Dave Strickler’s Z/28 Camaro “Old Reliable”

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Many famous race cars are lost to history. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, but during the heydays of the muscle car era, few people possessed the foresight to see just how popular and expensive many of these historical cars would become. Factory-backed drivers would commonly drive a car for a single season and then sell it off to a friend or acquaintance, as they knew the factory would provide them a new car soon.

That is what happened to Dave Strickler’s championship Z/28 Camaro, “Old Reliable”. This car won the Super Stock World Championship back in 1968 and then disappeared for more than 20 years before being rediscovered. And now, it is on eBay.


Pictures: Best of Show Automotive

The story behind Strickler’s car is a common one. After winning the ’68 Championship, the car changed hands twice, and was raced all across the country while its history remained obscured, despite having appeared in over 30 print publications between 1968 and 1969. In 1993, with the help of Strickler’s son Micheal, Jerry MacNeish tracked down “Old Reliable” and restored it. It has since made its way around the show circuit, racking up numerous awards.



As per class rules, “Old Reliable” ran a stock 302 engine with Stahl headers, nine-inch racing slicks, and 5.38 rear end gears. The car ran consistent 11.70’s at 116 mph, making it one of the fastest drag cars on the track. In 2008, Jerry’s company Camaro Hi-Performance restored the car to its original racing form, though the Camaro has amazingly low mileage and only the driver’s seat has ever been sat in. The only addition is a 6-point roll cage, as required to race the car on a track these days (it’s that fast, over forty years later).

Best of Show Automotive has this Camaro listed with a Buy It Now price of $549,900. A steep cost for an important piece of Camaro history.




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