Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best Muscle Cars of 1969

‘68 Camaro SS. 4-speed. 350. Could pull the front tires off the ground.

Had been wrecked a couple of times when I got it. Ridiculously thick Bondo on the rear quarter panels and back end; faded paint. Looked like crap, but it was damned fast.

I never had any of these cars. My own “Baby” was a ‘72 Monte Carlo with the Big Block 402. She would scoot, the torque of that motor through the Turbo 400 transmission and the 12 bolt rear made it so.
Not that I had anything worthy of lining up against any of these monsters.
My brother had a ‘69 Roadrunner with the 383 Magnum in front of a Pistol Grip 4 speed. He ran 14.0 in the P-Ville Nationals when we had the Christmas Tree and the timers. Beautiful car, but was T-boned by a Duster at an intersection.
Had a shot at buying a ‘70 GS 455 when I was in the Army, but I was more worried about plane tickets to home for me and Wifey in 1987. (My Dumb Ass)
7mm

Look up Grumpy Jenkins and you will find out who the king of pro stock was. Wasn’t Mopar.

I never was a car guy but my friend, who was a great dragracer (2nd owner of the Glass Slipper)...his wife Sylvia kept records at Silver Springs Strip Nevada back in the 60's...Sylvia said the winningest car in the books was often the Pontiac Tempest GTO. BUT there were persistent stories of the factory sending out "ringers" secretly to selected racers. Everybody had the best car...until the record books came out.

To bad they didn't try the 69 Boss 429. It was a beast.

Heck yeah!

I called the car the "Panty Dropper".

69 camaro and 70 chevelle. 2 dreams of mine and imo were the 2 best looking bad ass cars of those couple years

That said, ill still take my 800 horsepower 15 camaro ss. Technology is pretty cool at times

What wouldn’t run in 69? Take your pick. About everything was a beast back then. I’m a Nova and Mach 1 man myself. I had a 70 Nova SS that I wish I had never sold. My wife has a 68 Camaro that I need to restore at some point. Damn college tuition!

My father was the GM of a the Chevy dealership in Jackson and I was working as a “lot boy”, i.e. gopher, sweeper, car detailer, etc so I got to see and drive some pretty neat cars.

A local drag racer, well known in the area (Orbin Thornton), ordered one of the #2 Camaros, 396 CID rated at 375 HP I think. I think it was the same engine rated at 425 HP when it was offered a couple of years earlier at 425 HP, special order in the Corvette. Metallic, teal green, white interior. My Dad asked me if I wanted to drive it. Well, that was kind of a dumb question but who was I to say no. 😁

That son of a gun had a clutch like no other I had driven or would ever drive. It was on or off; there was no slipping it a bit as you started off. Dad got in the right seat and I stopped at the side entrance to the lot which was a sparsely traveled road. As I started around the corner, the clutch popped and I was laying rubber without even trying while my father was yelling “easy, easy…” 😁 he did let me get on it a little but nothing too aggressive. You could tell that there were a lot of horses under that hood, just waiting to run.

A couple of years later my father bought into a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership so I drove a couple of 440 GTXs for a while. IIRC they had a three speed automatic and those suckers would burn rubber even shifting into third and with a pretty stiff suspension it actually maneuvered well with little, if any lean.

Mine was a 69 SS Chevelle, 396. It was black with a white vinyl top and white interior. Had lots of fun in that car.

I said this before but a purchase a new 69 Dodge 340 Dart Swinger.

My buddy Steve Shearer had one of those. That 340 has a very distinct, almost tinny, exhaust note. It's unmistakable. Love it!

Have owned '64 Barracuda 273 4 spd, '69 Charger R/T 426 Hemi 4spd,340 Formula S Barracuda 4spd.

Dropped a 69 DZ 302 with M22 crusher into a 67 Nova SS once, scared the chit out of me and sold it.

69 corvette L88 427 was probably 550HP+, but thy rated it at 430 HP ... cough . I think it was faster than any other production car in 69. They didn't make many L88's so they are worth a small fortune now.

A friend of mine's cousin had the '67 with the 427. She drove it like an old lady when she was in high school!