Posts Tagged: Chevrolet Camaro
V8TV marked the Camaro’s 50th anniversary in 2017 by pulling a genuinely rare example out of the private Brothers Collection: a Granada Gold 1967 Camaro SS396 convertible carrying the top 375-horsepower engine option. Every layer of specification, body style, engine output, and color, makes this a harder car to find than a standard SS396. See exactly what earned it an episode of Muscle Car of the Week.
This 1979 Camaro Z/28 wears T-tops, flat black stripes and a Procharged small block sending more than 600 horsepower to the rear tires. The factory version made 175. That gap is the entire story of the second-generation Z28, a car that sold in record numbers during the worst period for American performance in living memory. Read on for how it managed that and why builders still start here.
A hidden Oregon warehouse holds one of the largest private muscle car collections on Earth — more than 350 vehicles, including a one-of-two 1969 Camaro ZL1 and the prototype that convinced Carroll Shelby to supercharge the GT350. The owners have never revealed their names, and the doors open only a few days a year.
Only a handful of Camaros in Chevrolet history have led the field at the Indianapolis 500, and in 1969 about 3,675 buyers got to park a street version in their own driveway. Every one of them was a Dover White convertible with orange houndstooth inside, because the Z11 package left buyers almost nothing to decide. What did vary is what sat under the cowl induction hood, and that single difference is what separates a nice car from a six figure auction headline today.
A 1968 Chevrolet Camaro street machine carries the second-year styling changes most people miss, and underneath there was an SS package that could be ordered with a big block strong enough to end arguments at a stoplight. Chevrolet built well over two hundred thousand Camaros that year and changed almost nothing, which turned out to be the right call. Read on to find out what separates a 1968 from the car that launched the nameplate.
This 1967 Chevrolet Camaro carries a detail that shouldn’t exist on paper: a 472-cubic-inch V8, a displacement Chevrolet never offered in any Camaro. The explanation is a later engine swap borrowing from Cadillac’s big-block lineup — a popular resto-mod move for builders chasing torque numbers the factory options sheet never allowed. Here’s how a Cadillac engine ends up under a Camaro’s hood.
A homologation loophole created one of Chevrolet’s most legendary powerplants: a 302-cubic-inch V8 pieced together from a 327’s block and a 283’s crankshaft, then deliberately underrated to dodge insurance premiums. A museum walkthrough of a pristine 1969 example traces how that engineering trick turned into 20,302 cars sold and six-figure auction results today.
Chevrolet handed its brand new Camaro one of the biggest stages in American motorsport in 1967, and a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner drove it around the Brickyard in front of a packed house. Then the man who actually won the race that day refused to go anywhere near it. This 1967 Camaro SS convertible is one of the small fleet Chevrolet built for that month of May, and its story is stranger than the badge suggests.
Chevrolet’s own restoration story covers two cars that could not be more different in temperament: a family sedan that quietly became a status symbol, and a pony car built specifically to answer a rival. One rewards six-cylinder patience, the other rewards a six-figure hunt. Here’s what actually separates a smart Bel Air or Camaro buy from an expensive mistake.