Really amazing story here. So glad to have meet and spent time with Corey and Logan Lawson who painstakingly researched and restored this piece of history!
My friend has A 67, 68, 69 Camaro A 70 cutlass A 64 Chevelle race car And a 68 Camaro race car. He did all the work on these cars and has had all but 1 since the 70s I think this collection shoukd be documented before it is broken up. Do you have any suggestions on how i can get this done for him?
A little off topic. In 1986-87 I owned a 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu 2 dr hdtp VIN 100048. Built in Fremont CA on the 1st day of Chevelle production in 1963.
That plant operated from 1963 to 1982 as a GM plant, then from 1984 to 2010 as a joint venture (NUMMI) with Toyota and today Tesla assembles vehicles there. When it was under GM's rule, it was a horrid plant. It was rife with labor problems, drug abuse, absenteeism and alcohol abuse, among other vices. It was said, "If you want it, you can get it at Fremont". One time a foreman spotted about 300 front ends left loose on purpose. When they got a hold of who did it, he said that he was getting back at the foreman for writing him up for drinking on the job. Toyota hired most of the original Fremont workers back with the promise that they would lose their old Fremont ways of thinking and dry up. It did work as Toyota straightened them out. I've called it "Freaky Fremont". That plant, Van Nuys and Southgate were the worst three in the GM system at the time. Southgate closed in 1982 and Van Nuys in 1992.
What a great video so happy I subscribed! This deserves 5,000,000+ views and I’m a Mopar Guy! But when it comes to cars like this, you have to love the history! Well done
Yup with the VIN, you win: 1 for Chevrolet, 23 for Camaro six cylinder, 37 for two door coupe, 7 for 1967 model year, N for Norwood, OH assembly and the rest is the production sequence. The Norwood plant closed in August of 1987. With the tag, you can brag: 09B for the second week of September 1966 assembly, 67 for 1967 model year, 12437 for Chevrolet (1) Camaro with standard interior (24) two door coupe (37), NOR for Norwood, OH assembly, 709 for standard Gold bucket seat interior trim, Z for without headrests, G-G for Granada Gold lower and upper exterior paint and accessory code 5Y for deluxe seat belts, aka RPO code A39.
My first car I bought 4 months before turning 16 in 1971 was a 67 Camaro RS 327 4 speed manual in that same gold color.. It had 32000 miles on it and the lady that drove it was wanting a new 71 Camaro so they put the 67 up for sale. That car was purchased new also at R.T. Ayers Chevrolet in Yukon by the people I bought it from.I live in OKC and Yukon is a suburb just a few miles went of OKC oh Highway 66. I have no idea what the VIN was so many years later but I wonder how close it was to #1. I paid $1200 cash for that car in April 1971 that I had saved up from working since I was 14 years old.
Just think all the opportunities this car had to not exist anymore. It could have been in a crash, and totaled on the street with any of the previous owners, or crashed on the drag strip. Even still it could have never been found and rotted away. Yet it survived all those years
I'm afraid your information isn't correct. The Camaro that went to Jim McFarland at Hot Rod magazine isn't the serial number 1 pilot car. Extensive research was done for this video, and the serial number 1 car, which is the first Camaro produced, is well documented now as the car in the video owned by Corey and Logan Lawson: www.hotrod.com/news/first-camaro-vin-001-camaro-031-2017-classic-industries-f-body-nationals/
Were several pics from a different car, or did they remove the wing window frame during the restoration. I know there were no wings in 68, but was a bit confused.
Yeah, it was that, plus they wanted to keep it a lighter build to cut down on the complication of the assembly since it was basically hand built off the line several times.
It appears at both the beginning of the Mustang and Camaro the target was the chicks. Soon after they both knew it would need muscle to get the dudes onboard. 💪😁
Great point. I think everyone thought that the smaller size and sporty looks would appeal to women, and it did, but once some power dropped in, its appeal to the guys too was undeniable!
Bunch of hogwash. Says in the beginning"Camaro number 1 built in May 21, 1966 when trim tag is 09B. Dude created the story and hyperboled it because there are earlier built fisher body tag dates for example 09A. I have them archived. This was just the first VIN tagged car to roll off the assembly line for normal production. I remeber when the car showed up for sale on Team Camaros website way back that started my knowledge along with a lengthy thread on the car. The car was cut to shreads for racing. Everything on the car but the vin tag has been replaced. Buy the story if you want.
You make a good point. The only thing I can think of is that the original trim tag was gone, or GM didn’t assign a t a trim tag until September when they were planning sell the car, seeing as it was now available to the public. Either way, the vin number pretty much rules out most doubt.
Boy, your a bitter bloke. I’m not sure what your rambling on about. It seems that there is extensive research and documentation into what the car is, and it’s history. So all these GM people have been scammed into thinking this car is something it’s not? As far as the restoration goes, it’s a restoration. You cant undo what was done to the car over the last 58 years! Actually you can, it’s called a restoration. Did I make that clear enough? Crawl back into your moms basement you bitter little man. 😂
@NDoghouse I can understand your skepticism based on the trim tag alone, but this is all verified by documentation in the General Motors F car pre-production build schedule booklet that was actually in possession of the pilot car coordinator that you see in this video (Jim Seim) and at the General Motors Heritage Center. This documentation all checks out and matches records within GM. The booklet documentation is online here if you'd like to look at it yourself: www.pilotcarregistry.com/pilot-program-statistics.html The specific 09B issue is all actually explained here: www.pilotcarregistry.com/the-hobby-s-misconception.html Generally speaking, test cars were not allowed to be sold to the general public, and some of these pilot cars were not sold, but the ones that were sent to sales conventions and not beat up on the test track were allowed to be sold. But they had to conform to GM legal practices and have codes that would have matched production numbers. Therefore, the computerized numbering system that would have been in effect for the normal production run was overridden to have a date code for the body that would have been within the normal run of production vehicles. No one really cared that the VIN was earlier. They just needed a build date that fit in the production window so it could conform to GM legal. Being that this car was built months ahead of regularly scheduled production, they just picked a number more than likely based on when the cars would start hitting dealers (September of '67) General Motors and the Historical Vehicle Association have both verified this as the first Camaro ever built, and it has been researched and verified by dozens of additional automotive researchers. There's nothing wrong with questioning information, but when you publicly defame me by saying I made up this story and am hyping it up, presumably just to get views or attention, that does nothing more than make you look misinformed and foolish. People that think that trim tags never had exceptions to the generally accepted formulas that made up their ordering, especially when it comes to hand built prototypes, don't have a full grasp on the complexities of automotive assembly and the exceptions that were sometimes made to get vehicles sold that might not have otherwise been approved for sale. Before you go bashing content creators for making things up, I suggest doing a little research of your own when you see information that doesn't align with your own narrow understanding of automotive production.
Why does everyone love conspiracy theories and just creating drama all of a sudden in comments? Nevermind redundant question, it’s the internet. I saw a video today of people praising a Chinese car that’s a death trap in China because “it looks better than an American car,” and the fact it, “isn’t American.” Another one I saw today was, “50s and 60s cars were designed so pleasing so they could distract everyone from racism in America. They are racist cars and should be destroyed.” Now I come here to here this story which I’ve already heard before and I see this. What is with comments like this?!? I saw this car at the Woodward Dream Cruise for Christ sake! Would GM have put the car up as first Camaro if what your saying is true? Of course not! You don’t even have to believe it, just stop typing rubbish, it’s not that hard. I feel like I’ve been playing damage control all morning in comment sections from pure false statements and pure idiocracy. I’ve seen the car in person, I’ve seen proof, if I’m being punked so be it, it’s really not that serious to make a comment out of it. That’s enough of the internet today and it’s only 8 am.
Three on the column. Realy GM? Anythimg on the column in a sporty car is hideous! That's why Camaro lagged behind Mustang in sportiness, style and sales for all thoses years. So there is a 000001 vin tag that was found and a new first Camaro was built around it. Well its an interesting story and the research wss done and parts and paperwork were found. Good job all that were involved.
I remember that Richard Rawlings of Gas Monkey Garage found serial number 1 and 2 of the first Firebirds, and if I remember right there was not much interest in them after they restored them. They could be seen in the back ground in several shots of the show, still at the shop after they were supposedly sold.
Yeah, no kidding Dave. That was kind of the whole point of a competitor. To dissect the essence of the Mustang (long hood, short trunk) and make a Chevrolet to the core out of it.
Actually, it was Ford that copied off the Chevy Corvair. Mustang was successful, and Chevy copied the Mustang. No its not BS. Read Lee Iocca's book. The Berracuda beat the Mustang to production by 1 week. Mustang was still more successful.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Really amazing story here. So glad to have meet and spent time with Corey and Logan Lawson who painstakingly researched and restored this piece of history!
My friend has
A 67, 68, 69 Camaro
A 70 cutlass
A 64 Chevelle race car
And a 68 Camaro race car.
He did all the work on these cars and has had all but 1 since the 70s
I think this collection shoukd be documented before it is broken up.
Do you have any suggestions on how i can get this done for him?
This video has been made over and over now...
A little off topic. In 1986-87 I owned a 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu 2 dr hdtp VIN 100048. Built in Fremont CA on the 1st day of Chevelle production in 1963.
That plant operated from 1963 to 1982 as a GM plant, then from 1984 to 2010 as a joint venture (NUMMI) with Toyota and today Tesla assembles vehicles there. When it was under GM's rule, it was a horrid plant. It was rife with labor problems, drug abuse, absenteeism and alcohol abuse, among other vices. It was said, "If you want it, you can get it at Fremont".
One time a foreman spotted about 300 front ends left loose on purpose. When they got a hold of who did it, he said that he was getting back at the foreman for writing him up for drinking on the job. Toyota hired most of the original Fremont workers back with the promise that they would lose their old Fremont ways of thinking and dry up. It did work as Toyota straightened them out.
I've called it "Freaky Fremont". That plant, Van Nuys and Southgate were the worst three in the GM system at the time. Southgate closed in 1982 and Van Nuys in 1992.
born in my front yard, glad to see her back to her original beauty..
The opening commercial is worth a thumbs up 👍
I agree
Perfekt Video Now i look for more info´s Greatings from germany
Thanks for the kind words!
What a great video so happy I subscribed! This deserves 5,000,000+ views and I’m a Mopar Guy! But when it comes to cars like this, you have to love the history! Well done
Awesome video. I definitely want to see the full movie. That sounds great.
Thanks for the kind words! We can’t wait to get it out!
Yup with the VIN, you win: 1 for Chevrolet, 23 for Camaro six cylinder, 37 for two door coupe, 7 for 1967 model year, N for Norwood, OH assembly and the rest is the production sequence. The Norwood plant closed in August of 1987.
With the tag, you can brag: 09B for the second week of September 1966 assembly, 67 for 1967 model year, 12437 for Chevrolet (1) Camaro with standard interior (24) two door coupe (37), NOR for Norwood, OH assembly, 709 for standard Gold bucket seat interior trim, Z for without headrests, G-G for Granada Gold lower and upper exterior paint and accessory code 5Y for deluxe seat belts, aka RPO code A39.
Great video very interesting
Thanks, Mike!
Great vid, really enjoyed!! 👍👍
My first car I bought 4 months before turning 16 in 1971 was a 67 Camaro RS 327 4 speed manual in that same gold color.. It had 32000 miles on it and the lady that drove it was wanting a new 71 Camaro so they put the 67 up for sale. That car was purchased new also at R.T. Ayers Chevrolet in Yukon by the people I bought it from.I live in OKC and Yukon is a suburb just a few miles went of OKC oh Highway 66. I have no idea what the VIN was so many years later but I wonder how close it was to #1. I paid $1200 cash for that car in April 1971 that I had saved up from working since I was 14 years old.
Great story and small world!
I also live in okc and have a 67 rs granada gold 4 speed small block car. And the white 68 in my photo
Also i work for stevens trucking off i40 and radio rd in El reno
Awesome video. Really nicely done. I am a new subscriber. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the comments and the support! We love making these stories! Hoping to make many more!
@ I understand. I love researching these vehicles myself. Looking forward to seeing more.
Awesome story
Glad you liked it! Hoping to bring many more!
God I love Camaros
Only been to 6 GM plants hauling steel, never Norwood, darn.
Delivered to a plant in Marion IN when it was still called Fisher Body.
I would have loved to have visited the Norwood plant. Sadly, it was closed in 1987. It was the birthplace of the F Car though!
Nice
Just think all the opportunities this car had to not exist anymore. It could have been in a crash, and totaled on the street with any of the previous owners, or crashed on the drag strip. Even still it could have never been found and rotted away. Yet it survived all those years
Yeah, it is truly a survivor. Amazing that so many original parts were discovered and put back on the car!
Omg they purchased it on my birthday October 26❤❤
I still like the reply from a GM Executive when asked what's a Camaro ? The Executive replied a small Animal that Eats Mustangs ..
Love car history stories, thank you so much this! 😁
We’re hoping to bring more and more! Thanks for the support!
Was able to see this car at mcacn. Really cool car
That's a great show!
Great Video. Wanted to comment early on this one. Here's to the great former Norwood Plant and the Great people that worked there!
100% Glad you liked it and thanks for the positive words!
Great story!
The very first Camaro went to Jim McFarland at Hot Rod magazine. Do some research everyone knows that
Thanks, Jody!
I'm afraid your information isn't correct. The Camaro that went to Jim McFarland at Hot Rod magazine isn't the serial number 1 pilot car. Extensive research was done for this video, and the serial number 1 car, which is the first Camaro produced, is well documented now as the car in the video owned by Corey and Logan Lawson: www.hotrod.com/news/first-camaro-vin-001-camaro-031-2017-classic-industries-f-body-nationals/
Were several pics from a different car, or did they remove the wing window frame during the restoration. I know there were no wings in 68, but was a bit confused.
should have remained a race car
Built by hand. Twice!
GM realized that women were had money too , that's why Camaro number one was configured this way . Cool story though 😊
Yeah, it was that, plus they wanted to keep it a lighter build to cut down on the complication of the assembly since it was basically hand built off the line several times.
$1887.00 for a 67 chevy II i should have bought at 8 years old
It appears at both the beginning of the Mustang and Camaro the target was the chicks. Soon after they both knew it would need muscle to get the dudes onboard. 💪😁
Great point. I think everyone thought that the smaller size and sporty looks would appeal to women, and it did, but once some power dropped in, its appeal to the guys too was undeniable!
"50TH ANNIVERSARY" not really. lets be real. few years are missing 😆
Haha. Good point!
Bunch of hogwash. Says in the beginning"Camaro number 1 built in May 21, 1966 when trim tag is 09B. Dude created the story and hyperboled it because there are earlier built fisher body tag dates for example 09A. I have them archived. This was just the first VIN tagged car to roll off the assembly line for normal production. I remeber when the car showed up for sale on Team Camaros website way back that started my knowledge along with a lengthy thread on the car. The car was cut to shreads for racing. Everything on the car but the vin tag has been replaced. Buy the story if you want.
You make a good point. The only thing I can think of is that the original trim tag was gone, or GM didn’t assign a t a trim tag until September when they were planning sell the car, seeing as it was now available to the public. Either way, the vin number pretty much rules out most doubt.
Boy, your a bitter bloke. I’m not sure what your rambling on about.
It seems that there is extensive research and documentation into what the car is, and it’s history.
So all these GM people have been scammed into thinking this car is something it’s not?
As far as the restoration goes, it’s a restoration. You cant undo what was done to the car over the last 58 years! Actually you can, it’s called a restoration. Did I make that clear enough? Crawl back into your moms basement you bitter little man. 😂
@NDoghouse I can understand your skepticism based on the trim tag alone, but this is all verified by documentation in the General Motors F car pre-production build schedule booklet that was actually in possession of the pilot car coordinator that you see in this video (Jim Seim) and at the General Motors Heritage Center. This documentation all checks out and matches records within GM. The booklet documentation is online here if you'd like to look at it yourself: www.pilotcarregistry.com/pilot-program-statistics.html
The specific 09B issue is all actually explained here: www.pilotcarregistry.com/the-hobby-s-misconception.html
Generally speaking, test cars were not allowed to be sold to the general public, and some of these pilot cars were not sold, but the ones that were sent to sales conventions and not beat up on the test track were allowed to be sold. But they had to conform to GM legal practices and have codes that would have matched production numbers. Therefore, the computerized numbering system that would have been in effect for the normal production run was overridden to have a date code for the body that would have been within the normal run of production vehicles. No one really cared that the VIN was earlier. They just needed a build date that fit in the production window so it could conform to GM legal. Being that this car was built months ahead of regularly scheduled production, they just picked a number more than likely based on when the cars would start hitting dealers (September of '67)
General Motors and the Historical Vehicle Association have both verified this as the first Camaro ever built, and it has been researched and verified by dozens of additional automotive researchers. There's nothing wrong with questioning information, but when you publicly defame me by saying I made up this story and am hyping it up, presumably just to get views or attention, that does nothing more than make you look misinformed and foolish.
People that think that trim tags never had exceptions to the generally accepted formulas that made up their ordering, especially when it comes to hand built prototypes, don't have a full grasp on the complexities of automotive assembly and the exceptions that were sometimes made to get vehicles sold that might not have otherwise been approved for sale.
Before you go bashing content creators for making things up, I suggest doing a little research of your own when you see information that doesn't align with your own narrow understanding of automotive production.
Yikes, relax man
Why does everyone love conspiracy theories and just creating drama all of a sudden in comments? Nevermind redundant question, it’s the internet.
I saw a video today of people praising a Chinese car that’s a death trap in China because “it looks better than an American car,” and the fact it, “isn’t American.”
Another one I saw today was, “50s and 60s cars were designed so pleasing so they could distract everyone from racism in America. They are racist cars and should be destroyed.”
Now I come here to here this story which I’ve already heard before and I see this.
What is with comments like this?!? I saw this car at the Woodward Dream Cruise for Christ sake! Would GM have put the car up as first Camaro if what your saying is true? Of course not!
You don’t even have to believe it, just stop typing rubbish, it’s not that hard. I feel like I’ve been playing damage control all morning in comment sections from pure false statements and pure idiocracy.
I’ve seen the car in person, I’ve seen proof, if I’m being punked so be it, it’s really not that serious to make a comment out of it.
That’s enough of the internet today and it’s only 8 am.
Three on the column. Realy GM? Anythimg on the column in a sporty car is hideous! That's why Camaro lagged behind Mustang in sportiness, style and sales for all thoses years. So there is a 000001 vin tag that was found and a new first Camaro was built around it. Well its an interesting story and the research wss done and parts and paperwork were found. Good job all that were involved.
Race car= ruining it
Thankfully it has been put back to factory! I'm sure the racers had fun with it. Thank goodness it never hit the wall on the quarter!
It ain't no Chrysler Charger!!!
I remember that Richard Rawlings of Gas Monkey Garage found serial number 1 and 2 of the first Firebirds, and if I remember right there was not much interest in them after they restored them. They could be seen in the back ground in several shots of the show, still at the shop after they were supposedly sold.
I would have LS swapped it
how the hell does anyone knowingly cut up the first of anything 🤨
chevy copied the original pony car, the Ford Mustang !
So true. Sad to see Camaro fold, but I'm glad Mustang at least lives on.
Yes body lines and rear window design is very similar, whereas - when we looked at Mopar their design was entirely different.
Camaro was a much better car than the Ford Mustake , ask any mechanic
Yeah, no kidding Dave. That was kind of the whole point of a competitor. To dissect the essence of the Mustang (long hood, short trunk) and make a Chevrolet to the core out of it.
Actually, it was Ford that copied off the Chevy Corvair. Mustang was successful, and Chevy copied the Mustang. No its not BS. Read Lee Iocca's book. The Berracuda beat the Mustang to production by 1 week. Mustang was still more successful.