1967 – the first year for the first Camaro – is now 50 years in the rearview. Hard to believe, but there you have it.
At the SEMA show in Las Vegas, some celebratory events kick off the Chevy’s first year of eligibility for an AARP card:
2017 Camaro SS Slammer –
Designers modified the Camaro body to accommodate 22-inch front and 24-inch rear wheels. When it was done rolling in, air shocks deflated to lower it even farther to a parked position.
“The Camaro SS Slammer concept is a design exercise intended to take the Gen 6 Camaro’s proportions to the extreme,” said global design executive director John Cafaro.
The black paint includes gloss-white flakes to “add depth and sparkle,” according to Chevrolet. A custom engine cover hides a 455-hp LT1 engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission with Active Rev Match.
Chevelle Slammer –
Chevrolet took a 1969 Chevelle and outfitted it with some of its modern goodies.
The Chevelle Slammer’s wheels aren’t as big as those on the Camaro SS — only 18s front and 20s rear — but it has the same lowered look as the Camaro. It also has the Camaro’s air suspension, which lowered it all the way down after the car drove into the show.
The exterior is deep black to offset the “adrenaline” red interior that can be seen from blocks away. But the overall shape is close to the original.
Camaro Turbo AutoX
The Camaro Turbo is the autocrossers’ special. It’s cheap, sporting Chevy’s 2.0-liter engine but with upgrades to the suspension, brakes, air intake and exhaust.
The lowering kit — and by the way, most of these parts are available from the Chevy Performance catalog — drops ride height three-quarters of an inch. The company also adds a handling kit with larger stabilizer bars and stiffer suspension links, and a strut tower brace. The AutoX also gets 20-inch concept wheels and a six-piston brake setup with two-piece, slotted rotors. A cold air intake helps the four-banger breathe, while the Chevy Performance exhaust reduces back pressure by 14 percent. The color is aptly named shock yellow, and the stripes are pearl nickel and carbon flash metallic. There’s also a front tow hook, GoPro camera mount, Euro side markers and a new rear spoiler, which makes its debut on the concept.
This was the favorite of many attendees at the Chevy preview. The Alaskan Edition 2500HD gets a massive stainless-steel custom snow plow, showing off the company’s snow-plow-prep package. There’s already a production Alaska Edition offered on the 2017 Silverado HD Work Truck and LT. The concept vehicle here builds on that with that silver-accented blue exterior, grizzly bear graphics, chrome bumper grilles and 20-inch wheels.
The Alaskan gets the company’s next-gen 6.6-liter Duramax V-8 making 445 hp and a blizzard-busting 910 pounds-feet of torque. It also gets chrome bumpers, grille, emblems and trailering mirrors.
eric, check out this Elco. My uncle had one like it with a 348. It had that deep sound of power. I thought it was great.
http://response.whatcounts.com/t?r=4035&c=4087&l=6&ctl=1F94C:A5E4265A1CA074857154B33A2353C56C762DFB16DFBF1C68&wc_mid=4035:4087&wc_rid=4035:22552613
Morning, Eight,
I dig that… a lot. 🙂 But my budget won’t allow a classic. I am focused on a late ’70s iteration. Would love to find one of the very rare ones with a manual (same drivetrain as the ’77-81 Z28s, a 350 and Super T-10) but they are… rare. So I would be very happy with a nice/stone stock example with a 305 or 350 and the automatic (ideally, the overdrive automatic but if not I can remedy that).
eric, that was just for memory’s sake. He probably doesn’t have much over $100K in it.
Did the 73-77 have a manual option? I never saw one but a guy near me had a 70 454 TH 400 cowl induction SS that was a pavement ripper…..stock.
I’ve seen several good ’78 and above around here. Seems like I’ve seen a couple on Craig’s list. While I’m not hot on a 305 they work fine, esp. if you throw that computer stuff away and stick on a QJ and HEI. A 200 behind that and you’d have a nice ride and they do tow very well, something I doubted till a buddy bought one and did a lot of towing with it. The Elco outlived him I’m sorry to say. He flipped a tractor at 52 years old, broke my heart.
The scourge of larger (than practical) rims continues. 🙁
Tires in the 14″-16″ with 55+ ratios would be better suited and more economical for most of the real world driving that people use in the majority of their driving.
/mini-rant
Hi Mith,
The whole thing’s ridiculous. Very few ordinary drivers have the skill to out-drive even a car like my ’76 TA (I mean, the car’s maximum cornering limits). You need serious skill to out-drive almost any new car; just ordinary cars. Forget performance cars. These have limits at the level of people who’ve had serious training, or are very skilled. People who could drive on a race track, with racers, without making a mess of themselves.
The troof and the facts is that it’s more enjoyable to drive a car with limits close to one’s own as a driver.
That takes skill.
Almost anyone can run a new Camaro fast as hell around the track. The car is doing the work.
That’s the gospel truth.
I’d still get one if only feminists filled their GM factory
what I imagine these GM diversity feminist workers look like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZcSCT34H84
real feminist Women Making $70 Feminist Shirts in Factory Paid Under a Dollar an Hour
http://gawker.com/women-making-70-feminist-shirts-in-factory-paid-under-1653799400
what a GM feminist really looks like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrIuDE230E
That top one looks like she’s about to screw something. Just as well be you……or me.
Ugh. More white patriarchy mobiles. I’ll wait until GM offers cars made with reparation and 100% disenfranchised rainbowarchy workforces. Ones with only minorities, or third through 100th genders for this consumer thanks.
https://www.archives.gov/files/research/african-americans/ww2-pictures/images/african-americans-wwii-252.jpg
Hi Tor,
I have owned five Camaros (two Z28s) but the current one does nothing for me. Despite the power/performance, I can’t abide the looks of the thing – and it drives like the blunderbuss it is. I much preferred even my wheezy ’80 Z28 (180 hp) which at least looked great and just made you feel good, even if it was slow.
One of my hockey buddies has a 68 Camaro, green, 327, 4 speed, black vinyl. He’s had it since new and I would rather drive it than the new ones 100 times out of 100. Like you say, even a trip around the block makes you smile.
Sad when sports cars become appliances.
What HP is that 327? 275? And that’s gonna be a Muncie close ratio transmission, a real fun car to drive.
I’ve done a real close inspection of a new Camaro recently. They have a good picnic table all four corners and not a bad place to get prone on the trunk. Cool nights under the west Tx. stars, your favorite squeeze and grandma’s home made quilt.
eric, You didn’t really leave it wheezy did you? Ol Wheezy can become raging bull with a lil’ ol plate under the carb.
That one (the ’80 Z28) I did… and it was ok. It had the “Air Induction” hood scoop with the flapper door (like the TRans-Am’s shaker) that would open when you floored it. With 3:73 gears (stock) and the four-speed, it was a hoot to drive. Not fast at all by modern standards… but fun! 🙂
eric, those were fun to drive. My friend with a ’79 and auto, put a good sized nitrous plate on it. That stock 350 didn’t live long(kept fouling #8) although only that one cylinder got hogged out. Hot ignition coil, a thermo-quad, aluminum intake, Edelbrock I think, headers and 2.5″ exhaust into turbo mufflers with P-trac it ran hard. Later on I found some angle plug heads and had the engine custom made with under the fender headers and lake pipes that seemed to have little if any muffling(they were supposed to). It was a beast then and twisted crap out of the body without laughing gas. Like all good things made shittily though(the sorriest fuel line ever made put on by some speed shop of his choice and I warned him constantly to change it for some good stuff)it blew that fuel line at speed with a #15 lb. Holley pump on it he didn’t have the presence of mind to switch off the ignition. By the time it was stopped it was what they call “fully involved”. The entire thing was about a foot and a half tall when he thumbed a ride and never looked back. $3K worth of centerline wheels and racing tires not even visible. He bought a new ’84 Wagoneer that was luxurious and super-capable. It was fun for years till a friend slammed it backward into a big tree.