One engine option on a Camaro cost more than the entire base car, and only 69 were ever built. Chevrolet’s muscle car story is full of stunts like that. Here is our countdown of four […]
One engine option on a Camaro cost more than the entire base car, and only 69 were ever built. Chevrolet’s muscle car story is full of stunts like that. Here is our countdown of four of the greatest Chevy muscle cars ever built, from No.4 down to No.1.
No.4: 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
Chevrolet built the Z/28 for one reason: to win in SCCA Trans-Am racing, where engines were limited to 305 cubic inches. So Chevy dropped a 302 cubic inch small block into the Camaro, rated at 290 horsepower, although many believe the real number was far higher.
The plan worked. The Camaro won the Trans-Am manufacturers championship in 1968 and again in 1969. Chevrolet built 7,199 Z/28s for 1968, a big jump from the 602 sold in the first year. It was a street-legal race car hiding in plain sight, and it set the template for every Camaro performance package that followed.
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No.3: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6
For years General Motors capped its mid-size cars at 400 cubic inches. That rule ended for 1970, and Chevrolet wasted no time. The Chevelle SS 454 LS6 packed a 454 cubic inch V8 with solid lifters, an 800 cfm Holley four-barrel and 11.25:1 compression.
Chevrolet rated it at 450 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque, the highest factory horsepower rating of the whole muscle car era. Magazine testers ran the quarter mile in the low thirteens at over 100 miles per hour. About 4,475 LS6 Chevelles were built, and it is still called the king of the street.
No.2: 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88
The L88 was a race engine that Chevrolet barely admitted existed. It was a 427 cubic inch V8 with aluminum heads, 12.5:1 compression and an 850 cfm Holley carburetor. Chevrolet rated it at just 430 horsepower to scare off ordinary buyers, while the real output was widely believed to be well over 500.
To discourage casual orders there was no radio and no heater, and the engine needed high-octane racing fuel. Chevrolet built only 20 of them for 1967. Today the L88 Corvette is one of the most valuable American cars ever made. (Photo shows a 1967 Corvette Sting Ray 427, not an L88.)
No.1: 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
This is the rarest and wildest Camaro ever made, and it came through the back door of a program called COPO, the Central Office Production Order. Dealer Fred Gibb of La Harpe, Illinois, wanted to win at the drag strip, and he ordered 50 Camaros with the new all-aluminum 427 cubic inch ZL1 engine.
Chevrolet rated the ZL1 at 430 horsepower, though it made far more. The engine option alone cost more than $4,000, more than the price of a base Camaro. In the end only 69 ZL1 Camaros were built, and they are among the most prized muscle cars on Earth.
Which one would you take home?
From a Trans-Am champion to a street-legal drag weapon, these four show why Chevrolet earned its place at the top. Tell us your pick in the comments, and watch the full countdown video above. For more classic muscle car countdowns, keep exploring MuscleCarFan.com.
Facts sourced from Wikipedia. Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons): 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 by Sicnag (CC BY 2.0); 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6 by Charles from Port Chester, New York (CC0); 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray 427 by Charles from Port Chester, New York (CC BY 2.0); 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by Jeremy from Sydney, Australia (CC BY 2.0)
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