by Kelley Timms

The mid-sixties sawCamaro competing againstMustang for street and trackbragging rights while at thesame time GM and Fordwere competing for show-room sales. This era hasbeen etched in history asthe “Pony Car” Wars.Since this is a specialCamaro issue, wethought it might befun to run down thetimeline for the Camaro.We’ll also be taking a look atthings that were happeningin the World of Camaro atthat time. Along the waywe’ll throw in a few weirdor rare Camaro options, justfor fun.

August 1964 – June 1966The car initially known

just as the “F-car” was borninside GM design studiosunder the leadership ofElliot M. “Pete” Estes. Manynames were considered forthe new car such asChaparral, Nova, Panther,Wildcat, G-Mini, Gemini andseveral others. Pictures doexist of models actuallywearing the Chaparral andPanther emblems. Pete final-ly settled on the word“Camaro” from an obscureFrench dictionary whichmeant friend or companion.

1966 - 1967On September 21, 1966, the

Camaro was finally offered forsale to the public; this was twofull years after the Mustang wasintroduced. It was available incoupe and convertible formwith power teams from athrifty 6-cylinder to the ground-pounding 396 375HP SuperSport big block. The Camarohit the big time with a full-length movie, an off Broadwayplay and a clothing line. Laterin 1966, the Z/28 with 602 unitsproduced and its high-winding302ci engine was born to com-pete in the Trans-Am series.Due to the market frenzy sur-rounding the Camaro, it pacedthe Indianapolis 500 in 1967and 100 “Festival” look-alikeCamaros were available for saleto the public.

1968The Camaro stayed much

the same from 1967. Gonewere the vent windows.Since the Camaro had com-peted in the 1967 SCCATrans Am series and it wasdiscovered Camaros wereextremely prone to wheelhop under acceleration, therear shocks were staggeredin an effort to combat thisproblem according to PaulVan Valkenburg author ofChevrolet-Racing. The D80spoiler option was the firstGM option to go straightfrom the clay model to theproduction line. An extreme-ly rare option this year wasthe rear seat shoulder belts(standard & deluxe) ofwhich only 133 units wereproduced.

1969The Camaro changed its

looks with 2” wider sheetmetal on the body, ZL2 Cowl

Hoods and a more aggressivestance. This year gave rise tothe awesome, all-aluminumZL1 engine in the COPOCamaros of which only 69were built to compete at thedrag strip. Meanwhile in theTrans Am series, the dual-quad, Crossram intake sittingatop the 302 with headersand transistorized ignitionwas dominating the circuits.A very rare option on the1969 Camaro was the JL8four wheel disc brakeswhich could haul theCamaro down to legalspeeds in a hurry! Only 206units received this highlydesirable option. Productioncontinued on the 1969Camaro well into February of1970. As a result of the newbody design, the Camarowas once again brought totask to pace the Indianapolis500 with 3,675 replicas avail-able to the public.

© Motor Trend 1966

Sketches of “The Panther”

Photo of “The Panther” © Motor Trend 1966

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1970The first year of the

Camaro’s Second Generationsaw a wider coupe body withmore flowing lines drivenstrictly by the design group.Because of this, radio antennasfound their way into the wind-shield. However, many of thedesign flaws of “The Hugger”suspension were fixed this yearwhich made the Camaro muchmore fun to drive. The con-vertible was gone and wouldnot be available again until1987. The SS 396 big block isquite rare this year with only600 units produced.

1971Not much changed in 1971

with exception of the high-back seats which were adaptedfrom the Vega to replace the1970 “Brick Headrest”, low-back seats. A rare option forthis year is the Muncie M22,close ratio transmission withonly 1,290 units sold.

Federal Governmentstressed fuel efficiency overperformance. It appears the1974 Camaro was more aptto tow a trailer than the pre-vious year, with 389 TrailerTowing Packages sold.

19751975 ushered in the “wrap

around” style rear window tohelp alleviate blind spots. Thisis the same year GM, underFederal pressure to reduceemissions, gave us the won-derful catalytic convertor. Theloop carpeting was replacedwith cut pile carpeting. But,this may have been a late-1974 switch according tosome sources. Sadly, the Z/28was killed off due to morepressure from the FederalGovernment and nothing wasleft to fill the void.Except…You could go intothe dealer and order theType LT with the LM1 (themost powerful V8 that year)and the Z86 “Gymkhana”suspension package. Thiscombo gave you the largestV8 and a suspension packagewith quick ratio steering andbig, fat sway bars. The boxwas checked only 3,711 timesfor the Gymkhana suspen-sion package.

1976Keeping with the times,

GM kept the same body styleas the previous year and nottoo much was different in1976. Voltmeters became thestandard fare over the warn-ing light or Amp meter.Power brakes finally becamestandard and the 305 V8graced the engine compart-ment of the Camaro for thefirst time. “Cruise Master”cruise control wins the rareoption contest with only 990units sold.

19771977 saw the last year for

the Aluminum Bumper 2ndgeneration Camaros. Therewere not too many rareoptions or “big news” for thisyear except the Camaro final-ly outsold the Mustang andthe Z/28 was back! The Z/28was its own separate modelthis year rather than anengine option. Intermittentwipers were introduced with16,190 units sold and the 4-speed shift pattern changedfrom a “reverse up” to a“reverse down” configuration.

1978The “Urethane Nose” era

was ushered in this year andreceived rave reviews from

1972This year saw prices on

Camaro actually dropbecause of the repeal of the7% Federal excise tax.However, the UAW struckApril 8, 1972 and severely lim-ited and in some casesceased production altogether.Because of this, one of therare options for this year isthe Z/28 with only 2,575 unitsproduced. This makes the1972 Z/28 the 2nd rarest Zbehind the 1967 version.

1973This year marked the end

of the 2nd Generationchrome bumper cars. Due toUSDOT crash standardschanging for minimal bodydamage during 2.5 MPH orless crashes, the ’73 Camarorequired many extra bracesfor the front and rear bumperto make this standard. Powerwindows came back for thefirst time since 1969 and itwins as one of our rareoptions with only 217 units(unless we count the TrailerTowing Package with only 28units sold).

1974The Aluminum Bumper

era was ushered in this yearwith a front fascia paintedbody color above thebumper. With the update ofthe USDOT crash standardsthe previous year; theseCamaros actually became 7”longer with the bumper sup-ported by springs to lessenbody crash damage. This wasthe first year for High EnergyIgnition (HEI) in theCamaro. 1974 was also thelast year for the Z/28 as the

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the public. 1978 saw the 2millionth Camaro being madeon May 11, 1978 and T-topswere available for the firsttime as RPO CC1 which wereinstalled in 9,875 Camaros.There were not too manyrare options as the carsbecame more “option rich”.However, there was a veryrare color introduced in 1978and only used that yearknown as Yellow-Orange.Only 2,311 cars received thisawesome hue. Lookingthrough and old paint chipbook, it appears to be a crossbetween DOT road coneorange and Cheez Whiz.

1979The body remained the

same for the most part withdifferent graphics packagesavailable for the differentmodels. This was the firstyear for the 3-piece frontspoiler design that everyonewants on their 1979-1981Camaro. The biggest changeswere in the interior wherethe dash went from the “FlatFront” Style which had beenin use since 1970 to the moremodern “Wrap Around” Style.One of the rarest options for1979 was the UP5 AM/FMradio (not Stereo) with theCB and power antenna avail-able at the princely sum of$489.00, which would be$1522.24 in today’s inflateddollars– and you don’t evenget a GPS!

1980Since the U.S. was under a

recovery of sorts from the gascrunch, the new Camarodebuted with subtle changesto the exterior and interior(i.e. 85 MPH speedo) andmajor changes to the avail-able engines to entice buyerswith fuel economy. This wasthe first year for the V6.California cars received theBuick 231 engine and theother 49 states received theChevy 229 to lessen weightand improve fuel economy.Parts store countermen havebeen having nightmares sincebecause the average con-sumer had no idea GMplayed “Musical Engines”.This was the first year for thefunctional, AIR INDUCTIONrear facing hood scoop onthe Z/28 which was a throw-back to the ZL2 CowlInduction on the 1969Camaro.

19811981 marked the last year

for the Urethane Nose 2ndgeneration Camaro andclosed the chapter on the 2ndgeneration altogether. Thebody was pretty much thesame as 1980 and the RS wasnot available for the first timesince 1967. Under the hood,the Camaro received anupgrade with its first comput-er controlled engine knownas “Advanced ComputerCommand Control”. The con-

sole housing is different thisyear because the computermodule was hidden underthe front of the consolewhere the map pocket wason previous years. Sales werelackluster at best in 1981(lowest since the strike of ’72)due possibly in part to thepublic getting word of therelease of the new 3rd gener-ation Camaro.

19821982 dawned with the

newly designed 3rdGeneration Camaro being theMotor Trend car of the year.The Camaro had undergonea major change with thewheelbase being shorter andthe weight being reduced byalmost 500 pounds. For thefuel economy minded con-sumer, the Camaro was finallyavailable with a 4 cylinderengine which was the “IronDuke” found in the 1975-1977 Pontiac Astre (RebadgedVega) models. Four wheeldisc brakes were availableagain as an option since theJL8 option in 1969. Onceagain, the Camaro waspressed into service to pacethe Indianapolis 500 and6,360 Silver & Blue replicaswere again available for pub-lic consumption.

1983This year the Camaro

remained largely unchangedover the previous year due tothe short production run in1982. 1983 saw the first yearfor a 5-speed transmissionand a 4-speed automatictransmission in the Camaro.Only available in 1982 &1983, the LU5 V8 with theCrossfire Injection was athrowback to the Crossramintake system of 1969. Later

in 1983, the HO enginebecame available with its alu-minum intake and Quadrajetcarb. This optional engineproved to have more horse-power and better reliability inthe long run. The L69 engineonly mustered 3,223 units itsfirst year; but eventuallybecame the power plant ofchoice in the Z/28 until thedebut of the IROC.

1984As 1984 dawned, accolades

poured in from the likes ofCar and Driver and Road &Track which led to the Z/28taking top honors over theCorvette in the US. Unique tothe 3rd generation in 1984-1986 was the Berlinettamodel. The Berlinetta hadbeen around since 1979. But,this “Starship Camaro” waslight-years ahead of its timewith its all-digital dash andstalk mounted AM/FMCassette player which wasattached to the console for-ward of the gear selector. Oneodd option to the Camaro in1984 was the ’84 SarajevoOlympics Package which con-sisted of red/white/bluestripes and Winter Olympicdecal emblems placed on3,722 all white cars.

1985The Camaro remained vir-

tually unchanged on theoutside with the exceptionbeing a new front fascia andgrille treatment, rear taillight changes and a newcolor palette to choosefrom. A new option whichhas since gone down inautomotive history was theB4Z package. Checking thatbox on the order form foryour Z/28 in 1985 got youthe all-out performance

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vor, including the IROC-Z.The low production optionfor 1987 was the Sport CoupeConvertible with only 263units sold. It is fair to say thatASC converted Camaros fortheir customers as well, andsome 1986 convertibles notsold through Chevy dealershave been documented.

19881988 saw the Z/28 fade into

obscurity again in favor of theIROC-Z that took its place.Two models were available incoupe or convertible: theSport Coupe and the IROC-Z.However, RS models wereavailable in some areas to thetune of 7,038 units. Thesewere V6 cars designed to lookgood and save fuel. Therewere also around eight 1LECamaros made in the VanNuys Assembly Plant. Moreabout the 1LE shortly…

1989This year saw the Sport

Coupe fall by the wayside andbe replaced by the RS. Now,the Camaro stable consistedof the coupe and convertibleRS and IROC-Z. A curious lit-tle option was the 1LE.Checking the right boxes onthe order form (without AirConditioning) tripped thelight fantastic and brought

IROC (International Race OfChampions) package whichboosted the Camaro’s per-formance to .92G on theskidpad and low 7 second0-60 mph times straight offof the showroom floor. Mid-year in 1985, the venerableL69 HO engine (ironicallyonly available in the IROCwith a manual transmission)began its slide from grace(2,497 units in ’85 to 74 in’86) in favor of the morepowerful LB9.

1986This year saw the death

of the Berlinetta StarshipCamaro with only 4,479units sold due to an oddchange in the automotivemarket. Apparently, con-sumers wanted more per-formance over bells andwhistles…Imagine that?!The 5-speed was the onlychoice for a manual trans-mission for that year andthe third brake lightappeared in the compoundcurve rear window. TheIROC remained as an optionpackage. Two colors: LightBrown and Copper weredeleted from the palettethat year with four Camarospainted light brown and twoin the copper hue. Lookingin the paint chip book, wecan see why they weredeleted. I can’t really imag-ine a Light Brown IROC-Z.

1987The convertible was final-

ly resurrected from 1969this year in a very short pro-duction run. These convert-ibles were not actually builtby GM; but rather conver-sions of T-top models doneby ASC. The convertiblecould be ordered in any fla-

you a Camaro to be used onthe SCCA Showroom StockClass circuit with big Corvettebrakes, aluminum driveshaftand items removed forweight savings. Chevroletbuilt around 111 1LECamaros and they are highlysought after today.

1990First year for the supple-

mental restraint systemrequired by the FederalGovernment (airbags, in lay-man’s terms.) Models werethe same as 1989 and muchremained unchanged. The1LE saw only 62 units built.

1991Chevrolet did not renew

their contract with theInternational Race ofChampions, so that was theend of the IROC-Z. The Z/28returned to active duty withthe RS again in coupe or con-vertible form. The 1LE couldbe ordered under the Z/28,which was done 478 times. Anew package appeared thisyear which was the B4CSpecial Service Package or“Police” package. The B4Cgot you an RS with the rip-roaring Z/28 drivetrain–which was offered for sale topolice departments nation-wide. 592 were sold.

19921992 was the 25th

Anniversary of the Camaroand all dashes had an emblemtouting this fact. The RS andZ/28 were back in coupe andconvertible and a “HeritagePackage” was available, whichgave your Camaro the stereostripes up the hood anddown the deck. 705 1LE carsand 589 B4C cars were builtthat year. 1992 closed outunremarkably as the end ofthe 3rd generation.This concludes our visit

down the Camaro timeline.We chose to end it herebecause the 4th generationCamaro became more andmore “cookie cutter” andoptions began to becomeenclosed in packages. Not tosay the 4th gens aren’t cool.We like the 1995 SS Z/28,1997 30th Anniversary, 200235th Anniversary modelsand the GMMG models likethe Tom Henry, Berger andIntimidator SS Camaros. Werealize in our option listthere are some options likeblock heaters and high alti-tude rear end ratios thathad lower production num-bers that we did not includedue to their absence of thecool factor.

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