Stories from Steve: 1968 Chevrolet Camaro – 375 HP – 1 of 168?

It was the spring of 1998, and, as usual, the shop was very busy with mail orders and we were trying to get the road truck trailer ready for the hectic spring swap meets. March is always our busiest month because the April shows start at Charlotte, North Carolina, then Englishtown, New Jersey, and end three or four weeks later with the largest of them all—Spring Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

In the middle of this mess (late March) I received a phone call from an old friend, Floyd Garrett in Sevierville, Tennessee. I was always impressed with his muscle car museum, plus the cars he had collected to put on display. As the conversation wound through the usual topics of business in the industry—new acquisitions to both our collections, etc., etc.—I realized Floyd had purchased too many cars and needed to thin his collection.

It turned out he had three similar cars and wanted to sell one of the three. He knew we were in the middle of changing our emphasis from “one-of” cars to low mileage untouched originals, so he decided to offer a restored 1968 Camaro, a restored 1969 Camaro, and a low mileage 1969 Corvette. I told Floyd I was very interested in looking at the cars and their paperwork but had a very busy month of April ahead of me. I said I must look at my schedule and I would call him back.

It took about ten minutes to note that the Charlotte show was on the first of April, but Englishtown had been pushed back a week to accommodate the Easter weekend. That opened a whole new schedule. Kevin and I could tow to Charlotte, do the show, drive to Tennessee on Sunday night, see the cars on Monday, make a decision, and be home by Tuesday night, only one day behind schedule—perfect! I called Floyd and yes, he would be at the museum all day Monday and he’d be ready to take my money!

The trip went well—no major problems. We had a good show, left Charlotte in time, arrived at our Sevierville motel at 1:00 am, and headed for Floyd’s at about 9:00 the following morning. Kevin had never been to the museum, so we looked at everything first and then connected with Floyd. He pointed out the cars in question, gave us the paperwork for each car, and left us alone to analyze each car.

The first car off the list was the Corvette. Really a nice car, but its design was not our favorite and, at 11,000 miles, was over my criteria. Next, we spent much time looking at the two Camaros. They were both excellent, but the 1968 was an almost perfect restoration and had a full folder of documentation, plus the name and address of the original owners Sherrion and Helen Vires.

If this restoration was truly as good as it looked, then the ’68 would be the vehicle we’d want to deal with. Floyd came by—I explained our situation and did he know who restored the car. He answered, “Of course, I know. I had it done by the best man I know in the restoration business.”

“OK,” I said, “Who is that?” He replied “Gilbert Propes.”

I smiled and said, “Let’s get on with the negotiations.”

We threw numbers at each other until one of us collapsed under the pressure and I bought the car. I paid him and asked him to keep the car in his museum until I could pick it up. Then, we headed north.

Once we got the car home in the late spring of 1998, we immediately put the car on our lift and loved it. I swear I’d forgotten just how good Gilbert was at detail work. It truly is one of the finest “one-of” automobiles in our collection.

I started to organize the paperwork and found to my delight that only two people had really owned the car. Many of these cars have several owners, and chasing their history is not an easy task. Anyway, because of time constraints, I didn’t start chasing this ’68 Camaro until 2003.

The first paperwork I investigated was the original bill of sale from Queen City Chevrolet in Cincinnati, Ohio. This bill of sale showed a very expensive Camaro for 1968. Usually, a 375hp Camaro is not loaded with accessories and options. This car is a convertible and has 13 options and accessories in addition to those that are standard with the RS/SS package.

I needed help, and that help could only come from the original owners, Sherrion and Helen Vires. I finally found them in Texas, and Helen had all kinds of information about the car’s history.

Her story is one of the good ones concerning the Vietnam War. Her husband, Sherrion, was in the military and stationed at Fort Mitchell in Ohio. In 1967, he was deployed to Vietnam and Helen stayed in the Fort Mitchell, Cincinnati, area with her parents.

In the spring of 1968, Sherrion wrote to Helen saying his deployment in Vietnam would end about June first and to please have a ’68 – 435hp Corvette ready for him when he arrived home.

Helen called the largest Chevrolet dealer in the area, Queen City Chevrolet Co. She was told Chevrolet would not take orders for any more ’68 Corvettes. She sent a quick note to her husband explaining their problem and he responded with a change of plans. If they couldn’t have a Corvette, he instructed her to find and purchase a new 1968 Camaro with the L78 engine (375 hp) and a 4-speed transmission.

This was easier said than done. It was late in the 1968 model year, and GM was filling orders and not producing cars for dealer stock. Helen then called several dealers in her Ohio/Kentucky region without success because GM simply did not make many Camaros with the L78 – 396 cu. in. engine. In desperation, she went to the Norwood, Ohio, GM assembly plant, but received little or no help.

Finally, she returned to Queen City Chevrolet and explained that her husband was a Vietnam veteran and had requested that she find this specific car/engine/transmission combination for him. She desperately wanted to present him with the automobile when he returned from the war and could they help?

They said they would search their zone of Chevrolet dealers and hopefully find what Sherrion wanted. Within a week, they located what they called a demonstrator car. This was a highly optioned, high-powered car that would exemplify the ultimate car of its type. As explained earlier, this car was, to say the least—loaded! In retrospect, what better car could Helen have found for her returning veteran husband? Helen was great. She sent us at least 10 photos of the new car at her parents’ house, some having pictures of her and her parents.

Of course, Sherrion was thrilled with the car. Helen and Sherrion drove it to Killeen, Texas, for his next deployment, which was at Fort Hood. They stayed in Killeen for years and finally, in the early ‘90s, decided it was best to sell the car so it hopefully would be restored before any rust set in. On July 11, 1992, they sold the car (Helen supplied more photos as they helped load the car) to a Texas used car company called Nabors Motors in Houston. Nabors only kept the car for a little over two weeks and sold it to Floyd Garrett, who lived in St. Fernandina Beach, Florida, at that time.

A lot happened to Floyd and this car between 1992 and 1997. He sold his trucking company, bought a plot of land in Sevierville, Tennessee, delivered this car to Gilbert Propes for restoration, built his muscle car museum, brought almost 100 cars from his collection in Florida to fill the museum, received this car from Gilbert, and put it on display. Then in the spring of 1998, he made me one happy fellow by offering to sell me the car.

Written 2008, Steve Ames

Last Edited: April 15, 2025, JA

Addendum: more information became available in 2010;

1)    Helen and her mother drove the car to Oakland, California, to pick up Sherrion personally in 1968, upon his return from Vietnam.

2)    Sherrion fixed a leaking carburetor and turned a 13.5 sec. ¼ mile in the early ‘70s running in pure stock.

3)    Hot Rod Magazine wrote an article in the ‘80s saying only 168 of the four speed L78 Camaro convertibles with the RS/SS package were built in 1968.

4)    A flip top 8 track tape deck is in place because the car is equipped with console gauges.

Addendum #2: 2016;

I was reading my history of some of our favorite cars in 2016 and wondered how these wonderful car-oriented people have fared over the years. The computer was not kind to me. Helen passed away in 2011 and Sherrion died in 2013. I had wanted a more positive addendum to this story.