Marv’s Garage: Bob Jane had TWO ‘69 ZL-1 Camaros
By the late 1960s Aussie touring car racing was not the happy go lucky domain of amateurs it was the decade prior. Bob Jane had already spent time behind the wheel of some impressive tin, like his Maserati 300S and lightweight E-Type Jag, he took the Aussie Touring Car Championship in ‘62 and ‘63, and had scored four wins on the trot in the Armstrong 500mi production car endurance race (later the Bathurst 1000).
After running a Trans-Am Shelby Mustang coupe, Jane stepped things up dramatically in 1971 with a super-rare Sebring Orange 1969 Chevy Camaro ZL-1. The '69 ZL-1 is was one of the most ferocious cars ever built by General Motors, packing an all-aluminium 427ci (7L) V8 officially rated at 430hp but packing well over 600hp with race pipes and a better carburettor on it. Only 69 were built, all in secret through the Central Office Production Order due to a GM mandate that engines over 400ci (6.6L) were not to be used in anything other than full-size models, and they were real stripped down, hopped up road rockets.
Once a dealer placed an order with option COPO 9560, the ZL-1 Camaro process took 16 hours to hand-assemble with the aluminium 427s (originally designed for Can-Am racing) put together at the Tonawanda plant. Jane actually bought 2 ZL-1s, and used one for its original intended purpose on the drag strip, while the other was built into the Improved Production race car that dominated one of the all-time toughest fields in ATCC history
While Jane was free to steamroll them in ‘71 with seven-litres of bald eagle freedom, a rule change before the ‘72 season capped capacities to 6L, and so he had to switch to a 350ci small-block V8. Interestingly, the 427 ended up in Aussie legend Frank Gardner’s BTCC Camaro! The little Mouse engine didn’t stop him taking the title that year, though he sold the holy grail of Camaros shortly after and it was turned into a heavily modified sports sedan. Years went by and the old Chevy ended up as a drag car before Jane bought the car back and had it restored.
