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A Muscle Car Revolution...Part 2
by David C. Atkin
In 1966 Chevrolet would begin to make plans to release its secret weapon against the Mustang, this secret weapon would be called the Camaro, this car without a doubt would live up to Chevrolets expectations of what it could do.
Just like the Mustang, the Camaro came from the factory with a modest straight six engine, and was not capable of any really impressive performance, but Chevy would not wait to add the performance to its secret weapon, up on its release in 1967, the Camaro would be a heavily optioned cars.
Camaro owners didnt have to wait for the next generation of cars to get what they wanted, the Chevrolet would offer the Camaro in a lot of different versions its very first year, you could get a Z/28 Camaro which would come from the factory with a 290 HP 302 CID engine, a Muncy M-21 or M-22 Rock crusher transmission, bucket seats, front disc brakes, a heavy duty 12 bolt posi traction rear end, a center consol with a fuel gage, water temp gage, amp gage and oil pressure gage.
You could also order the SS option which came with two different engines, you could order the big block version with the 396 CID 375 HP engine, or you could order the L34 had 325 HP & the L78 had 375 HP. The SS was also available with the L48 V8 350 CID 295 HP package.
You also had the choice of rear end gearing ratios of 2.73:1, 3.07:1, 3.31:1, 3.55:1, 3.73:1, 4.10:1, 4.56:1 and 4.88:1. You could also get and RS version of the Camaro, or and RS/SS version, Chevrolet did go to extents to give the gearhead what they wanted, the RS version only came with a small block 350 CID, and an option for the 327 CID small block.
As you can imagine the RS/SS came with a 350 CID, 327 CID and a big block 396 CID, and had all the RS & SS suspension and steering upgrades.
Even that first year the Camaro was optioned heavily enough to make you lose your mind, and you wallet right behind that, but it was giving the gearheads what they wanted, a lot of ways to set their cars up, with out buying it and tearing it down to build up the engine and suspension.
The Z/28 was first designed to go scca racing, and in its first year in dominated the scca racing circuit, it was a tremendous success for Chevrolet and their de singers and high performance teams. By playing with high performance parts like a giant four barrel carburetor, an aluminum intake manifold and L79 Corvette heads, they got this motor to crank out about 350 HP @ 6200 RPM.. However to play it safe the advertised HP was 290@5800 R. P.M. The basic Z/28 package listed for $358.
Camaro lovers had a lot to look forward to for the next couple of years, that first generation of Camaros was awesome, and that showed in how popular the Camaro got over the years. In 1968 the 4 bolt main block got introduced to the Z/28 it had the rpo code of MO, so youd know if the rpo number had an MO in it then you more then likely had a 4 bolt main 302 CID 290 HP engine.
In 1968 there were 602 Z/28s built, and although it was a small number, it impressed the muscle car community, the Z/28 would leave a mark on motoring history forever, the Z/28 was crated primarily as a road race car, and it did very well in what it was intended for.
In 1969 the Z/28 would have a standard four bolt main 302 CID engine in it, and have the option of adding a 350 CID and 4 wheel disc brakes.
Now during those first three years, Don Yenko from Yenko Chevrolet, would have the idea to modify a standard Camaro, and add a 450 HP 427 CID engine, this car would be called the sYc or "super Yenko camaro" this car would hit the streets doing 11.30s in the 1/4 mile, and that is mean, to get the car yous order a copo "central office production order" copo 9561.
Now you could also take a step up to the Zl1 Camaro, in which case youd order the copo 9560, with this option the big difference is the all aluminum 427 CID 450 HP engine, this made the big block weigh about the same as a small block, and of course you see the advantage there "right".
Both the Yenko and the ZL1 Camaro had a very modest Hp rating, when dynoed they were actually around 650 to 680 HP, these were not your basic Camaros, these bad boys were only for a real man, a man that could handle having his neck snapped, and his back cracked.
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