September 2018 Camaro of the Month: Dave and Cindy Smith’s 1968 RS/SS

Each month, TorqueNews works with the members from the Camaros Unlimited Facebook group to select our Camaro of the Month. The process begins with the members of the Camaros Unlimited Facebook page – more than 42,000 of them – nominating their favorite Chevrolet Camaro owned by a fellow member of the page. Once five owners have been nominated, the voting begins and when the balloting closes – we have our Camaro of the Month.

For September 2018, the members chose this stunning 1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS, owned by Dave and Cindy Smith from Buffalo, Iowa. I reached out to Cindy for more information on their fantastic first gen and below, you will find the story of their Chevy muscle car in her words.

Dave and Cindy Smith’s 1968 Camaro RS/SS
Dave replaced his first car, a 1963 two door hard top Comet with our 1968 RS/SS Matadore Red Camaro in 1971. As a second owner of the Camaro he paid $1,600.00 with 18,000 miles on it. Dave drove it daily for 2 years, putting 44,000 miles on it. Dave spun a rod bearing in the Camaro and put it into storage for 35 years due to buying a new house, getting a new job, got married to Cindy in 1981 and had two sons Brad in 1984 and Tod in 1987.

In 2006 Dave and Cindy decided to pull the Camaro out of storage and started a 5 year full ground up rotisserie restoration on it. We replaced the engine with a 350/350 hp engine with roller rockers and aluminum heads. It also has a 3:73 limited slip 12 bolt and 5 speed Tremec TKO-600 5 speed transmission. We are still storing the original motor and transmission.

We now enjoy driving it to car cruise-ins and car shows that benefit charities with our friends and the Quad City Camaro Club that we are members of. We have received numerous plaques and trophies for the car and many compliments that make us very proud to own the Camaro. Our Camaro is now a family heirloom for our two sons, Brad & Tod. We hope that they will continue to show the car when they are the proud owners of it in the future.

Congratulations to Dave and Cindy Smith and their 1968 Camaro RS/SS for winning the TorqueNews/Camaros Unlimited Camaro of the Month for September 2018. It is certainly a unique story for a car to sit in the garage for 35 years with a hurt engine, only to pull the car out and perform a complete restoration that resulted in a stunning classic muscle car.

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