A 1968 Camaro RS and a 1969 Camaro SS solved two completely different problems — one was styling, the other was horsepower — and combining them created one of the most desirable first-gen Camaro configurations ever built. Here’s what actually separated these two model years under the badges.
’69 Camaro SS and ’68 Camaro RS – Big Muscle Cars Sound and Close Look!
Park a 1968 Camaro RS next to a 1969 Camaro SS and a casual observer might call them the same car wearing different badges. They’d be wrong on almost every count. Chevrolet treated RS and SS as two entirely separate packages solving two different problems — one about how the car looked, the other about what it could do — and buyers who understood the difference could combine both into one of the most recognizable first-generation Camaros ever built. What exactly changed between these two model years, and why do enthusiasts still argue about which one got it right?
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RS Was Never About Horsepower
The Rally Sport package, available on the 1968 Camaro, was purely cosmetic and trim — hidden headlights behind a distinctive grille, RS badging, and unique taillamp treatment — with no dedicated engine of its own. A buyer could order an RS with anything from a base six-cylinder to a big-block V8, which is why spotting a “real” RS at a show today comes down to trim details, not what’s under the hood.
SS Meant Business Under the Skin
Super Sport, by contrast, was built around performance. The SS package brought a standard 350-cubic-inch small-block V8, rated at up to 300 horsepower for 1969, with the option to step up to a 396-cubic-inch big-block reaching as high as 375 horsepower in L78 trim. RS and SS weren’t mutually exclusive — combining them, as many buyers did, produced a car with hidden headlights and genuine big-block muscle, a pairing that became one of the most desirable first-generation Camaro configurations.
1969 Reshaped the Whole Car
Beyond engine and trim differences, the 1969 model year brought a significantly redesigned body: a more angular look, new front signal lamp placement moved down into the valance, distinctive quarter-panel “gills,” and a redesigned three-section taillamp cluster replacing 1968’s separated lenses. Combined with retuned suspension, the 1969 SS wasn’t just a new badge on an old shape — it was the final and most aggressive evolution of the first-generation Camaro before a full redesign arrived in 1970.
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