Chevrolet Camaro 1967 RS Convertible

This 1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible wears factory Ermine White over Bright Blue, and the Rally Sport package on the nose says nothing at all about what is under the hood. RS was a roughly $105 appearance option with hidden headlights and revised taillights, nothing more. This one carries a 327 V8, a floor-shifted Powerglide, a power top and a console. Read on to find out why cars ordered this way often survive better than the four-speeds.

Cruise nights are full of first-generation Camaros wearing hidden headlights and Rally Sport badges, and most of the crowd assumes those cars are hiding something serious under the hood. Plenty of them are. This one, wearing factory Ermine White with a Bright Blue interior and a power top, is honest about what it is, and that honesty is exactly why it deserves a second look. The Rally Sport package never had anything to do with horsepower, a fact that surprises people constantly. What it did have was the best face Chevrolet ever put on the car.

RS Was an Appearance Package, Full Stop

The Rally Sport package was RPO Z22, it cost roughly $105, and it did not touch the drivetrain in any way. What it bought was the front end: hidden headlights behind vacuum-operated doors, a blacked-out grille, revised taillights with the back-up lamps relocated below the rear bumper, RS badging and extra exterior brightwork including rocker moldings and wheel opening trim. That was the entire package. A Rally Sport Camaro could leave the factory with a base inline six or with a 396 big block, and people have been guessing wrong about which at car shows ever since.

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How the Hidden Headlight System Worked

The hidden headlight system is the part that makes RS cars memorable and the part that most often stops working. Chevrolet used engine vacuum to hold the doors open, routed through a small reservoir and a set of actuators behind the grille. When the rubber diaphragms age or a vacuum line cracks, the doors sag, open unevenly, or refuse to open at all, which is why so many RS cars at shows sit with the lights permanently exposed. Rebuilt actuators and fresh lines fix it, but it is the first thing to check on any car claiming an original RS setup.

What This Particular Car Carries

This particular convertible carries the 327 cubic-inch V8 backed by a floor-shifted two-speed Powerglide automatic, along with tinted glass, a power convertible top, a center console, rear bumper guards and deluxe seat belts. That is the order sheet of somebody buying a nicely equipped cruiser rather than a stoplight racer, and it is worth appreciating on its own terms. Cars ordered this way tended to be maintained rather than thrashed, which is a large part of why well-optioned automatics often survive in better condition than the four-speed cars everybody says they want.

The 327 Was the Sensible Middle

In 1967 the 327 sat comfortably in the middle of the Camaro engine range. Below it were the inline sixes and the base 210-horsepower V8. Above it were the 350 that came with the SS package at 295 horsepower and the 396 big blocks that ran from 325 to 375 horsepower. The 327 offered smooth, adequate power without the insurance implications or the fuel consumption of the big blocks. Paired with a Powerglide it makes a relaxed, easy car to drive, which is exactly what most convertible buyers actually wanted from a Camaro.

Convertibles Were Always the Minority

Convertibles were always the smaller share of first-generation Camaro production. Chevrolet built 220,906 Camaros for 1967, its first model year, and convertibles accounted for roughly 25,000 of them, with coupes taking the rest. Add the RS package, a specific factory color combination and an intact, unrestored interior, and the pool of directly comparable cars gets small very quickly. Rarity within a high-volume model is always about the intersection of options rather than the model name itself, and that is precisely the case with a car like this one.

RS Could Be Stacked With Anything

One of the more useful things to understand about the first-generation Camaro is that RS was a package that stacked. A buyer could combine it with the SS 350 or SS 396 to create an RS/SS, the combination that paced the 1967 Indianapolis 500 and probably the most recognizable specification of the entire generation. It could also be ordered alongside the Z/28, of which Chevrolet built only 602 in 1967. That flexibility is exactly why the presence of hidden headlights tells an observer nothing at all about what is under the hood.

Details That Only Appear on 1967 Cars

1967 cars have a handful of details that never appeared again. They are the only first-generation Camaros with vent windows in the doors, they lack the side marker lights that federal rules required from 1968 onward, and they use different door panel and dash treatments than the later cars. The rear suspension on 1967 models used a single-leaf spring arrangement in many configurations, which produced enough axle wind-up under power that Chevrolet added traction bars to high-output cars and redesigned the setup entirely for 1968.

Ermine White Over Bright Blue

Factory Ermine White over a Bright Blue interior is a genuinely sharp combination, and it was a period-correct choice rather than a restorer’s invention. Verifying that the car still wears its original colors means reading the cowl tag, which encodes the paint and trim codes along with the build plant and date. On a survivor-grade car, the cowl tag, the partial VIN on the engine pad and the date codes on the block, heads, carburetor and generator should all tell a consistent story. When they do, the car is worth substantially more than one where they do not.

Where a Well-Optioned Cruiser Sits Today

A well-optioned 327 RS convertible occupies a comfortable place in the market. It will never approach the money a documented Z/28 or an SS 396 convertible commands, but it costs a fraction of either while delivering most of the same experience on a Saturday morning. Parts availability for first-generation Camaros is essentially unlimited, the small block is simple to service, and the convertible top mechanism is straightforward to repair. For an owner who wants to drive the car rather than trailer it, that combination is very hard to beat. It is also one of the few first-generation Camaros you can enjoy without worrying about the value of the asset underneath you.

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