Sept 2004 Car Craft had an article about a '68 Z28 Camaro Ragtop that got up to 1,050,000 dollars at auction. The car is supposed to be super rare because of the ragtop. My question is, why would a car that rare not have the original hood? A '68 Camaro never had a cowl induction hood. Those didn't come out til '69. '68 Z28's had a cowl unduction air cleaner that was ducted from the firewall and a flat hood. Did z28's even have a code on the tag that designated them as a z28? I have a owned a 67 rs, 68 coupe and a 69 coupe...  

Hey good point re; the cowl hood.

Is there anything on-line about this car? I'd love to see this one.

'68s, '69 L.A., and '69 pre late November Norwood cars are worst of the first gens for trim tag info and no, there is nothing on the tag/s that will indicate if it's a Z28. You'd just have to go by the "bolted on" clues that are on the car and then you'd still never know 100% for sure if someone had done a really good clone.

'67s had the "4P" or "4L" on their tags, they had great tag info and '69s from late Nov '68 onwards had X codes but only on the Norwood built cars.

I think the only way to tell whether that rag Z28 was authentic would be the vin # stamped on the 302 block and all other Z28 options in place. If the engine numbers didn't match the vin, there'd be no way of telling for sure if the car was a Z and the price tag would very seriously plummet.

You may know this but in case you don't.. The '67-'68 cowl induction (air plenum/air cleaner assy.) was an extra $80 option (only with the Z28 package) and not a standard part of the Z28 option just like the Bill Thomas or Kustom exhaust headers were.

It's such a pity that the documentation of these cars was so bad.

"And finally, what may be the rarest Camaro of all - there was one 1968 Z/28 Camaro convertible built for Chevrolet General Manager Pete Estes on July 15, 1968. It is the only Z/28 convertible ever built. Options included a folding rear seat, auxiliary console-mounted instruments, auxiliary lighting, power windows, remote outside mirror, custom seat belts, performance suspension package, four-wheel disc brakes, blue light stereo system, positraction, ‘69 prototype fiberglass hood, cross-ram air and powder coated factory headers. This car was then delivered to Mr. Estes through Bill Markley Chevrolet in Detroit, whereupon the car was used as Mr. Estes daily transportation until December 17, 1968. On that day, it was officially sold to its first owner, T.H. Standen. Standen sold the car to Vern Nye, another GM employee, only two years later, in whose hands it remained for nearly 20 years. Only recently was the car made known to the public.
I had thought that the car's whereabouts were unknown, but Michael Sullivan found it for me! The car was sold at auction to the Rock 'n Roll Toy Store, LTD., in Highland park, IL. Michael found it on the web, and was kind enough to let me know about it. Thanks, Mike!
So how did this car come to be built at all? According to Jim Mattison, who worked in the special projects division at the time, they needed approval to build the Z/28 for the general public instead of trying to build just enough to homologate for SCCA racing. They figured that if Pete Estes, the Chevrolet General manager, drove a Z/28 he would like it enough to approve the plan. The problem was that Estes was a convertible freak, and he wouldn't drive anything else. They could give him a regular Z/28 coupe but it would probably just sit in the company garage. They decided the only solution was to build a convertible Z/28 and give that to Estes. The result - Estes drove the car, loved it, and we got the Z/28."

Simple search came up with this.  Things are Rare because they have something that others do not have.  So if one has a prototype cowl hood its possible that another one does to.  It might even be the same car in question.

Jason.

Good one Jason..