The Camaro was introduced on September 26,1966 as a 1967 model year. Four distinct generation if the Camaro were produced before ending production in 2002 . In this blog I will only be dealing with two of the generations. I will be talking about the Origin to the Second generation.
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The origin for the name Camaro was found in the French dictionary as meaning friend ,chum, or companion. Before it official release the code name for the Camaro was “Panther” however the project designation for the Camaro was XP-836 . Some earl photos show the Camaro Body labeled “Chaparral”. Asked what a Camaro is the Chevrolet project manger said it was “ a small vicious animal that eats Mustangs”. And the name Camaro Fit the Chevrolet’s “C” naming structure that included the Corvair, Chevelle, Chevy II, and Corvette.
The Camaro was first advertised on contemporary hit radio(top 40) AM stations of the day in attempt to woo the young adult market. Technically a compact pony car, the Camaro could also be classified as a sporty muscle car or economical grand tourer, depending on the selected optional equipment.
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The First generation 1967 to 1969 on a brand new rear-wheel drive GM F-body platform and be available as a 2-door , 2+2 seating , coupe or convertible with a choice of engines a inline 6 ,302cu in,307 cu in, 327 cu in,350 cu in, or 396 cu in V8 powerplants .These engines could be lashed to a series of wide or short ratio three or four speed manual transmissions, or one of two automatics: the slushy two-speed Powerglide or the outstanding three-speed Turbobydramatic.
The Rally Sport(RS) appearance package brought deluxe interior trim and hidden headlights with it and the high-performance Super Sport(SS) package had its own distinct decorations(including a domed hood with simulated vents,”bumble Bee” stripes encircling the nose and the iconic SS badge) , heavy -duty suspension and larger D70 -series tire on 14inch wheels .Beyond that, SS-350 model also offered the new 350 Cubic inch small block V8 that was rated at 295 horsepower. It was Chevy’ first 350.The RS and SS packages could be ordered together to form a lavishly equipped Camaro of them all, the RS/SS Camaro. A RS/SS convertible powered by 396 was the Pace Car for the 1967 Indianapolis 500.
Almost outside the regular Camaro line was the race -oriented Z/28. Introduced In December 1966 the Z/28 was powered by a special high compression 302 cu in V8 was achieved by matching the short stroke of the 283 version with big bore block of the 327. Rated at 290 horsepower and built to rev the radical powerplant was matched to a more aggressive suspension.
How did the Camaro preform? Car life magazine test the 350 SS in the quarter mile in 15.8sec at 89 miles per hour. And in same quarter of mile Motor Trend reported that its SS 350 did same trick in 15.4 sec. 90 miles per hour.
1968 thanks to “Astro Ventiltion “ GM eliminated the side vent wing window on the 68 Camaro and also added the federally mandated side maker lights and revised base grille. Mechanically the most change was adoption of the staggered rear shocks one in front of the rear axle and one behind to counteract wheel hop under acceleration.
In 1969 the Camaro’s structure and mechanical elements were virtually unchanged from the ‘68 model ,new fenders, door skins ,rear quarter panels grille and taillights gave the car a wider lower appearance. A redesigned dash and more comfortable seats made it more livable. But it was the staggering array of available performance equipment that marks the1969 as the greatest model year for the Camaro.
On the yawn side you had a low performance 200 horsepower 307 cu in small block (a 327 crank in 283 block) supplement the low performance 327 and a new 255 horsepower 350 replaced the better performing 327. On the yeow side Chevy produced its second Camaro Indianapolis 500 pace car and offered replicas of the white RS/SS convertible with orange stripes and orange houndstooth upholstery to the public (the actual pace had 396 and most of replicas had 350s) In addtion two radical Camaros were produced in extremely limited numbers under special Central Office Production Order (COPO)9560and 9561.
COPO 9561 was a basic Camaro sport coupe stuffed with a 427 cubic inch all iron big block making 425 horsepower. Most of the 1,015 COPO were delivered to Pennsylvania’s Yenko Chevrolet for conversion into that dealerships signature Camaro. Even rarer was the COPO 9560 featuring the legendary all aluminum ZL-1 427 also rated at 425 horsepower. Only 69 of the ZL-1’s were built, because of their rarity tremendous output and relatively low weight.They today are considered the quickest and most valuable Camaros ever built.
Sales Of the 69 Camaro model extended into the winter of 69 and earl1970; some of the lingering ‘69s may have been titled as 1970 models ,leading to some confusion.
Tomorrow Part two.