Camaro

Joshua Lee Williamson

Mrs. Rente

English 11

January 24, 2002

The name "Camaro" came from a French word for friend. The decision on the name came down to the last minute, with most of the world sure the car would be named, "The Panther." Although the strange name had to be explained to the public, Camaro fit in with other Chevy names- Corvette, Chevelle, Chevy 2, and Corvair.

The main reason the Camaro was introduced was because of the huge success of the Ford Mustang. The Camaro was roughly the same size as the Mustang, a little wider and based more on performance. The Camaro is one of the last remaining muscle cars still in production today. It is only fitting that buyers still expect maximum performance from their Camaros. It is that expectation that has kept the Camaro alive for all these years, while many other cars have faded away, lost in memory.

The Mustang GT only only offered the 289- cubic inch or an 390- cubic inch V8 in 1967. The Camaro rolled out with 302, 327, 350, and 396 cubic inch V8's (Camaro 14) The Camaro's style was much smoother as well. The introduction of the Camaro threw pony car development into a frenzy. Before the Camaro, the Mustang and Barracuda were not quite considered full muscle cars. Most serious performance enthusiasts still opted for intermediate sized GTO's or the Chevelle Super Sports (SS). The Camaro changed the image of those sport coupes. (Camaros, Eric Ethan)

The Z28 and the stout SS-396 were more than just a stylish ride. Under the hood Camaros were well respected. Such respect helped establish the Camaro as the premier high-performance pony car.

Camaro sales increased each year form 1967-1969. To this day, these Camaros are the favorite among enthusiasts. The Camaro brings a bad-boy image to the street and the track. The car has always been based on racing even when the Camaro was not officially involved. "It's at home drag racing, and racing away from convenience stores after hold-ups. Because of this, media has given the Camaro a bad boy reputation."(American Muscle Cars, 47)

1969 saw several noteworthy changes to the Camaro. The grill became deeper set, the taillamps were longer and thinner and broken into three segments. A heavy "eye-brow" crease was added on the both sides of the car extending from the front wheel well to the rear wheel well. A matching crease went from the rear wheel well to the rear quarter panel. Endura rubber bumpers were available on the Camaro as well as a two ram air induction systems for the SS. The first was a new special hood with a rear facing inlet and cold-air duct underneath the hood. The second was a dealer installed cowl plenum kit that came with a special air cleaner and adapter. No special hood was needed. The RS package was still popular, and included a special grill with concealed headlights and washers, and RS badging. The SS standard 350 received a slight power boost to 300bhp but the big news was the availability of special 427 cid equipped Camaros. The first were special dealer-installed units, most notably the Yenko Camaro 427. Yenko Sports Cars, based in Pennsylvania, along with other Chevy dealers such as Nickey in Chicago, Dana in California, and Baldwin-Motion in New York, would install the L72 427 cid block, rated at 425bhp by Chevrolet, ordered under the Central Office Production Order System (COPO) code 9562 into a buyer's Camaro. The Yenko Camaro 427 is typical of the breed; it came from the factory with no ornamentation, badging, and the 427 in a crate. Yenko installed the 427 block, changed the rating to a more realistic 450bhp, and added 15-inch rally wheels, bigger front roll bar, and sYc (Yenko Sports Car) badging. A full complement of racing add ons were available and sub 13 second quarter miles were possible with a few more dollars. Overshadowing these dealer souped up Camaros was the factory Camaro ZL1. Specially designed to compete in the NHRA Super Stock drag classes, Chevrolet made it an option under the COPO system. The cars began as SS-396 cubic inch/375bhp Camaros with the F41 suspension. The SS trim and engine were deleted, and the 427 engine, cowl-induction hood, front disc brakes, a choice of heavy duty 4 speed transmissions were added. The ZL1 sported aluminum heads and the first aluminum block ever made by Chevrolet. It shared the L88 aluminum head/iron block's engine rating of 430bhp but made closer to 500bhp -- making it probably the most powerful engine Chevrolet ever offered to the public. And it weighed just 500 pounds, the same as Chevy's 327 small block. The car was blessed with a 5 year/50,000 mile warranty and was fully street legal. With factory exhausts and tires, it turned low 13s; with headers and slicks, it could turn 11.6s @ 122mph. This was the fastest car ever produced by Chevrolet. Performance had its price -- $4,160 for the ZL1 engine alone pushing the price of the Camaro ZL1 to an unbelieveable $7,200 (about double the price for a SS396 Camaro). Chevy needed to build 50 to qualify the car for racing; it actually built 69, 59 Camaros and 2 Corvettes. The high price made them difficult to sell and at least 12 engines were removed and about 30 cars were returned back to Chevrolet. It took until the early 1970s to sell them all. (GM auto technical data 134-167)

Production of the 1969 Camaros continued into the beginning of 1970 as the all new 1970 Camaros were not released until mid 1970. Despite predictions of the collapse of the pony car market, the new Camaro was released with much fanfare and much success. Most of the credit went to the new styling, which was European-inspired and would prove so popular that it would last until 1982. The new Camaro was two inches longer and had five inch longer doors. It had better noise insultation. Under the hood, the Camaro SS continued with the 350 and 396 engines. After January 1970, however, the 396 engines no longer displaced 396 cubic inches. Chevrolet actually enlarged them to 402 cubic inches but the executives decided to name it the 396 to take advantage of the name recognition and avoid any attention from insurance carriers. The Z28 saw the most radical change -- an all new 350 cid engine know as the LT-1 350. It was rated at 360bhp (it had a rating of 370bhp when installed in Corvettes). This engine proved much more tractable, reliable, and generally outperformed the 302. (GM tech 155-162)

For a lot of reasons, the 1970 is often remembered as the last great year for American muscle cars. The pressure on the auto makers had been building for quite some time. The Environmental Protection Agency was formed shortly after the 1970 Camaro hit the road, and insurance companies were making