Posts Tagged: Camaro
A 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS could leave the factory with a 295-horsepower 350 or a 375-horsepower 396, and the difference between them matters far more than anything the badges on the fenders suggest. The SS package brought genuine hardware, including upgraded suspension and cooling alongside the higher-output V8, rather than just the bumblebee stripe. Read on for what each engine actually ran, how to tell an RS from an SS, and why documentation matters more than the model year.
Troy LaCrone made his name with a nitrous small-block 1971 Camaro that ran 9.19 at over 140 mph while still riding on leaf springs and slapper bars, a car that looked eight seconds slower than it was. Asked whether he would keep chasing quicker numbers, he said he hoped not. He later posted a 7.7730 average at Hot Rod Drag Week and beat JJ Da Boss on television. Read on for how that progression actually happened.
A 1980 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 carrying the strongest factory V8 the badge had worn since 1974 crossed the auction block at Mecum Indy for less than $20,000. Viewers singled it out as the standout of an entire episode built around auction bargains. Here’s why this specific model year matters more than its price tag suggests.
A stroked 417-cubic-inch small block Nova got jumped off the line by a turbocharged Eagle Talon and had to pedal the throttle just to save the run — and that’s before a second grudge race between a 2001 Mustang Bullitt and a 1999 Camaro even gets underway. Shot from multiple angles down a quiet stretch of road, this is grudge racing at its most detailed. Watch to see how both races actually finished.
A 1934 Ford coupe wearing the bones of a wrecked sixth-generation Camaro ZL1 has no business working as well as it does. The donor brought a supercharged 650-horsepower LT4, magnetic dampers, and Brembo brakes to a body shell built when Ford’s best V8 made 85 horsepower. The nickname Road Kill R came from how the parts were sourced. Read on to find out why this particular pairing splits the hot rod world down the middle.
John Hennessey does not usually get excited about a car he has not modified, but the 2017 Camaro ZL1 earned an exception. In this test drive, he runs the supercharged 650-horsepower Camaro through every gear on a public road, reaching a top speed that still gets cited in owner forums today. The explanation for why it stops exactly there is the most interesting part of the whole run. Watch to see how close a factory Camaro really gets to supercar territory.
A pair of 88-millimeter turbochargers mounted directly in the grille of a first-generation Camaro is not a subtle build choice, and it is not meant to be. Turbos that size are reserved for big-block combinations chasing four-digit power, and everything behind them has to be built to match. Read on to find out what a setup like this actually commits a builder to, and why the first-gen body keeps getting chosen for it.
Street Outlaws built its reputation on real grudge matches between real cars, and few rivalries carried more weight than Kye Kelley’s nitrous-fed Camaro, the Shocker, squaring off against a twin-turbo rival known as the Mistress. Nitrous versus turbos is one of drag racing’s oldest arguments, and this matchup played it out in front of a national television audience. Read on to find out how a garage-built Camaro became one of the most recognized cars in the entire street racing scene.
V8TV steps outside its usual 1960s and 70s territory for episode 206, profiling a 2011 Nickey Performance Stage III S 427 Camaro from The Brothers Collection. Nickey isn’t a modern marketing invention; it’s a real Chicago dealership that built factory-adjacent big-block Camaros back in the 1960s, and this build carries that name forward with four-digit horsepower you don’t need a racetrack to use. One commenter admits it’s the modern muscle car that finally got an old-school purist thinking. Watch to see why.
The 400 small-block is mostly remembered for something almost embarrassing: which parts from other small-blocks will not bolt onto it. This guide traces Chevrolet’s 4.0-inch bore small-block family — the race-bred 302, the ubiquitous 350, and the siamese-bore 400 — and explains the external-balance quirk that catches out first-time engine swappers. Read on to find out how to tell these engines apart before you buy or build one.
Chevrolet built the L88 Corvette without a radio or heater on purpose, a deliberate filter to keep casual buyers away from an engine dyno-tested at roughly 560 horsepower against its official 430 hp rating. This entry breaks down the auction results that made L88 Corvettes the benchmark for six-figure muscle car money, including a 1969 example that sold for $825,000 with just 20,000 miles. Read on to find out what separates true scarcity from marketing hype.