk, just 10 miles from my house. It was pushing my budget a little, but I went to look and instantly fell in love. I put my best poker face on, found a few issueswith the car as it been sat unused for a few years and was looking a little tatty and managed to negotiate a very reasonable price ... and that was the start of my American car experience!"
So what exactly had Ben got his hands on? Well, he's the third owner and knows the first, which is pretty good going for a car that's more than half a century old. The original owner, Madeleine Volk, bought the Camaro from June Chevrolet of Metuchen, New Jerseyon September 1 7, 1968 (Metuchen, as Mustang folks will know, is where Mustangs were built on the East Coast, so she must have been a bow-tie fan through and through!). Apparently she had gone in originally with the intention of buying a sedan, but when she saw this Camaro convertible on display was smitten and decided to buy it. The basic price of a V8 Camaro convertible was $2979.50; however, by ticking the following options: Powerglide transmission ($194.85), Push Button Radio ($61.10), Sports Striping ($25.30), White Wall tyres ($31.35), and Wheel Covers ($21.10) the final total price came to $3388.05, including $74.85 of tax.
Interestingly, she traded in a '65 Corvair Monza for $818.20 and put down $40 cash, and agreed a delivery payment of $429 when the car was finally collected, leaving $2100 balance to finance. Why is this interesting? Firstly, because it illustrates how clever car financing like this made cars like Madeleine's Camaro so easily affordable back then (a three-year finance deal would typically have only cost around $60 a month). »