68 Camaro History

The Camaro was first registered on March 22 1968, sold by Diller Chevrolet, 416 W. 6th, Corona, California, as a 396ci RS/SS model.

It enjoyed a relatively quiet existence for the first 20 years of its life, until 1988, when owner Anthony Mork had a series of modifications made to the car to ready it for competition use. These included stroking the engine to 454ci, fitting new heavy duty gear set ring and pinion, a set of 16" x 8" Simmons wheels, upgraded suspension, including Koni shocks, Borg Warner Super T10 gearbox, 32 gallon fuel tank, 6-point rollcage, and Flowmaster exhaust.

Despite carrying out these modifications, Mork didn't actually race the Camaro, and, in fact, sold it shortly afterwards to Arthur Morgenstern.

Morgenstern was actually an expatriot New Zealander, living in the US. Shortly after purchasing the Camaro, Morgenstern returned to New Zealand, shipping the Camaro, and a Range Rover, home with him.

On arriving in New Zealand in early 1989, Morgenstern had Giltrap Motor Group, in Auckland, sell the Camaro for him. It was purchased by long-time road-racer Wayne Anderson, who, with his brother Bruce, had enjoyed many years at the forefront of New Zealand and Australian motorsport. The brothers had campaigned several beautifully prepared machines over the years, all built and maintained to the highest standards, including an Australian Ford Falcon, and a pair of 3rd generation Mustangs in International Group A Touring Car Racing.

Stage 1. Having stepped away from the rigours and politics involved in Group A racing only a couple of years before, Anderson still had petrol flowing through his veins, but wanted to compete in something more enjoyable, yet less stressful than Group A. He set about having the Camaro stripped back and rebuilt for historic racing. The complete rebuild took around 12 months, costing over NZ$100,000.00, and included the fitting of a 646 horsepower 454, Super T-10 gearbox, 31 spline rear axles, Bilstein shocks, Simmons wheels, and full rollcage. As per the brothers' Group A cars, the Camaro was painted in a distinctive custom yellow mix closely resembling Grabber Orange. It was in this guise the Camaro had its first magazine feature, when New Zealand Hot Rod magazine ran a story on the car in its May 1991 issue.

Anderson raced and developed the Camaro until 1995, by which time the iron big block was now stretched to 468 cubic inches, and producing 700 horsepower. He had been building a '70 Camaro featuring an aluminium Donovan big block as its replacement, and the '68 was sold Rick Cooper, who campaigned the car briefly, before on-selling it to Gary Doyle. Doyle enjoyed an equally short ownership of the car, before it was purchased in 1998 by current owner Paul Kirwan.
Kirwan had followed the Camaro with interest for many years, and always maintained he would some day become the cars caretaker. However, his first season with it was marred with frustration, as nearly ten years pounding race tracks all over the country had taken its toll on the body and driveline, and the Camaro rarely finished a race.

Stage 2. So Kirwan embarked on a complete ground up rebuild, stripping the body back to bare metal, restoring it, building a completely new, more comprehensive chrome-moly rollcage, replacing all mechanical components, including fitting a brand new Nascar Jerico gearbox, 12 bolt rear, 6-pot front, and 4-pot rear AP brakes, and 17" x 11" Simmons 3-piece wheels. The huge iron big block motor was replaced with an aluminium Donovan 454, which was the spare motor for Wayne Andersons '70 Camaro.

Kirwan left the rebuild in the very capable hands of Kevin Payne, while the motor was built by Craig Hyland. The rebuilt Camaro was absolutely stunning. Kirwans fastidious maintenance of the vehicle, combined with the talents of Payne and Hyland saw it achieve 100% reliability in its first season back on the track, where it scored an easy championship win in the fiercely contested Central Muscle Cars championship. The Camaro then had its second magazine feature article, in a two-part story in the August and September 2004 issues of New Zealand Classic Car magazine.

Kirwan and the Camaro returned for season two, and enjoyed more success in the early Central Muscle Car rounds, leading the championship once again, before Kirwan parked the car to focus on work commitments. However, before it was silenced, NZV8 magazine ran a full feature on it in their July 2005 issue.

Stage 3. Following another year in hibernation, Kirwan decided to embark on yet another rebuild of the Camaro, this time employing Peter Holt, a New Zealander who'd spent five years as a fabricator and engineer with the Renault Formula 1 team, and a further nine years with the Williams (F1) touring car and rally teams, to completely rebuild the car into its most devastating guise yet.

Holt set about re-fabricating the Camaro to mate up to a complete front and rear Australian V8 Supercar suspension and brake package, and zero scrub 17" x 11" V8 Supercar wheels. A Morrison 9" V8 Supercar differential was fitted, with 35 spline axles, Harrop adjustable cambered hubs, AP (front) and Brembo (rear) brakes, Alcon rotors, Proflex shocks, Eibach springs, adjustable Watts linkage, 4-link rear, and Harrop front hubs and uprights.

The aluminium big block Donovan was stroked to 511 cubic inches, and is now producing 750 horsepower.
To further aid performance, carbon fibre doors were molded, along with a kevlar bonnet.

The Camaro competed in only a few meetings, where it once again underlined its undisputed crown as New Zealands fastest muscle car, before undergoing another rebuild in preparation for being sold. It has not raced since. Its condition and presentation are faultless, its performance and presence unequalled. This is a car unlike any other. It is truly unique.