Lost Muscle Car Dealerships. Duncan Scott Brown
already being outfitted and campaigned with the Nickey Stinger hood to set them apart from the Dana 427 Camaros. The optional Dana hood links the activities of Bill Thomas to Dana.
The hoods were built by Berry Plasti-Glass, which was located at 2460 Lemon Avenue, Signal Hill, California, about 7 miles from the first Dana location. Berry Plasti-Glass was owned by Richard Berry with son Richard L. Berry as vice president. Berry Plasti-Glass rose to success when Carroll Shelby hired the company to build the Ford GT40, GT40 Mark II, GT40 Mark IIA, and GT40 Mark IV fiberglass body parts.
Berry Plasti-Glass was well-established in the automotive scene, supplying plexiglass dragster windows, lightweight hoods, racing seats, fenders, and other intricate automotive components. It was also instrumental in the development of various fiberglass components for the 1965–1967 Shelby GT350 Mustangs. Peyton Cramer had established a close working relationship with Richard Berry during this campaign, and this relationship influenced the development of what is to be known today as the Dana hood.
Peyton was instrumental in the development and was the conduit through whom those hoods appeared on Dana Camaro 427 cars in May 1967. He was clearly inspired to create a super 427 Camaro based on his experience with Carroll Shelby, who developed super Mustangs with his Shelby GT350. Carroll went all out for the GT500 with a 428 engine, which probably prompted the Dana 427 route. The Shelby influence is very clear in Dana’s use of a unique fiberglass hood.
Berry Plasti-Glass was a father/son team that rose to prominence through its work for Shelby American, which explains the GT40 pictured in this ad. Shelby American alumni Peyton Cramer sourced Berry for the optional hood available on the Dana Camaro. Back in the day, Los Angeles Camaro owners mimicked the Dana Camaro 427 look by installing one of these Berry hoods. (Photo Courtesy Dave Fillion Collection)
Over the next few years, Dana Chevrolet specialized in Corvette sales and service while also unleashing 1967, 1968, and 1969 Camaros packed with 427 engines and chassis upgrades that made them into savage muscle cars that could tear up just about anything else on the road. They also stocked and sold 427 Impalas and small-block Camaros with any hopped-up add-ons.
1967 Camaro 427 Conversions
Dana Chevrolet is best remembered for engine transplant 427 Camaros built for 1967 through 1969 model years. The majority of the 1967 Dana Camaros came in “base” SS 350 form, packing a 1966 Corvette L72 427 engine rated at 425 hp hooked up to Muncie 4-speed transmission and 3.55:1 axle. A Dana Camaro was upgraded with a heavy-duty radiator, headers, metallic brakes, and a heavy-duty clutch and pressure plate. It also included NHRA-approved safety scatter shields.
Dana had access to other crate engines too. A customer willing to pay an extra $150 could up the ante with an L71 Tri-Power 427 435-hp engine. Dana would even go right up to the L88 427 engine.
Eye appeal was enhanced with a custom steering wheel, chrome Edelbrock scripted valve covers, and a Stelling & Hellings air cleaner. Dana added a Stewart Warner 8,500-rpm electric tachometer, and a Stewart Warner 0–100-psi oil pressure gauge, a Stewart Warner 0–250°F water temperature gauge.
The Dana Camaros weren’t nose heavy or ungainly. For an additional $125, customers could add a lightweight fiberglass competition-style hood with functional air intakes. Even with a heavier stock steel hood, quick-response steering, heavy-duty suspension, Traction Masters bars, and F70-14 wide track tires on 6-inch-wide wheels made the 427 Camaros handle.
Who Did It First?
Bill Thomas and Dick Guldstrand are suggested as some of the earliest guys to transplant a 427. There is a suggestion that Bill sparked the Dana project. The threads connecting the key figures are there, but untangling them without documentation remains elusive work for historians. What is known for certain is that Peyton Cramer was a strong believer in the 427 Camaro. Large signs at the Dana Hi-Performance Center highlighted the fact that this lot was the “Home of the Dana Camaro.”
This November 7, 1966, article about the new Dana Super Camaro 427 gets most of the facts right. However, it underrates the engine at a “mere” 385 hp when it was really a 425-hp beast. (Photo Courtesy Dave Fillion Collection)
The Dana dealership at the 8730 location was up and running in late August 1966. Development of the 427 Camaro began immediately after the debut of the Camaro platform from General Motors. Two versions of the first 427 Dana Camaro were underway, as indicated in an article dated November 7, 1966. Based on the publication date, it’s conceivable that the 427 Dana supercars were available as early as mid- to late-October 1966.
Other dealerships also recognized the marketing potential and were putting a 427 engine into a Camaro early in the production run. One way to determine how early these conversions were made is the fact that both Dana and Nickey were using a Camaro SS 350 as their donor platforms. The 396 375-hp Camaro was the ideal candidate for conversion, but at the time of these early 427 conversions, the 396 wasn’t available. The 396 325-hp platform became available in late 1966 or early 1967; the 375-hp version didn’t appear until March 1967.
Bill Thomas Race Cars was located at 502 East Juliana, Anaheim, California, in the fall of 1966, which was about 25 miles east of Berry Plasti-Glass. Bill Thomas was an unofficial factory representative for Chevrolet racing (Chevy was not racing, if anyone asked). Bill Thomas Race Cars hooked up with Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago and established a West Coast distribution deal. The relationship continued until the end of 1967. Bill was given a surreptitious request by Chevy engineering’s product performance leader Vince Piggins to get the Camaro beefed up.
The commonality between the Dana Camaros and the Nickey Chevrolet Camaros built by Dick Harrell is unmistakable. The time frames are very close as well. The article “First Test Anywhere of Nickey 427 Camaro” appeared in a magazine with an early publication date of January 1967. Cover dates are advanced later than genuine newsstand printing dates. Once you count back for the lead time to write the story, the date of actual Nickey conversion was about the same as when Dana is believed to have converted Camaros to 427 power.
Mysterious First Camaro 427 Candidates
When trying to track the early Dana Camaro conversions, the waters are somewhat murky, so try to bear with the intricate details.
The 427 Dana Camaro and Hi-Performance Corvettes continue to dominate SoCal. That tiny air cleaner just makes that mondo monster 427 motor seem all the more menacing when stuffed into a Camaro. The 1967 Dana Camaro 427 prototype car can be identified by the Bardhal sticker placed on the radiator support. (Photo Courtesy Dave Fillion Collection)
Dana license frames didn’t distinguish between their two radically different locations. Without much space to write a message, they kept it simple. (Photo Courtesy Steve Strand)
Hot Rod magazine presented research on an old racer unearthed in 2015 that was purportedly the source car for the first Dana Camaro conversion (DC1). Its contender for the honor was a 1967 Camaro sold through Brown & Hoeye Chevrolet in Mesa, Arizona. The car was a Sierra Fawn 1967 Camaro 327 Powerglide built on November 26, 1966. It was repainted black early in the game. The platform (small-block Powerglide) and time frame suggests this may be a one-off customer project racer sold through Dana, but it didn’t fit the parameters of the usual Dana package conversion cars.
The theory presented was that the engine was swapped at Shelby’s Arizona facilities in December 1966, which contradicts the known fact that at least one location of Dana Chevrolet was already up and running by this time. Peyton Cramer was directing Dana