Gary Goodin’s Burnished Brown 1969 Camaro Z/28
We’ve all heard the stories of Ford owners switching teams and driving Chevys, but Gary Goodin has the sales sheet to prove it happened at least once. His 1969 Camaro Z/28 was purchased new by a woman who traded in a ’62 Ford Falcon. “A woman bought it brand new in Indianapolis,” Gary said. “I tried to find the original owner 30 years ago when I bought the car, but I couldn’t.”
Growing up, Gary’s older brother hung around with a guy who eventually acquired the ’69 and Gary had stayed in touch with him over the years. “He got tired of the car and I bought from him,” Gary said. “It had been run hard; the engine was kind of tired. Everyone ran them hard.” Gary rebuilt the original numbers-matching engine soon after he bought the car.
Gary said the Z/28 is now on its second repaint. He painted the car just after he bought it years ago but decided a couple of years ago to refresh the original color – Burnished Brown. That rare Camaro color was applied by Danny Roberts in Bargersville, Indiana.
Back in the day, GM tracked a lot of data about cars as they came off the line. There’s a breakdown of percentage of colors on ’69 Camaros, but not by model. For you Camaro nerds, it looks like about 2.3 percent of all ’69 Camaros were painted Burnished Brown, but that’s as far as it goes. “Everybody loves the color,” Gary said. “No one ever came up to me saying they had one that color.”
Gary’s 1969 Camaro Z/28 is a numbers-matching example of the original Z cars of the era. Powered by a high-winding 302c.i. V8 that GM claimed produced only 290 horsepower, contemporary tests in the automotive media discovered much higher output. Gary’s car also has a quick-ratio power steering unit, a Muncie M-21 four-speed, and a 12-bolt Positraction rearend with 3.73 gears. Stock 15×7 rally wheels are wrapped in E70-15 Goodyear Polyglas GT tires.
Inside, the stock interior features the original bucket seats and vinyl upholstery. A Hurst shifter handles the gear-changing chores, while a woodgrain steering wheel and a console complete the interior package.
There are a slew of ’69 Z/28s still on the road – some of them original Zs, many others tributes. But it’s unlikely that any of those cars have the rare Burnished Brown paint or a backstory that involves the original owner trading in a lowly ’62 Falcon for their new performance pony car!
Photos by Todd Ryden
