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sixty8panther — 68 Panther in the Autumn
Published: 2007-01-16 02:22:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 1463; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 49
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Description
My 197,000 mile, 377 horsepower 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Hardtop. My nickname for the car was PANTHER which is why I went with the vanity plate.This photo was not enhanced or color adjusted at all, I wanted to show just how bright & vibrant the colors of the leaves are here in New England during the "foliage season" in the fall.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
Back in 1965 Chevrolet was busy designing & enginering their answer to Ford's big "pony-car" success, the Mustang. Chevrolet, as in the past, was determined to produce a product that would be superior to the Mustang in almost every way. The tentative name for this Chevrolet F-body car was "Panther". It even looked like a croutching Panther ready to pounce on top of unsuspecting prey. It's sleek fusalage & shoulder-blade rear quarter kickup is what made the car look much more modern and sleek than the Mustang.
Just before its release in September 29th of 1966 as a 1967 Model, the Panther name was cast aside for one picked out of a French/Spanish dictionary. CAMARO.
Although the Panther emblems were shown in a few books about the history of the Camaro no sets seemed to have survived past the mid 1960s. Generally it is said that Chevrolet decided against the Panther name as a result of the 1967 Mercury Cougar's similarity in theme and also because Camaro fits the Chevrolet theme better since it starts with a "C" as do most Chevrolets from the era like Chevelle, Corvair, Caprice & Corvette.
Less than two years after this photo was taken I sold my beloved "Sixty-8-Panther" to a gentleman in upstate New York who is currently giving this classic car a much deserved restoration.
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Comments: 15
Yeah the New England Foliage around here makes for a great back-drop for almost anything you want to photograph.
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Sweet ride, the blue looks really nice with the autumn colours! I wish I could find a place that vibrant to shoot my sister's '78.
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holy cow, how many of those 197,000 miles were yours?
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Eh....only about 20,000.
The car had about 150,000 when it was brought up here to New England from California. The original engine (327 2bbl) was swapped out for a ZZ350 crate motor in 1989. At the time that was one of the best small bock motors you could build, and the MOST reliable and bulletproof high-compression, aluminum-head Chevrolet motor. I bought the car in 2002 as basically a drag car, it had been drag-raced in Bakersfield Calif. in the 1970s, but I registered and drove it as if it was a typical sedan... used to get back and forth to work & occasionally raced it at New England Dragway.
The entire time I owned my "Panther" it had NO radio, no H.V.A/C, no carpet or headliner, and everything that broke due to my 7,000+ rpm abuse was fixed by me. the motor never had an issue, no matter how bad I beat the car up, and even when I blew up a transmission and rear end due to massive abuse the motor never had an issue. Gotta love General Motor muscle, and esp the Chevrolet 5.7 small block.
I sold my Camaro to buy this gorgeous beauty in 2006:
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I use to love the 68 I owned, but some jack ass had cut a bilt in shower unit like i see someone did to yours. After deciding it wasnt worth a roof transplant to save I ended up buying a 68 merc. I have to admit I really miss the Merc. I ended up selling the Merc and buying a 69/70 conversion Camaro. All great cars with some great times. Im now more into pre muscle but still enjoy them just the same. I love your pics from the yards. very nice
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Yeah, I've read about that Panther thing before. There was a big thing about it in Hot Rod magazine not too long ago. Those trees look like they belong on a model railroad. That looks like a sweet ride!!!
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i can see why they chose panther, the rear end does look remarkably like the end of a large cat, and the front gives the look of a large strong chest, like needed on a high speed cat
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My ex girlfriend had a 68 Camaro. (She's got a 69 now that matches mine). She wrecked it running from the cops in the middle of the night and jumped a ditch and tacoed the frame. The guy we sold it to brought it back a couple years later as a pro touring show car, I was very glad it didn't go to the graveyard. I bet you miss your Camaro... I can't even imagine not having mine.
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Holy cow, that's a wild story... I too am glad to hear it survives!
I miss my Camaro but I've moved on to more rare & unique cars.
For years I thought 1st gen. F-bodys were the COOLEST, now
I'm more into 1950s cars with HUGE tail fins & 1930s cars, esp.
Chevrolet, Pontiac & Buick cars from the early to mid 1930s.
In the end I love almost any old school, RWD American car.
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...wow.
just wow.
beautiful car.
the scenery is great as well..but..but..the car!
377hp? what'd ya have in 'er?
def a fav...wow.
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D4MNIT this forum is NOT user friendly!
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Back in 1989 the pervious owner had installed a "ZZ3" crate motor from the General Motors High Performance catalog. This was the same engine that made Hot Rods' "ten-best motors" list a few years ago. I tweeked a few things and installed huge, 12" wide vintage bias-ply tires that came off a 1969 Chevelle and ran a 13.9 sec. in the 1/4 mile at 102, consistantly. I'll post some more photos of the car eventually.
If you want to see it in action here's a video of the car just before I sold it last year.
At that point the carb. needed a rebuild which is why the car stalls out after all that abuse.
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And here's a quick mini Burnout video, although without sound.
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wow.
those are some nice numbers.
i look forward to some more pics. haha.
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