2005 Camaro When Did They Start Making Camaros Again
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A Visual History of the Chevrolet Camaro, from 1967 to Today
A twelvemonth-by-year breakup of the Camaro's evolution.
Roy Ritchie
The Chevy Camaro was a rush job, a desperate attempt by GM to meet the challenge presented by the ludicrously successful Ford Mustang.
The introduction of the Mustang in April 1964 caught virtually anybody except Ford off guard. Where was Chevy's affordable sporty machine to compete with the Mustang? The rear-engine Corvair didn't really cut it, and the boxy Chevy II Nova lacked sex entreatment. While there had been notions avant-garde for producing a "Super Nova" of sorts before the Mustang debuted, it wasn't until the Mustang was a proven striking in August of 1964 that the go-ahead was given to rush a comparable car into production. That'south a fully developed car in Chevy showrooms by the fall of 1966—barely more than than two years.
The same basic car, known within GM as the F-machine, would also bear witness upward at Pontiac dealers as the Firebird. Just while Pontiac would spin the auto its ain way, the Camaro was almost fully baked by the time the Firebird was canonical for production.
Although the Camaro would get the Mustang'south well-nigh intense rival, its history doesn't strictly parallel that of the Ford product. And with five generations of Camaros already behind us, and a sixth on its way, that heritage is worth charting.
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1965 Chevrolet Chevy 2 Nova
To create the Camaro, Chevrolet started with the compact Chevy 2 Nova (itself a belated response to Ford's Falcon). In much the same way that the first Mustang is mostly a Falcon nether its skin, the first Camaro is more often than not Nova bits. That includes its hybrid structure of a unibody with a front subframe. Just while Novas like this '65 were in production every bit the F-motorcar was being adult, the Camaro would be based on the upcoming second-generation Chevy 2 that would announced as a '68 model.
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1967 Chevrolet Camaro Sport Coupe
The kickoff Camaro went on sale in September 1966 with a base of operations price of $2466. Just over 220,000 were sold that first year compared to more than than 480,000 Mustangs during the same period. The base engine was a 230-cubic-inch (3.8-liter) straight-six rated at 140 gross horsepower. The option list was long and included iv dissimilar pocket-sized-cake Five-8s and two large-blocks. The acme pick was the 375-hp, 396-cubic-inch (6.5-liter) L78 big-block.
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1967 Chevrolet Camaro convertible
Alongside the coupe, Chevrolet offered the Camaro as a convertible, priced roughly $240 more than the coupe. But 25,141 convertibles were function of 1967 Camaro production.
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1967 Chevrolet Camaro footstep automobile
The 1967 Indianapolis 500 was paced past a Camaro convertible with a 325-hp version of the 396 big-block V-8 engine nether its hood. Chevrolet didn't produce replicas equally such, but there were 100 of these Ermine White droptops built for Indianapolis Motor Speedway use, most of which were later sold as used cars.
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1967 Chevrolet Camaro Trans-Am race car
Chevrolet was determined to establish high-performance credentials for the Camaro. Information technology did that with the creation of the 1967 Z/28 powered by the 290-hp DZ302 4.9-liter loftier-pinch V-eight. In the hands of team owner Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue, the Z/28 would prove, after some artistic engineering including an acid bath for the body shell, to exist racing dynamite in the SCCA Trans-Am series. During the 1967 flavour, Donohue would win three times. In 1968, the same car (redecorated equally a '68) was amid those used by Donohue to win 10 of the 13 races that flavor.
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1968 Chevrolet Camaro Pro Stock
Camaros have long been among America'south nearly-raced cars. Aslope Donohue'southward Camaro, legends similar Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was campaigning Camaros in NHRA elevate racing. Here'south Grumpy's 1968 Camaro on its way to winning the very first Pro Stock title at the 1970 Winternationals.
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1968 Chevrolet Camaro Rally SS
Changes for 1968 included "Astro Ventilation" that eliminated the demand for vent windows. New taillights and grilles were as well part of the bundle. Choosing the RS choice included hidden headlights. The SS selection included dual exhaust, reddish-stripe tires, black accents on the grille, and a retuned suspension.
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1969 Chevrolet Camaro step car
Structurally, the 1969 Camaro was little dissimilar from the first two editions. But the bodywork was more than voluptuous and slightly provocative. For the 2d fourth dimension, a Camaro paced the Indianapolis 500, and this time Chevrolet produced 3675 replicas of this Z11 convertible with its signature orange houndstooth upholstery. Fully loaded, these Z11s included both the RS and SS packages, plus the new-for-'69 ZL2 cowl-induction hood.
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1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Sport Coupe
The 1969 Z/28 wasn't mechanically much unlike from the '67 and '68 models, simply many consider it the ultimate Camaro in appearance. During the 1969 model year, the Z/28 was joined past ii special-order, depression-volume, and race-oriented models. Built through the Central Office Production Guild (COPO) organisation, they were the COPO 9560 and 9561. The 9561 was powered by the 425-hp, L72 iron-block 427-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) big-block V-8, and many of the examples fabricated went to Yenko Chevrolet in Pennsylvania, where they became the Yenko Camaro. Only 69 of the 9560s were congenital, and they were all powered past the aluminum ZL-i big-block also rated at 425 horsepower. Those ZL-1 Camaros built in 1969 are considered the most collectible of them all.
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1969 Chevrolet Camaro Red Devil Pro Touring
Hot rods are an essential element of the Camaro's heritage. Over the years, the Camaro has been twisted past its owners into parade floats, jacked-up street racers, gilded Pro Street show cars, and a few truly awesome supercars. GM engineer Mark Stielow'southward series of first-generation Camaros are thoroughly rebuilt around the vast hoard of aftermarket parts available for the car equally well as later-model components adapted to the vehicle.
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1969 Chevrolet Camaro "Blueish Maxi Z/29"
Fifty-fifty equally GM prepared the 2d-generation Camaro for 1970, C/D was still playing with the '69. Our Blue Maxi remains one of the magazine'south most indelible project cars. "The Company Auto: a dazzling, dizzying bluish wonder that had no easy goals to come across," nosotros wrote. "Information technology would accept to handle with its Trans-Am brothers and do us justice on the dragstrip. At the same fourth dimension information technology would have to be tractable on the highway and it would have to exist a credit to its publisher. Generally it had to represent everything we thought was right well-nigh the automobile in an atmosphere of increasing criticism of anything with four wheels—peculiarly 4 fat wheels."
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1970 Chevrolet Camaro
The 2nd-generation Camaros didn't make it to dealers until Feb of 1970, making them 1970½ models. Bigger than earlier and lacking a convertible variant, the new Camaro was nonetheless similarly engineered to the first-generation car, with a front end subframe and a unibody rear construction.
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1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
From C/D's first road test of the 1970½ Z/28: "Somehow, though, the Z/28 is not as thrilling every bit it one time was. It's more tolerant to driving techniques now, more mature in its behavior. All things considered, it'south a meliorate engine now, but the loss of a carefree and irrepressible boyish spirit can never be witnessed without some regret. And although the Z/28 seems much tamer now than it once did, the transformation is more a function of the car than of the increase in displacement."
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1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
The Z/28 carried over to the second-generation Camaro, but information technology was now powered by a 350-cubic-inch (v.7-liter) small-cake LT-1 V-8 rated at 360 horsepower. The LT-1 may have sacrificed some of the DZ302's loftier-revving charisma, but information technology was a much friendlier everyday driving companion. The Z/28 in this photo features the new RS front end cease with its split bumpers and driving lights alongside the grille. The high-back seats signal that the pictured motorcar is a 1971 model—when a switch to SAE "net" power-rating standards dropped the nominal output of the LT-1 to 330 horsepower.
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1972 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
The second-generation Camaro carried on visually nearly unchanged through 1973. And yes, the styling was cribbed from Ferrari. Nearly obviously GM stole from the 1963 250GT Lusso. The big-cake V-8s barbarous off the menu for 1973.
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1974 Chevrolet Camaro Sport Coupe
New federal bumper regulations meant the nose and tail of the Camaro had to exist redesigned for 1974. Considering how massive those aluminum bumpers were, the machine survived their addition admirably.
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1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
The Z/28 got assuming new graphics for '74, but the motorcar itself was becoming fatty, lazy, and underpowered. The 350 V-eight under the hood was rated at just 245 horsepower. Yawn. Mayhap the Z/28 needed to be gone. And past 1975, information technology was!
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1975 Chevrolet Camaro
With the excision of the Z/28, the nigh exciting thing about the 1975 Camaro was the new wraparound rear window that slightly—very slightly—increased rear visibility. This was the kickoff twelvemonth for catalytic converters, and the output of Camaro engines skidded downward. The vi could wheeze out only 105 horsepower while the "big" 350 V-8 was rated at a miserable 145 horsepower when equipped with a 2-barrel carburetor or 155 horsepower in California and loftier-altitude areas where a four-barrel arrested the pass up.
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1976 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport
In '75 the Rally Sport selection became a paint-and-tape bundle. Apartment-black pigment in the 1970s was a challenge to protect. Painted bumpers were, um, well, er . . . 40 years later, they don't await so good. Picayune changed with the '76 model.
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1977 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport
Midway through the 1977 model year, the Z28 returned shorn of its mid-name slash. Now emphasizing handling, it rode on large, 15x7-inch wheels, and its 350 modest-block was rated at a towering 185 horsepower. (In 1977, 185 horses was huge.) Despite this lack of excitement, Chevy sold well-nigh 219,000 '77 Camaros—that was almost three times the sales of its younger, smaller, sport-coupe brother, the Monza.
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1978 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport
The big change for '78 was new soft-plastic bumper covers. Also, for the commencement time, a translucent T-elevation roof choice was also added. Good-looking whitewall tires, too.
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1978 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Here'southward the '78 Z28. The drivetrain carried over from '77.
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1981 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
The concluding of the second-generation Camaros were congenital as 1981 models. That 11-year model run is the longest for a Camaro generation.
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1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Truly all new, the 1982 Camaro used a full unitized construction, a new coil-spring rear suspension, and struts in the front. And for the get-go time, the Camaro was a hatchback. But while the new Camaro was mod and gorgeous in that apartment-plane 1980s manner, it was seriously underpowered. Base Sport Coupes were equipped with the heinous 2.5-liter "Iron Duke" four-cylinder rated at 90 horsepower. A 112-hp, 2.viii-liter V-vi was optional while the Z28'south base v.0-liter Five-8 with a 4-butt carburetor put out just 145 ponies. Only at least that engine could exist had with a four-speed manual transmission. Opting for the 165-hp Cross-Burn-injected version of that engine meant going with a 3-speed automatic.
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1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
In our August 1982 issue, Don Sherman reported this about the new Z28 with Cantankerous-Fire throttle-trunk injection: "When you lot drive a Z28, there is 1 engineering breakthrough that slaps you right in the face: This Camaro is non a committee car. The shock valving is so tight that you lot experience pebbles on the pavement equally you back out of a parking infinite." Sherman slammed the car's anemic acceleration, however. It took 8.vi seconds for the Camaro to hit lx mph, and the quarter-mile needed a languid xvi.4 seconds to go by at 83 mph.
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1982 Chevrolet Camaro pace car
Introduction of the all-new third generation was reason enough for the Camaro to pace the Indianapolis 500 for the third time. Unfortunately, the pokey 165-hp Cross-Fire Injection 5.0-liter Five-viii was the about powerful engine bachelor. That's not plenty for Indianapolis. Then the actual pace car was powered by a modified 5.7-liter V-8 that wasn't offered in a production Camaro.
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1982 DeAtley Trans-Am Chevrolet Camaro race car
Neil DeAtley'southward two Budweiser-sponsored Camaros dominated the 1983 Trans-Am season. Drivers David Hobbs and Willy T. Ribbs took nine of the xiii events in these tube-frame racers. Ribbs won five races and Hobbs iv, with John Paul Jr. calculation a tenth Camaro victory for some other squad. Hobbs won the championship based on his consistent finishes.
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1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Performance was returning to the Z28 by 1983 with the introduction of the 190-hp L69 version of the 5.0-liter Five-8. While information technology even so used a four-barrel carburetor, information technology was now available with a five-speed manual manual. This is the '84 Camaro, which looked almost identical to the '82 and '83. GM'due south 700R4 four-speed automated was optional on about Camaro models past '84.
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1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC
The big leap forward for Camaro functioning in the '80s was the introduction of the IROC-Z with its spectacular 16-inch five-spoke wheels. Just the best news was the newly available Tuned Port Injection (TPI) version of the five.0-liter 5-8 that delivered a sweet 215 horsepower. And and so New Jersey got its official car. And the 1985 Camaro IROC-Z earned a spot on C/D'due south 10Best listing that year.
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1985 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta
The 3rd-generation Camaro was offered in a at present practically forgotten Berlinetta model with V-6 or V-eight power and an near hypnotic digital dashboard. Interest in the Berlinetta shrank to only about 4500 units in '86, and it wasn't part of the '87 lineup. There'due south a reason why they're forgotten.
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