Chevrolet Camaro Retrospective

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Introduction

Arriving four years late to the pony car party, the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro was rushed into production after Ford's stunning success with the original Mustang. Now, 40 years later, history repeats itself. With nearly 200,000 Ford Mustangs sold after a 2005 retro redesign took the icon back to its 1960s roots, Chevrolet can't afford to ignore the sporty rear-drive coupe segment, and the bowtie boys are planning a return as evidenced by the Camaro concept car the company trotted out at the 2006 North American International Auto Show which foreshadows a production car to arrive for 2009.

When the new Chevy Camaro hits showrooms, Ford will have added power, performance, and polish to the successful Mustang. Will General Motors be too late this time, or will the return of the Camaro, and the Dodge Challenger, spark a new pony car war to rival the late 1960s and early 1970s? With Baby Boomers retiring with more wealth than any generation in history, we forecast a long and successful run for these retro-modern muscle cars. And if the Camaro Concept piques your interest, you might want to know a little bit more about this legendary performance machine, so turn the page for a retrospective on the iconic Chevy Camaro.

1967 - Pacing the Race

Aimed right at the popular Ford Mustang, the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro mustered more than 220,000 sales in its debut year. Chevrolet offered the Camaro as a hardtop coupe or a soft-top convertible, in standard, Rally Sport (RS), Super Sport (SS), and Z28 trims. The standard engine was a 140-horsepower, 230 cubic-inch inline six-cylinder engine, and an upgrade V8 motor made 210 horsepower from 327 cubes. Optional engines included a 155-horse 250 inline six, a 275-horse 327 V8, a 290-horse 302 V8 for the limited-production Z28 (rumored to actually make more like 400 horsepower), a 295-horse 350 V8 (the venerable small-block Chevy V8 engine), a 325-horse 396 V8, and a 375-horse 396 V8. Ah, the good old days. A three-speed manual was standard, a four-speed manual was optional, and the six-cylinder model could be paired with a two-speed Powerglide automatic. An automatic transmission was also offered with the 396 cid V8 making 325 hp. The '67 Chevy Camaro paced the Indianapolis 500 race that year, and just 100 replicas like the car shown above were built.

1968 - Success!

In 1968, the Chevy Camaro proved itself popular with consumer - and racers. Ironically, the Camaro won the Trans-Am championship that year, not its corporate sibling the Pontiac Firebird, which famously wore the "Trans-Am" name for decades starting in 1969. The performance-oriented Z28 model was more widely available, and minor cosmetic changes inside and out marked the 1968 Camaro. Optional four-wheel-disc brakes also debuted in the middle of the model year.