June 2020 Camaro of the Month: Dalton Carter's 1968 RS/SS Coupe

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This 1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS Coupe was a restoration project for an 8-year-old boy and his grandfather, leading to one incredible story of a guy's first car.

TorqueNews has been working with the Camaros Unlimited Facebook group for the past few years to select the Camaro of the Month. Each month, more than 45,000 hardcore Camaro fans nominate their favorite car that is owned by another member of the group. Once five nominees are picked, the members vote to pick their favorite of those five and the winner is our Camaro of the Month.

For June 2020, the 45,000+ members picked the gorgeous 1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS Coupe shown here, owned by Dalton Carter. We reached out to Carter for more information on his flawless classic muscle car and below, you will find his incredible story. While the car is more than 50 years old, it is Carter’s first car and he has owned it since he was 8 years old. That’s right – 8 years old.

Dalton Carter’s 1968 Camaro RS/SS
My Camaro is a 1968 SS/RS coupe and it is my first car. I have had the car since I was 8 years old. My grandfather is a big classic car guy and has restored many cars over the years. I caught the car bug from him as a toddler and so my grandfather had the idea of picking up a total project car for us to restore together so he could teach me all the ins and outs of a restoration.

So I started going through various magazines and books looking at cars and seeing what caught my eye and I was always drifting back to 67/68 Camaro's with the RS package. So my grandfather started looking through the classifieds in the paper and looked at a handful of rusted out shells. What made my grandpa pick this 68 was that it was pretty complete, but mainly it had zero rust anywhere on the car. We didn't know at the time how original and rare the car was.

We brought the car home and the rules for the car was that 1) my grandfather would not work on it unless I was there, 2) I had to maintain really good grades in school and 3) I would work for my grandparents with chores and yard work to pay for parts.

Over the next 7 years we did a full restoration on the car, doing everything but spraying the paint on the car ourselves in my grandfather's garage. During that time we learned that the car only had 36,000 original miles and was a rare L30/M20 combo car with almost all of the original numbers matching parts still on the car. The car is restored pretty stock looking, but there are a handful of changes that make the car a "what if '' build is everything on the car is something that was available from Chevy in 1968.

The original 327ci small block is still in the car, but dressed will all the stock Z/28 intake, cam, carb and some other odds and ends. Once the car was complete when I was 15, I learned how to drive a manual in this car and really for the past 13 years it's been just driving and enjoying this car. As for the future, really no big changes to the car. Been toying with maybe a different set of wheels to change things up, but no real desire to really overhaul the car or any big changes.

General specs:
1968 Camaro SS/RS coupe
327ci Small block V8
Muncie M20 4 speed transmission with Hurst competition plus shifter
Original 12 bolt rear end, never been out of the car
LeMans blue paint with white D91 nose stripe
Original Black deluxe interior, factory console with gauges.
Original front and rear spoilers
Original 69 Z/28 15inch Rally wheels with redline tires

Congratulations to Dalton Carter and his 1968 RS/SS Coupe for winning the TorqueNews/Camaros Unlimited Camaro of the Month for June 2020. This is truly one of the cooler ownership stories that I have heard in my years of writing up the Camaro of the Month.

If you would like to participate in the Camaro of the Month program with your Chevy muscle car, click here to join Camaros Unlimited!

Patrick Rall is a professional writer and photographer with a passion for all things automotive. Patrick has been sharing his automotive expertise in automotive journalism from Detroit for more than a decade covering the Big Three. Having grown up in his father’s performance shop, he spent extensive time at the oval track and drag strip – both driving and wrenching on various types of vehicles. In addition to working as a writer, Patrick previously worked as an automotive technician before moving on to a business office position with a chain of dealerships, and this broad spectrum of experience in the industry allows him to offer a unique look on the automotive world. Follow Patrick on Youtube and Twitter.

Submitted by Milt Linn (not verified) on January 5, 2021 - 11:23PM

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Nice looking car, but if the 327 engine is the original, it’s not a true SS. No SS Camaro came with a327. It would have been a 350 or a 396. Likely a RS car that had SS emblem, gas cap and hood added, or a SS car that lost it’s original engine somewhere along the line.

Submitted by Mike Rollo (not verified) on June 6, 2022 - 1:53AM

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I have kept my 1967 RS/SS 350 Camaro since I borrowed $400 from my little brother to buy the car for $600. The Lady handed the keys and the title, and I drove her home in 1976. Here in the Desert of Las Vegas NV. If I hadn't bought the car in my sophomore year of High School, I wouldn't be married to the girl I met driving a 1969 SS 396 Hugger Orange Camaro who was 14 and a half years old the first time I saw her behind the wheel. My 67 Camaro is a blast still with the 4 speed and the fuelly heads, or also known as double Camel Back heads. My wife's Camaro was a turbo automatic, with the horse shoe style center console car. I'm the second owner of my 1967 RS/SS 350 has the deluxe black interior. I parked my car in our first home garage back in 1994, so it would be tucked away. My son was 5 at the time and soon we were expecting a daughter. So my new thing was raising two Blessings from the Heavens. I even know why the Lady had no problems with just letting the car go for so cheap, the matching convertible 1967 RS/SS 350 was her husband's car, he flipped it coming back home from LA on Bakers Ridge. It's the down side of a long and slow up Hill drive, the down side steaper and Canyon style cornering he must have launched it off the road into a deep gorge killing him. These two cars were their Wedding Day Gifts from their family.