Friday Flashback: The Original Chevrolet Camaro

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The Chevrolet Camaro has been one of the most iconic names in American motoring for more than forty years. The first production Camaro hit showrooms in the fall of 1966 as a ‘67. Since then, the Camaro has evolved with the times–during the good and the bad. It has still continued to have a diehard legion of fans who appreciate its blend of affordable fun and middle-class charm.

GM conceived this intermediate-size sport coupe as an alternative to Ford’s ever-popular Mustang. From a mechanical standpoint, the Camaro’s one twist was that it was based on a unibody construction–body and frame as one. GM offered only two bodystyles: coupe and convertible. GM’s marketing strategy was to overwhelm the competition through a bevy of options in sport-tuning, engines, transmissions, exterior styling, and interior accouterments.

There was no ladder of trim levels. Instead, the Camaro’s various trim packages could be mixed to create anything from a bare-metal street racer to a luxuriously appointed GT.  The base equipment was nothing to admire: a cheaply built coupe with drum brakes all around, an antiquated three-speed manual gearbox, and an anemic 230 cu. in. “straight-six” motor that could achieve 0-60 in about a week. That’s what $2,500 bought you.

Of course, there was a lot more to the car. The RS option provided hidden headlamps and a wraparound nose stripe. SS trim was a little more layered. Body-length race stripes and SS badges showcased the package. Selecting the SS trim opened upgraded disc brakes, a sport-tuned suspension, and the option of a 396 cu. in. V-8. Hidden among the option list was the Z/28 race equipment option. Buyers received an exclusive 302 V-8 intentionally underrated at 290 hp, so as to avoid nervous insurers. While the 396 was the largest engine officially offered for the Camaro, big-name Chevrolet dealers (most notably the Dana, Yenko, Baldwin, and Nickey chains) crammed Chevrolet’s massive 427 cu. in. V-8 motor under the hood–for a pretty penny.

1969 would be the last year for the first-gen Camaro. Noticeable changes included a revised, angled front-end and wider tail lamps. Sixty-nine would be a big year in other ways for the Camaro. The Z/28 came out of the closet to openly take on Ford’s Mach 1 and Boss 302 Mustangs. A big coup was made when the Camaro was selected as the pace car for the Indy 500, leading a media blitz.The most revered Camaros of ‘69 were the most secretive. Backroom dealing resulted in a tiny number of Central Office Production Order (COPO) Camaros being released from the factory. These Camaros were stripped of non-essential equipment and hooked up with premium four-speed manual trannies and 427 V-8s. The most powerful of these engines, the ZL-1 (which cost about as much as a new Buick), was put in just sixty-nine cars and pumped out as much as 550 hp.

With the end of the Swinging Sixties came the end of the first generation of Camaro.  The second would bear Italian influence, but undergo an unsteady life throughout the 1970s.  The name would still carry on, with fuel-injection in ’80s, a horsepower recovery in the ’90s, and a temporary retirement in the 2000s.  With the 2010, the Camaro has returning and finally become the world-class GT it should’ve been.  But it was with the success of its Sixties ancestor that a legacy was formed–one that’s endured for four decades.