Member’s Feature - 1968 Chevrolet Camaro
Doug & Kim Tidgwell, Member #245
Bedford, Nova Scotia

by Gary Porter
 
At the risk of dating myself, I remember going to Bob MacDonald Chev Olds on Kempt Road looking at the new 1968 Camaros. I had just started working and could only dream of affording the $3,000.00 ± price tag of a new Camaro. So I continued to drive my ‘57 150 two door sedan. I did get a ‘68 Camaro a couple of years later, but that is another story. This story is about Doug & Kim Tidgwell’s ‘68 Camaro.
Doug has been hooked on Camaros since he was a boy when his older brother took him for a ride in a 427 ‘69. Doug’s first car was a ‘77 Camaro. So in 2005 when Doug and Kim decided it was time to get involved in the old car hobby, it was an easy decision that they would buy a Camaro. By word of mouth they learned of a Camaro in Tusket that was soon going up for sale. It didn’t take Doug too long to make up is mind and a deal was struck.

Doug & Kim’s Camaro.spent its early years in Rancho Cucamonga, California. It was brought to Nova Scotia by one time club member, Norm Pickrem around 1997. The car was driven back, not trailered. Doug and Kim purchased it from Vinnie Nickerson of Tusket, Nova Scotia who had drag raced it for five years. The Camaro ran mid 12's on the bottle.

The Camaro is painted Palomino Ivory which was a 1968 only colour and is accented by a black vinyl top. The car rolls on 15" Weld Wheels with B.F. Goodrich rubber. The Ivy Gold interior is basically stock and features bucket seats, console and some added gauges.
Under the hood is a 350 built by PAW in Arizona which now displaces 355 cubic inches. Header, a K&N filter and a set of G.M. performance parts cast aluminum valve covers personalize the engine compartment.

The transmission is the reliable G.M. 350 Turbo. A stock rear housing contains the popular all round 3.55 gears on an Eaton posi unit. Up front the former drum brakes have been swapped out for a set of G.M. discs.

After purchasing the Camaro in April of 2005, Doug and Kim decided to take in the Truro show & shine in May. $50.00 in gas to go from Bedford to Truro and back prompted the purchase of a new 650 c.f.m. Holley carburetor and changing of the 4.11 gears. In June Doug and Kim became club members while attending the Graves Island show & shine. Just when you think it can’t get any better than that, in July while attending the Nationals in Moncton, they won the ‘37 Chev coupe give away car.

Doug now describes the Camaro as a “fun car”and has logged 8 -9.000 miles on it in the two and a half years he and Kim have had the car. Finishing “his” coupe is the priority for Doug, so “her” Camaro is unlikely to see any changes in the near future