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GM promises it’s not the newest thing for the Camaro, but the nameplate is on hold for a while. Given the return of the Chevrolet Blazer as a crossover and rumors of an upcoming Corvette crossover, we asked you to say some regards. Mary, acceleration mom, because when the Camaro rolls back, it’s still going to have a small. . . block V8 under the hood.
But if that doesn’t happen, at least we have our memories. While the Camaro doesn’t pass quietly on that posh night, fading despite the light fading, here’s a look back at 8 of the largest Camaros ever made.
The Camaro first went on sale in the fall of 1966, with its name completely made up but destined to have perfect compatibility brands like the Chevelle. A Chevrolet executive joked to the press that a Camaro was “a ferocious little animal that eats Mustangs. “
The lightweight, acid-soaked race vehicle, driven by Mark Donohue in the 1967 and 1968 Trans-Am racing series, not only ate Mustangs, but crossed the box like a bobcat in a bird sanctuary.
With a 5. 0-liter V8 engine and 440 horsepower versus just 2,535 pounds (1,150 kg), the Team Penske Camaro was necessarily comprised of two Mazda MX-5s and a portion curbside distilled w8 of one. He was a real rocket and won 8 out of twelve races in the 1968 season.
And it’s also worth noting the stock street-legal Camaro was only about 110 kg (240 lbs) heavier, and its V8 was pretty easy to tune for more power. Having debuted first, Ford’s Mustang had a battle on its hands, and the competition was hungry.
The third rarest Hot Wheels ever made, the Custom Camaro is also the first Hot Wheels to be released to the public and as such is priceless (or around $2,500 at auction, if you have one in a box in your penthouse). Racing victories gave the Camaro a base of racing fans, however, the ability to keep one in your pocket created a whole generation of kids who enjoyed the Camaro before even getting a driver’s license.
I know, I know: we’ll be out of the 1960s in a moment. But we can’t do that without mentioning one of the scariest Camaros that hit the road before the fuel crisis of the 1970s hit the thunderous pause button. in the large-displacement V8.
“COPO” is the umbrella term for cars ordered through GM’s headquarters production order program, which allowed some dealers to ask for incredibly stupid options. Specifically, a COPO 427 came with the 7. 0-liter engine of a Corvette for an optional price of nearly double. The value of the Camaro itself!
Don Yenko, a Chevrolet racer in Pennsylvania, made a name for himself by building what he called “Super Camaros” in 1967, with 427 installed after delivery. By 1969, he had enough clout to order his specially supplied cars directly from GM, along with other functional innovations such as front disc brakes. Today, a Yenko Camaro is incredibly valuable and stands out enough to have made the impression in the second film in The Fast film franchise.
Speaking of everyone’s favorite street racing docuseries, here’s a car that did a lot to resurrect the appeal of the 1970s Camaro. Built by Hot Rod magazine editor-in-chief David Freiburger, the “F-Bomb” sits atop GM’s F-body platform. (hence the name) and has a twin-turbo V8 with more than 1,500 hp on its hood (again, hence the name).
The genuine car is surely insane, with Hot Rod driving it over 1,500 miles of road (2,400 km) in five days, preventing it from running five times on race tracks, doing eight-second runs each time. In the film, a number of F-Bomb “bending hands” were built to appear as henchman’s car in Fast.
If you’ve never heard this story before, buckle up. During the Bosnian War of the early 1990s, an unarmed Danish special officer named Helge Meyer drove a specially prepared Camaro into the center of the camp, bringing materials and medical aid to suffering civilians.
The Camaro was equipped with puncture-resistant tires, infrared goggles, extra spare wheels, and soft metal armor, but it was most commonly supplied by Meyer, who showed near courage. He found himself facing danger, carrying nothing yet, a knife and his own assurance that it was the right thing to do.
Best of all, decades later he still owns the car. Meyer continued to deliver materials in his Camaro during the postwar reconstruction effort and wrote an e-book about his reports that is so far only available in Danish and German. But what a movie it would be! do.
We go back to the 1960s, but not quite. In this case, we hark back to the 1980s, when the Ferrari F40 was about to set the world on fire with its mind-blowing top speed of 201 mph (323 km/h). the F40, but sit down, Enzo.
Because, in the second edition of the Silver State Classic Challenge, an open-road race held for the past three decades in Nevada, a specially prepared 1969 Camaro Z/Z8 traveled 93 miles (150 km) at an average speed of 319 km/h. . km/h (198 mph), exceeding 354 km/h (220 mph) at times. This Camaro was called the Big Red, and about twenty years ago it was rebuilt and has since taken over everything from Texas Mile racing to more sensitive demanding speed situations. to climbing Pikes Peak.
While popular Transformers videos are precisely the most cerebral videos ever made, sometimes you just need a big bucket of popcorn and over 90 minutes of explosions. And, for young moviegoers who may never have seen a Camaro twice, suddenly having a robot friend turned into a car sounded profoundly appealing.
Bumblebee was first introduced as a 1977 Camaro F-Body and later as a Camaro concept car based on the Pontiac GTO. In later films, it’s a trendy Camaro; You wonder what it will be like in the next one, now. that the Camaro is retired.
Even as GM taketh away, it at least offers one of the best production Camaros ever made. With a supercharged 6.2L V8 pumping out 650 hp, the ZL1 is the top-dog in Camaro world, and invites obvious comparisons to the also-doomed Dodge Challenger Hellcat.
But while the Hellcat runs like an elephant and also takes corners like an elephant, the Camaro ZL1 feels right at home even on a narrow race track. It has plenty of grip, a chassis that feels more nimble than the Mustang’s, and while the limited visibility on the outside is similar to that of a coastal defense pillbox, you get used to it over time.
It’s a farewell to a badge that has traded blows with Ford’s Mustang for decades. And as for the Mustang, it’s more productive that it doesn’t melt while your educational spouse is on vacation. The Camaro will return, and when it does, it may not fire any shots.
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