Camaro Highs and Lows - by Barry Kluczyk

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Contrasting the best and worst from the first five generations of Chevy’s iconic performer

With the introduction of the sixth-generation Camaro, it’s worth looking back over the car’s long, storied history to contrast the milestones that helped make it an automotive icon with a few of the admitted misfires. It all weaves a colorful and important tapestry for a car that is inextricably linked with American culture and affordable, attainable performance. We’ve selected 10 highlights and lowlights; so let’s get started.

 
High: Camaro goes on sale on September 29, 1966, and is an instant success, racking up 220,906 sales in its first model year – including 602 built with a special handling package known by the order code Z/28.

The Camaro debuted in late 1966 to enthusiastic Baby Boomers clamoring for Chevy’s entry in the all-new “ponycar” segment. More than 220,000 were sold in the first year.

 
Low: For the sake of development expediency and production value (read: low cost), the original Camaro is based on the existing Chevy II architecture. It wasn’t a sports car, but then again, neither was the Falcon platform on which the original Mustang was built. So there.

First-year Camaros featured a single-leaf rear suspension design that hobbled performance. This RS/SS owner is clearly calling the dealer to ask about axlehop during her stoplight-to-stoplight run-ins with Mustangs and Barracudas.

 
High: Camaro paces the Indianapolis 500 for the first time on May 30, 1967, and again on May 30, 1969. Production replicas of the 1969 models, with their distinctive Hugger Orange stripes and orange houndstooth interiors, go on to become iconic examples of the Camaro’s first generation and remain popular collector models.

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Chevrolet built 3,675 convertible replicas of the 1969 Camaro Indy Pace Car, some with 350 engines and others with the 396. All wore Hugger Orange stripes and interior trim. It would be the final year for Camaro convertibles for more than 15 years.

 
Low: Camaro convertible production ceases after 1969 and won’t return until 1987.

Working in conjunction with Chevrolet Racing Director Vince Piggins, Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins helped establish the Camaro’s racing cred on the dragstrip. It is believed this car may have been the first Camaro built with the L78-code 396 engine, rated at 375 hp. Regardless, it’s a piece of drag racing history.

 
High: Camaro’s racing legacy starts strongly on the dragstrip and road course with Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins claiming the 1967 NHRA Super Stock championship in his all-new, L78 396-powered Camaro, and Penske-backed Camaros driven by Mark Donohue ripping through SCCA’s Trans-Am series. Donohue was the winningest driver in 1968 and 1969, claiming the unofficial driver championships. They weren’t officially awarded until 1971, which Donohue won.

 
After an inauspicious start with the 1967 Camaro, the Penske racing team experimented with a lightweight body using acid-dipped sheetmetal. It worked, and the car was updated with 1968 Camaro body components in an effort to field two cars at the Sebring 12-hour race that year. This car, owned by Patrick Ryan, has been restored to its 1968 Sebring appearance, where it won the Trans-Am class and finished Third overall.

Low: Bill Jenkins switched to a Vega in 1972, ultimately revolutionizing NHRA Pro Stock with a 1974 model featuring a purpose-built chassis with a strut-type suspension. It would become the blueprint for Pro Stock race cars – and it was a Vega, not a Camaro. Mark Donohue also ditched the Camaro and drove an AMC Javelin when he won the championship in 1971.

 
High: Second-generation Camaro debuts in 1970 with an all-new, purpose-built architecture shared by no other vehicle in Chevy’s lineup. It was also the pinnacle for second-gen performance, with the 360hp LT-1 engine in the Z28 and 375 hp from the available 396 big-block (it really displaced 402 cubes).

 
With solid lifters, an aggressive camshaft, and a stout 11:1 compression ratio, the 1970 Z28’s LT-1 engine represented the pinnacle of performance for second-gen Camaros. They are fairly rare these days. Fewer than 9,000 of the nearly 125,000 1970 Camaros built were Z28s.

Low: Industry-wide regulatory changes cause precipitous drops in compression ratios and consequently power ratings by 1971 – a factor exacerbated by a change from gross power ratings to more realistic net ratings. The LT-1’s horsepower rating therefore drops from 360 to 275 hp. The big-block exited the scene after 1972. The muscle car era was over.

 
High: For 1975, organizers of the International Race of Champions replace Porsche race cars with identically prepared Camaro race cars. Camaros would be used in the series from 1975-’80 and 1984-’89 (the series wasn’t run from 1981-83). The popularity of the IROC series eventually drove Chevrolet to release the IROC-Z model in 1985.

 
The Camaro was a track star in the IROC racing series from the mid-1970s through late-1980s. The series featured identically prepared race cars driven by the best drivers from different forms of racing, from open-wheel and Sprint cars to NASCAR.

Low: Camaro V-8 output bottoms out in 1981 with an anemic 267ci (4.3L) version of the small-block rated at a measly 115 hp and 200 lb-ft of torque. It was also the year Chevy Chase did the flick Modern Problems and the national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. In other words, it was a tough year.

 
The Camaro’s popularity exploded through the mid- and latter-parts of its second generation, even though performance dropped like the watermelons off the roof in an old David Letterman bit. This ’76 Camaro is wheezing its way up the mountain, pulling every lb-ft out of its 140hp 305 small-block.

 
High: Camaro production hits its all-time high in 1979, with 282,571 – including nearly 85,000 Z28 models. Wow. Numbers like that today would make the Camaro one of the best-selling cars in the industry.

 
The Camaro helped define the late 1970s and sales reached their all-time high in 1979, at 282,571. Nearly 85,000 of them were Z28s. Most ended up on the cover of Car Craft.

Low: Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) wrecks Charles Jefferson’s (Forest Whitaker) 1979 Z28 while cruising with Jefferson’s brother in the classic 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Not to worry, though. He can fix it. His father is a television repairman with the ultimate set of tools.

 
At least one of the nearly 85,000 1979 Z28s built was sacrificed for cinematic art in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, when Jeff Spicoli’s time at the wheel ended in disaster – although he offered to fix it with his father’s “TV repairman” tools. More than 30 years later, we have to ask: What the heck is a TV repairman?

High: All-new, third-generation Camaro introduces a radical redesign in 1982 that would help define the high-tech cultural aesthetic of the decade. The 1982 Z28 was the first American production car to incorporate ground effects in its design and all models incorporated modern strut-type front suspensions. It was also named the Motor Trend Car of the Year.

 
The third-generation Camaro was a radical departure that, like the preceding generation, would help define the culture of its decade. It was also designed as more of a true performance car, with a greater emphasis on aero and a more responsive suspension system, including rack-and-pinion steering and a strut-type front suspension.

Low: Yes, Virginia, they made four-cylinder Camaros from 1982-86 – and the less said about those Iron Duke-derived anchors, the better. Output ranged from a struggling 88 hp to a lackluster 92 hp.

 
Behold the glory of the four-cylinder third-gen Camaro powerplant – and we use “power” subjectively. The 151-cubic-inch Iron Duke derivative was offered in carbureted and throttle-body injection versions, but none cracked the 100-horsepower threshold. Sad.

High: The Gen III small-block V-8 known as the LS1 is introduced in the 1998 Z28 and SS models, ushering in a new era in high performance. It’s hard to understate the impact the LS1 and the subsequent members of the LS engine family have had on the automotive performance world. They have fundamentally changed the way hobbyists and racers alike approach performance and established new benchmarks for streetable performance cars. Seriously.

 
The LS1 engine, introduced in the Camaro in 1998, returned a level of performance that hadn’t been seen since the heyday of the muscle car. Better still, it responded to upgrades such as camshafts and cylinder head porting like a fedora-wearing hipster let loose in a vinyl-only record store.

Low: The LS1 is not enough to save sinking Camaro sales. They bottom out at only 29,009 worldwide in 2001 and GM pulls the plug on the F-body on August 27, 2002, ending production after 35 years. Bummer.

 
The Camaro’s timeline came to a temporary end in 2002, when production ended after 35 years. This is the very last fourth-gen Camaro built, and it is part of GM’s collection of historic vehicles.

High: Chevrolet shows a retro-styled Camaro concept vehicle at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, previewing the 2010 production model that would go on to become a cultural icon through channels such as the Transformers movies. It also proved to be the right car at the right time, as Gen 5 sales have exceeded 500,000 and outpaced Mustang for four straight years. USA-1, indeed.

 
Chevrolet signaled the Camaro’s return with a decidedly retro interpretation introduced as a concept vehicle in 2006. The production Gen 5 model would thankfully be executed almost identically to this dramatic, expressive concept.

Low: Not that we’re complaining or anything, but the production Gen 5 Camaro debuted on the porky side; and its junk in the trunk made handling and overall performance a bit less than sharp or exhilarating. Outward visibility wasn’t so hot, either. Hey, we’re still fans, but just sayin’.

 
The Gen 5 Camaro was a sales and cultural phenomenon, helped in no small part by its role in the Transformers movies. Chevrolet even built a Transformers Edition in 2010.

High: The Gen 5 Camaro Z/28. Yes, the SS, 1LE, and supercharged ZL1 are mucho terrifico, but the Z/28’s driving experience is from another plane of existence – and comparing it with other Camaro models is like comparing the Millennium Falcon with a Cessna 172. It’s that good. In fact, in a Motor Trend comparison that helped solidify the Z/28’s position as the magazine’s 2014 Best Driver’s Car – the first American car so-awarded – it was pitted against a Nissan GT-R Track Edition and a Porsche 911 Turbo S. The rear-wheel-drive Z/28 lapped the track faster than both all-wheel-drive competitors, prompting the editors to proclaim, “It stands as one of the absolutely best track-focused cars in the world.”

 
Chevrolet showed the Transformers movie cars at the Gen 6 reveal event in Detroit, in May 2015.

Low: 2015 was the final year for the Gen 5 Z/28, and there ain’t one on the docket for 2016. Get one now while you can.

 
The Camaro Z/28 returned to its road course roots in the fifth generation and the result was nothing short of spectacular, amazing, and all the other superlatives one could pry out of a thesaurus. Its track-ready suspension and 505hp LS7 engine compose a literally world-beating combination – and represents Chevrolet at its very best.