This car started its competition life in NZ national Group 5, but spent most of its career racing in OSCA, hence I'm putting it in here. This '67 Camaro was imported into NZ by Spencer Black in 1968 as a road car, and converted for racing duties. Black finished the 1968/69 NZ Saloon Car Championship 3rd in the 5.5 championship. The following season it was raced by Rod Coppins, who finished the championship 1st equal with Red Dawsons Mustang, after a countback that couldn't separate the pair. Coppins raced the car through the 1970/71 season, where he was beaten by Paul Faheys FVC Escort, then into the 1971/72 season, where it was replaced mid-season by the T/G Racing built '69 Trans-Am Firebird imported to NZ by Ron Grable.
The Camaro was sold to South Island OSCA racer Bruce Jenner, in March 1972. Jenner continued to modify the car over the next three seasons, until, following a shunt in 1975, he sent it to Rick Deihl at the PDL racing workshop, to semi-spaceframe the car. A complete new front-end was built for it, and new rollcage, but Jenner then collected the car and took it home before the work was completed, apparently for financial reasons.
However, as the front suspension was never completed by Deihl, the geometry was never right, and the cars handling suffered. Neil Robertson owned the Camaro briefly, before sticking it into the fence at Timaru. Next owner was Lawrence Bruce, who also struggled to get the car to handle. Eventually, Bruce traded it to John Osborne for Ozzys Falcon 6 powered Escort. Osborne had so much trouble with the handling, the steering wheel broke in half in his hands at one event at Timaru, after which he rebuilt it, finally curing the front suspension issues, and he went on to win the 1979/80 OSCA championship. This in itself is quite impressive, given this car won two major championships 10 years apart.
Osborne won the Class A OSCA championship in 1980/81, and was 4th overall, before selling the car to Chris Cullen. Cullen had planned to race the car the following season, but this never eventuated. In fact, he owned it until 2002, and in that time, completely restored it, modifying the flares, and repainting it red. The flares fitted to the car during the 70s were actually done by Robin Officer, who'd used the same molds to build the flares on PDL Mustang I, Jack Nazers Victor Chevy, and Bruce Bellis' V8 Cortina. Tony Boyden bought the Camaro off Cullen, and has since been racing it in historic racing. Boyden is incredibly fussy, and the car is in stunning condition. Its not actually presented in any guise from its racing past, instead it is much as how Cullen rebuilt it.
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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
