Thunder427 and Leo D have been running a fascinating thread on the resurrection of Bob Jane's incredible alloy big block ZL1 '69 Camaro. This phenomenal car, built from a genuine ZL1 Camaro, enjoyed a hugely successful career in the hands of owner Bob Jane, who used it to win both the 1971 and '72 Australian Touring Car Championships. In fact, such was this cars on-track success in 1971, that the Confederation of Australian Motor Sports (CAMS) introduced a 6,000cc maximum engine capacity for the '72 season, forcing Jane to fit an iron block small block Chevy. It didn't matter, he kept winning.
Jane sold the Camaro to Jim Smith in 1973, and Smith raced the car for a few seasons, before it was sold on, and slipped rapidly into the decline that many an old race car suffers.
Amazingly, somehow the Camaro survived, and several years ago, Bob Jane purchased it back again. But it was in a very poor state. It sat for some time, until eventually Bob handed the mammoth task of restoring this once-great car to long-time associate Myles Johnson (thunder427), of Thunder Road Restorations, in Melbourne, Australia.
This is a fascinating journey, in which you get a real sense for the scale of the job, as there wasn't the availability of re-popped sheetmetal that restorers have available to them now. It was a ground-breaking restoration. We've become accustomed to seeing '60s and '70s competition tin-tops restored to their former glory now, but back when Myles was restoring the Bob Jane Camaro, there were no such restorations being done.
I shouldn't even call this a restoration, as resurrection seems more apt. This car was brought back from the dead.
The resurrection of the Bob Jane ZL1 Camaro can be viewed here > >
-
Sponsors
