The fact that it took GM as long as it did to produce the Camaro (and its Pontiac sibling, the Firebird) is somewhat puzzling. GM knew about the Mustang long before it debuted, and Chevy stylists had been playing with four-seat "personal car" designs since at least 1958. In 1962, Chevrolet styling chief Irv Rybicki had proposed building one such design on the platform of the compact Chevy II/Nova, and in early 1964, Chevy had shown a prototype of a Nova-based personal car, appropriately called Super Nova, at the New York Auto Show. Despite all those antecedents, the car that became the Camaro wasn't approved for production until August 1964, four months after the Mustang's spectacular bow.

Why? When Chevrolet General Manager Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen vetoed Rybicki's personal-car concept back in 1962, he declared that the last thing Chevrolet needed was yet another car. At the time, Chevy had the full-sized Chevrolet, the Corvette, the rear-engine, air-cooled Corvair, and the compact Chevy II, and the division was busily readying the midsize Chevelle/Malibu for a 1964 debut. There were limits to even Chevrolet's development and marketing budget, especially for something management didn't see as a volume product.

Knudsen assumed that Chevrolet's existing models, particularly the Corvair, would be more than a match for any new small Ford. The Corvair's sporty Monza model, introduced late in 1960, had uncovered a decent-size market for sporty performance in a smaller package. Chevy sold 218,728 Monzas in 1962, and they'd recently added a turbocharged version called Spyder, one of the world's first turbocharged production cars. Stylist Ron Hill had just penned a sleek new Corvair design for the '65 model year that looked to be a sure winner.

When the Mustang proved to be an instant success, Knudsen realized he had made a mistake, but it wasn't until Mustang sales topped the six-figure mark that GM's upper management was convinced. The new Corvair, for all its lovely, Italianate good looks, was no match for the competition from Dearborn, in part because its top engine, the a 164 cu. in. (2.7 L) turbocharged flat-six, had only 180 gross horsepower (134 kW), while the Mustang's base 289 V8 offered 200. The Corvair was clearly over-matched, and the public had cooled on its radical engineering, not helped by the growing controversy over the treacherous handling of early Corvairs.

PANTHER'S PAL

Thanks to all these delays, Chevy's Mustang-fighter, known internally as the F-body, did not go on sale until September 29, 1966, more than two years after the Mustang. The highly anticipated car was originally supposed to be called Panther, which is how it was usually described in press. By the time Chevrolet general manager Pete Estes made the official announcement in mid-1966, it had become Camaro, which GM claimed meant "friend" or "pal" in French.

Estes said that the Camaro name was chosen to honor the tradition of beginning Chevrolet model names with the letter C, which was ludicrous, given that the Chevy Impala was then the best-selling car in the world. The real reason was that GM's upper management had gotten nervous about the aggressive connotations of the Panther name; a similar bout of cold feet would lead the Pontiac version, the Banshee, to be renamed Firebird.


This is not a Z/28. It has Z/28 badges, twin stripes, and spoilers, but jutting up from the center console is the shifter for a three-speed Turbo Hydramatic. First-generation Z/28s were available only with the close-ratio Muncie M21 four-speed; with the high-strung 302 engine, an automatic transmission would've been a somewhat miserable proposition. The interchangeability of parts means that it's fairly easy to put together a 'clone' of any model you want, although its value will be significantly lower than the real thing.

Like the Chevy II, the Camaro had an unusual semi-unitized structure. A front subframe carrying the engine and front suspension was bolted at the cowl to a unitized passenger compartment, with the two sections isolated by thick rubber 'biscuits' to absorb vibration. The idea was to achieve some of the space and weight advantages of unitary construction, while isolating passengers from noise and ride harshness. The Camaro was indeed somewhat smoother and quieter than its unibody Ford rival, but the cost was extra weight. The Camaro weighed more than 150 pounds  (68 kg) more than a comparably equipped Mustang, despite the fact that it was only slightly larger: 1 inch (25 mm) longer, 1.6 inches wider (41 mm), and 0.6 inches (15 mm) lower.

The Camaro had a long hood and a short deck, but it didn't otherwise look like the Mustang; Chevrolet stylists were vaguely contemptuous of the Mustang's boxy styling. From some angles, the Camaro resembles a more muscular evolution of the Corvair -- not surprising, given that they were products of the same design studio. Contemporary critics liked the Camaro better than the Mustang, finding the latter old-fashioned, but the Mustang's conservative looks probably helped to sell it to a range of buyers who found the Camaro too racy.


The '67 Camaro used the Nova's Mono-Plate single-leaf springs, which provided very little axle control. '67 Z/28s had a single traction bar (a trailing arm extending forward from the axle housing to the body) on the right side to help control axle hop. '68-'69 models with more powerful engines abandoned the traction bars in favor of multiple-leaf springs and staggered shocks (one ahead of the rear axle, the other behind), but axle hop was still a problem.

BIG BLOCKS AND SMALL

The original Camaro's performance was very similar to that of the contemporary Mustang. Its V8 engines were bigger -- 327 cu. in. (5.4 L) and 396 cu. in. (6.5 L) versus 289 cu. in. (4.7 L) and 690 cu. in. (6.4 L) for the Mustang -- but their outputs were remarkably similar. Because the Camaro was heavier than the Mustang, it had little, if any performance advantage. Camaros with automatic transmission were further handicapped by Chevy's antediluvian two-speed Powerglide, which was a lot less flexible than the three-speed automatics offered by the Mustang and Plymouth's Barracuda. (The big-block Camaro SS396 was offered with the three-speed Turbo Hydramatic, but the three-speed automatic wasn't available on lesser Camaros until 1969.)

Chevy would have had the hardware and the know-how to make a hotter Camaro, but GM in those days had set draconian limits on power and performance. In 1967, no GM car other than the Corvette was permitted to have more than one advertised horsepower per 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight, and compacts and intermediates were prohibited from using engines bigger than 400 cubic inches (6.6 liters). Some performance-minded dealers offered Camaros with the bigger 427 cu. in. (7.0 L) V8, occasionally with some sub rosa help from sympathetic Chevy engineers, but most of the meanest first-generation Camaros were not official factory offerings.

There was one exception, and that was the Z/28.


The 'stepped' taillights are one of a number of minor features that mark this as a 1969 model. '69 Camaros could be ordered with rear disc brakes, although they cost more than $500, and getting them was difficult if you weren't on a first-name basis with Vince Piggins.

TRANS AM

In 1966, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) created a new racing class: the Trans American Group II Sedan Racing series, better known as Trans Am. The Mustang had won the series in the first year, running against an assortment of Plymouth Barracudas and Valiants. There had been no challenger from Chevrolet, and Chevy engineer Vince Piggins wanted to make sure that didn't happen again.

Vince Piggins had joined Chevrolet in the mid-fifties after a stint at Hudson, where he helped to develop the Hudson Hornets that dominated NASCAR in the early 1950s. By the mid-sixties, he was manager of product performance in Chevrolet's Engineering division. Officially, that meant he was responsible for performance and economy testing; unofficially, it meant he was in charge of developing high-performance parts for Chevy cars.

Piggins was in an awkward position in the mid-sixties, trying to develop speed equipment in a corporation where "performance" was something of a dirty word. Back in 1957, GM had signed on to an agreement of the Automobile Manufacturing Association (AMA) that called for a ban on the promotion of speed or participation in racing. Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac had defied the ban until January 1963, when GM chairman Frederic Donner issued a stern memo ordering all division heads to immediately cease all racing activity. New corporate policies were laid down to restrict power and displacement. Even aggressive or suggestive advertising could result in a warning memo or a threatening phone call from the 14th floor.

Despite those restrictions, Piggins created a covert racing development team within his department, including engineers Herb Fishel, Bill Howell, Paul Prior, John Pierce, and Ron Sperry. They continued to develop parts for competition, labeling them "heavy-duty" or "off-highway" to disguise their real purpose.


The 'duckbill' rear spoiler is commonly associated with the Z/28, and it became part of the Z/28 option package in mid-'69, but it could be ordered on any Camaro as RPO D80.

Piggins had wanted to develop the Camaro's performance image, and the Trans-Am series was exactly what he had been looking for. He proposed to Pete Estes that they develop a version of the Camaro that would fit the Trans Am requirements, which specified cars of wheelbase no greater than 116 inches (2,946 mm) and engines of no more than 305 cubic inches (5.0 L).

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED

The Camaro was the right size, but the missing piece was the engine. At that time, Chevy's small-block "mouse motor" was offered in three sizes: 283 cu. in. (4.6 L), 327 cu. in. (5.4 L), and the new 350 cu. in. (5.7L), a Camaro exclusive in 1967. The 283 was really too small to develop enough horsepower for Trans Am, but the 327 and 350 were too big. Piggins built a development 'mule' powered by the 283, but one day, while giving Pete Estes, a demonstration ride, he proposed creating a new engine specifically for the Trans Am by combining the bore of the 327/350 with the stroke of the 283. The combination would yield 302.4 cubic inches (4,956 cc), just under the limit, while its short stroke would give the engine excellent high-rev potential.

Pete Estes had recently come to Chevy from Pontiac, where he had signed off on the creation of the GTO, so he understood what a Chevrolet Trans Am competitor could be worth from a marketing standpoint. He gave Piggins the go-ahead.


The real Z/28's 302 was grossly underrated from the factory, but it developed more horsepower -- albeit at high engine speeds -- than the 396 big block. An SS396 Camaro would smoke a Z/28 off the line and stay ahead of it until about 75 mph (120 kph), but after that, the Z/28 would pull ahead, crossing the quarter mile line with a 6 mph (9.7 kph) higher trap speed. Even accounting for the 396's greater weight and poorer traction, this suggests that the Z/28 had at least 40 horsepower (30 kW) more.

As with the Shelby GT-350, there was a lot of argument about what to call the special racing homologation model, which was finally settled by simply using the Regular Production Option code for the engine, which was RPO Z28. The Z/28 package was a $400.25 option for Camaro hardtops only; it was not available on convertibles. It included twin paint stripes, a faster steering ratio, 15-inch Rally wheels with 7.35-in tires, the stiff F41 heavy-duty suspension, and a heavy-duty, 12-bolt differential. It had to be ordered with power-assisted front disc brakes and a close-ratio four-speed manual transmission, which added an additional $300 or so to the bill. Buyers could specify almost any other Camaro option, with the exception of air conditioning and automatic transmission.


The 302's 290 horsepower(216 kW) gross rating was certainly conservative; observers have credited it with as much as 400 gross horsepower (298 kW).

The 302 used the cylinder heads of the Corvette's L79 engine, which had big valves (2.02-inch (51.3-mm) intake, 1.60-in (40.6-mm) exhausts) and heavy-duty valve springs. A long-duration cam (346° total duration, 0.46-in (11.70-mm lift) and solid lifters gave lots of top-end power; an even hotter cam was available over the dealer parts counter, although it was not really suitable for street use. Chevy rated the 302 at 290 horsepower (216 kW) at 5800 rpm and 290 lb-ft (392 N-m) of torque at 4200 rpm, which theoretically made it a little less powerful than the cheaper SS350's 350 cu. in. (5.7L) L48 engine, which claimed 295 hp (220 kW). A few gullible senior executives may have believed that, but it was definitely not true. Although the 302's radical cam timing meant that it was weak under 3,000 rpm, if wound out to its 7,000 rpm redline, its actual gross horsepower was closer to 380 (283 kW). With its dearth of low-end grunt, the 302 was no drag racer, but it was just the thing for road racing.


Chevy never officially called this the "Cowl Induction" hood, but that's how it's generally known; on Camaro order forms, it was RPO ZL2, introduced for the 1969 model year. It channeled cooler, high-pressure air from the base of the windshield into the engine air cleaner, increasing power by as much as 10%.

THE LIGHTWEIGHT

The '67 Z/28 went on sale in December of 1966. Only 602 were sold, most of them through performance-oriented dealerships like Yenko and Nickey Chevrolet. That total wasn't technically enough to qualify for SCCA Group II, which demanded at least 1,000 cars, but Piggins arranged to have the regular SS350 Camaro (which sold more than 30,000 units) homologated for SCCA's Group I racing and convinced officials to base the Z/28's homologation on the total sales of both cars. Realizing that Chevy's participation would make the Trans Am series a lot more marketable, SCCA officials agreed.

There was no official Chevrolet Trans Am team; officially, Roger Penske's racing Camaro, sponsored by Sunoco and driven by Mark Donohue, was a private effort, although a more accurate term might be privateer. As far as anyone could tell at the time, Penske did not receive any money from Chevrolet, but his team did receive considerable technical support from the factory. That support was limited somewhat by the fact that Chevrolet, unlike Ford, did not have an official competition budget. Still, the extent of Chevy's support was evidenced by the fact that midway through the '67 Trans-Am series Chevrolet provided a special set of lightweight Camaro body panels for Donohue's car, made using extremely thin steel. "Not in racing," indeed.

The rule-bending wasn't limited to the Chevy side. When the thinner body panels were wrecked in a crash during a practice session, Penske and Donohue concocted their own replacement, a car that is still known -- and notorious -- as "The Lightweight." Penske obtained another Camaro body shell and had an aircraft manufacturer acid-dip it to thin the metal, an effective, if highly illegal and very dangerous way to reduce its weight.

The acid-dipped car won two of the four remaining races in the '67 season, but suspicious competitors tipped off the SCCA that something was amiss. Tech inspectors weighed the Lightweight and found that it was about 250 pounds (113 kg) lighter than the legal minimum weight. The SCCA threatened to overturn Donohue's victory in the Seattle race, but Penske warned that if they did, Chevy might withdraw its support from Trans Am entirely. The victory was allowed to stand, but Penske was told the Lightweight would never be allowed to race again.

For the 1968 series, Penske and Donohue built a new, legal '68 Camaro. It was still acid-dipped, which was still illegal, but Penske added ballast to bring it back to the legal minimum weight, which at least let them put the weight were they wanted it.

After the new car lost its first race with a blown cylinder head, Penske and Donohue decided -- under pressure from Chevy, which was very eager for a Camaro victory in the '68 series -- to run two cars. They retrieved the '67 Lightweight, refitted it with '68 taillights and grille, and painted it identically to the legal '68 car. They then sent the '68 car through tech inspection twice, wearing different numbers, and raced both cars; the Lightweight  evaded inspection entirely. Donohue proceeded to win 10 of the 12 races of the '68 series, a record that would stand until 1997.


The legendary, not to say infamous, Penske Sunoco Camaro. One of the remarkable things about the Lightweight is that nobody noticed that, despite it being refitted with a '68 grille and taillights, it had front vent windows; '68-'69 Camaros and Firebirds had no ventiplanes. (Photo © 2006 Nathan Bittinger; used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license)

Penske and Donohue didn't push their luck with the Lightweight in '69, but they still won eight of the 12 races, earning Donohue a second Manufacturer's Title -- ironic, given Chevy's ostensible lack of involvement.

Information on the Super Nova came from "Chevrolet Super Nova" (author and date unknown, ClassicNovas.net, http://www.classicnovas.net/features/snova/index.htm, accessed 27 October 2007) and Steve Statham, Nova SS: Nova and Chevy II 1962-1979 (Muscle Car Color History) (Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing Company, 1997), p. 40.

Information on the origins of the Camaro came primarily from Randy Leffingwell, Darwin Holmstrom, David Newhardt, Muscle: America's Legendary Performance Cars (St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks, 2006), pp. 161-167; Arch Brown, "SIA comparisonReport: 1967 Mustang versus 1967 Camaro," Special Interest Autos #92, March-April 1986, reprinted in Terry Ehrich and Richard A. Lentinello, eds., The Hemmings Motor News Book of Mustangs (The Hemmings Motor News) (Bennington, VT: Hemmings Motor News, 2001), pp. 54-61; and John F. Katz, "1967 Chevrolet Camaro: Six Are Sufficient," Special Interest Autos #166, July-August 1998, reprinted in in Terry Ehrich, ed., The Hemmings Book of Postwar Chevrolets (Hemmings Motor News Collector-Car Books) (Bennington, VT: Hemmings Motor News, 2001), pp. 102-109.

Technical details on the Camaro and Z/28 came from "Camaro Research Group FAQ List" (ed. Rich Fields, 1998-2008, Camaro Research Group, http://www.camaros.org/index.shtml, accessed 28 October 2007). Background on Vince Piggins came from George Mattar, "Vince Piggins," Hemmings Muscle Machines, July 2005 (1 July 2005, http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2005/07/01/hmn_feature8.html, accessed 28 October 2007). Information on the Lightweight came from "1967 Sunoco Camaro: 'The Lightweight'" (author and date unknown, The Prisma Collection, http://www.prismacars.com/Sunoco%20Camaro%20History.htm, accessed 28 October 2007).

Vintage road tests consulted for this article included "1967 report: Camaro: '67's Most Anticipated Car" (Hot Rod, November 1966); Steven Kelly, "Camaro by Chevrolet (Motor Trend, December 1966); "Two Chevrolet Camaros: SS 350 and Big Six -- Both have Virtue and Plenty of Performance" (Car Life, March 1967); "Engineering the Camaro" (Car Life, January 1968); "Camaro Z-28: As near as Chevroelt can come to being in racing without being in racing" (Road & Track, June 1968); "Camaro Z/28: A pint-size engine with the heart of a tiger gives it a Supercar's performance and sports car's handling" (Car Life, July 1968); Eric Dahlquist, "Camaro Two-Step" (Motor Trend, July 1968); "Camaro" (Road Test, February 1969); and David Bean, "Professionals at Work: Watch the Penske Team build a Trans-Am winner, step by legal, painstaking step" (Car Life, January 1970), all of which are reprinted in R.M. Clarke, ed., Camaro Muscle Portfolio, 1967-73 (Brooklands Muscle Portfolio) (Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands Books Ltd., 1992).

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