74Z at local car show, no stripe

[KFORCE]

Type-LT never had Emblems front or rear. Type-LT w/ D88 Stripes had NO Emblems just stripes. Type-LT without D88 Stripes had fender Emblems. Sport Coupes with D88 Stripes got Fender emblems as well. Sport coupes without D88 Stripes got Rear Foil Emblem and both fenders. Although like this one I have seen a few with front as well. My sister had a boyfriend in 1974 who come home with a new Sport Coupe and I would swear his had Emblems on all four corners. Now to find those pictures she had...

 

[mallard]

Type-LT never had Emblems front or rear. Type-LT w/ D88 Stripes had NO Emblems just stripes. Type-LT without D88 Stripes had fender Emblems. Sport Coupes with D88 Stripes got Fender emblems as well. Sport coupes without D88 Stripes got Rear Foil Emblem and both fenders. Although like this one I have seen a few with front as well. My sister had a boyfriend in 1974 come home with a new one and his had Emblems on all four corners. Now to find those pictures she had...

That issue has been a huge source of debate. At some point before I bought my '74 Type LT Z28 (1984) and when the original owner sold it ('79-'80) the stripes were removed and fender emblems added. A few years back I was able to get pics of the car prior to those changes and sure enough, no z28 fender emblems.

 

[74Z28GC3]

1974 z28 never had a z28 grille emblem from the factory.

You are correct Jonesy.

 

[KFORCE]

Drove me crazy as a kid why the emblem locations were all over the place from car to car on the '74 Z.

 

[Jonesy]

Technically, the Type LT Z28 had LT emblems on the rear panel and on each quarter roof sail panel. The LT chrome trim on the rear panel left no room for the Z28 foil sticker.

 

[Z-Life]

Hey Guys, that's my car. I bought it on eBay for $10,000 13 years ago from Ohio, but it came from Georgia

Still trying to find if mine is the last Z28 built but I can't find a registry. Does anyone know of one? It is a very late build (08D) last week of August 08/74. #149,460 of 151,008 Camaro's built. Less than 1% were Z28's and 99% of all '74 Camaro's had already been built. Only 1548 Camaro's were built after mine.

I bought this car because my older sister's boyfriend showed up with the exact same optioned car new in 1974. I never forgot that first ride. So when I saw this I bought it immediately.

It was body worked but nothing else. It had every single nut, bolt, clip, and part from the factory still on it. The paint and Interior were nice, but underneath, under the hood, mechanically, it was all original but VERY KRUSTY. The front fenders and lower rear quarters had been replaced, from a donor car is my guess. There were no Q-panels available back then unless you could find NOS. Next to impossible since they were one year only.

The original engine is being restored now. It literally had not had a single thing removed from it except the water pump. It was an original undercoat car so the floors are great. The suspension and brakes were badly rusted. Salvaged the rear springs, both sway bars, and the hubs and stored them. Put the Gen-2 Camaro Hotchkis suspension in it, 4-wheel discs, and dropped my Hot Rod 350 in it that I have used for years, for now, so I can drive it.

On non-Type LT cars, If stripes were not ordered, The car got Z28 emblems on both fenders, front grille, and rear panel. They put the Z28 emblems back on the fenders in the wrong place. The paint is so nice that I can't bring myself to move them. The rear foil Z28 decal, I put on the car. It is exactly where it is supposed to be. It's in the assembly manual. Lined up with the 'C' and the '28' sitting on the rear panel crease. My sister had some old faded pictures of that first car. I used them to make sure the front and rear emblems are in the correct place. The front grille is original. It is black plastic, not painted. It is correct. That grille is also one year only. And impossible to find. The wheels are US Wheel Aluminum Z28 5 Spoke replicas 17x8. I have the original wheels, caps, and rings in storage.

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there you have it sports fans

 

[70RamAirIII]

wow!!

Fourth week of August!!

That is indeed a late build car! - I am surprised they were building them that late!

 

[FS87LT]

TWO things . . . well, actually THREE things.

According to the 2nd Gen Assy Manual I have, the "Z/28" OPTION was the highest-level hierarchy option, hence, no matter what else was optioned onto the car, it only had "Z/28" emblems. Even it was an SS/RS car. With the "SS" being replaced by "Type LT" later on. All of the emblem/stripe placements are also listed in that manual.

Being that "Z/28" was an option package rather than a defined-VIN model, validating the car as a produced Z/28 can be difficult and elusive. BUT other than some things which might get removed (and not replaced by owners who sought more performance), ONE which was not thought about or could be easily removed incognito is the TIRE PRESSURE DECAL, which specs the "Minimum Tire Size" as a 15" wheel and tire. Z/28s were the ONLY Camaros, 3rd-gen cars to use that rim diameter. Usually on the glove box door. Related to that is an aluminum spacer under the lower control arm bumper, which limits the travel of the front wheel when it hits a bump or dip when turning. Which keeps the factory 15" tires from hitting the fender lip in that situation.

Certainly, back then, we looked for things which were easy to see, with the VIN helping a bit, without checking for engine block stampings. Interesting thing is that once the OEM production (and valuable) block was decked, it wiped the stamping pad clean of the block's "birth certificate stampings", which made that orig Z/28-application block just another 4" bore small block Chevy block.

BUT ONE easily seeable item is the TACH red and yellow lines! Specific to the installed engine. IF somebody wanted to go so far as to change the tach, they had "intent" provided that the other Z/28 markers (not generally known about or worried about when the cars were newer) were not there.

Stripes were sometimes removed due to the desires of the customer. Easy to do. Emblems in an incorrect placement? A little bit harder with some molding tape. Engines, trans, and rear axles could have been "blown up" or changed, too, but to me, the tire size indicators can be golden when seeking to validate a Z/28 as "real". New decals and such will be obvious.

Consider, too, that back when the cars were "used cars", some owners did some incorrect things, to their taste. Some of these things happened at the dealers, as a condition of the new car sales deal, too. Then the orig owners sold the cars, they got repainted, and "things changed".

Which means that validating a car purely on cosmetic issues can be tricky. As they could have been changed somewhat easily as the car went through its prior owners. OR, even a factory "delete" option, which THEN makes the Build Sheet important.

So. unless the car is a completely unmolested vehicle, without regard of the current owner's statements (unless they might be the original-ordering-buying owner), just take what you see on advisement and seek to verify what you've observed, later. DO build your own database of what was on the cars when new, too, so you know what you're looking at, later on.

Just some thoughts, observations, and experiences,
FS87LT

 

[zfool]

TWO things . . . well, actually THREE things.

According to the 2nd Gen Assy Manual I have, the "Z/28" OPTION was the highest-level hierarchy option, hence, no matter what else was optioned onto the car, it only had "Z/28" emblems. Even it was an SS/RS car. With the "SS" being replaced by "Type LT" later on. All of the emblem/stripe placements are also listed in that manual.

Being that "Z/28" was an option package rather than a defined-VIN model, validating the car as a produced Z/28 can be difficult and elusive. BUT other than some things which might get removed (and not replaced by owners who sought more performance), ONE which was not thought about or could be easily removed incognito is the TIRE PRESSURE DECAL, which specs the "Minimum Tire Size" as a 15" wheel and tire. Z/28s were the ONLY Camaros, 3rd-gen cars to use that rim diameter. Usually on the glove box door. Related to that is an aluminum spacer under the lower control arm bumper, which limits the travel of the front wheel when it hits a bump or dip when turning. Which keeps the factory 15" tires from hitting the fender lip in that situation.

Certainly, back then, we looked for things which were easy to see, with the VIN helping a bit, without checking for engine block stampings. Interesting thing is that once the OEM production (and valuable) block was decked, it wiped the stamping pad clean of the block's "birth certificate stampings", which made that orig Z/28-application block just another 4" bore small block Chevy block.

BUT ONE easily seeable item is the TACH red and yellow lines! Specific to the installed engine. IF somebody wanted to go so far as to change the tach, they had "intent" provided that the other Z/28 markers (not generally known about or worried about when the cars were newer) were not there.

Stripes were sometimes removed due to the desires of the customer. Easy to do. Emblems in an incorrect placement? A little bit harder with some molding tape. Engines, trans, and rear axles could have been "blown up" or changed, too, but to me, the tire size indicators can be golden when seeking to validate a Z/28 as "real". New decals and such will be obvious.

Consider, too, that back when the cars were "used cars", some owners did some incorrect things, to their taste. Some of these things happened at the dealers, as a condition of the new car sales deal, too. Then the orig owners sold the cars, they got repainted, and "things changed".

Which means that validating a car purely on cosmetic issues can be tricky. As they could have been changed somewhat easily as the car went through its prior owners. OR, even a factory "delete" option, which THEN makes the Build Sheet important.

So. unless the car is a completely unmolested vehicle, without regard of the current owner's statements (unless they might be the original-ordering-buying owner), just take what you see on advisement and seek to verify what you've observed, later. DO build your own database of what was on the cars when new, too, so you know what you're looking at, later on.

Just some thoughts, observations, and experiences,
FS87LT

73 Triple option had no Z28 emblems or stickers. Camaro 350 on the fenders LT all around. None on the interior either.

 

[James D Schultz]

Title was supposed to be:
74Z at local car show, no stripe.
How to edit?

Owner said it was a repaint of the original silver color, prior to him.
He though the fender emblems were on the wrong spot,
Rear Z decal since no stripes.

First place to look would be the vin number and check the engine block serial number. Can't speak for sure about the rear emblem. I have a 72 but my emblem is a decal on the center of the rear spoiler.