Chevrolet Camaro History

In 1967 Chevrolet motors in unity with general motors corporation released the Chevrolet Camaro sports car and its F-body sister the Pontiac Firebird, both of these cars were a direct competition with the Ford Mustang. The basic design of these 1st generation 1967 F-body cars the Camaro and the firebird was a Unibody structure from the windshield and firewall back, with a separate steel sub frame for everything up front. The front suspension was double A-arms and was an independent setup and the rear end was a solid rear axle equipped with leaf springs and it had drum style brakes on all four wheels. The 1967 base model Camaro came with Chevrolets 230 cubic inch inline six cylinder enugine making 140 horsepower along with a 3 speed manual transmission.

Engineer’s said that the 1969 generation was much more of a driver’s car than the 1st generation. Most of the 1969 drivetrain options stayed in 1970 except for the 230 cubic inch v6 was the new base model engine. The 1970 ss model came with a 396 cubic inch v8. The 1970 z28 was top of the line for that year coming with the new LT-1 350 cubic inch small block Chevy 360 hp and 380 foot pounds of torque. The new body style featured a fastback roofline and ventless side windows and they made side doors wider to make getting in the backseat easier. Chevy also offered the RS appearance package for 1970 Camaro it was just a stand-alone package. In 1971 not much changed with the Camaro Chevrolet added some new colors you could get and a new seat design called “high buckets”. The horsepower ratings for the engines also went from gross to

This was also the last year Chevrolet would offer the SS model with a big block engine. In 1973 the Camaro saw a few bigger changes with the type LT which had a more luxurious interior with air conditioning and power windows as options. The 2 speed power glide transmission option was removed for that year. The engine in the z28 also changed it was the same displacement but the valve train was switched from a solid lifter flat tappet camshaft to a hydraulic roller camshaft to get the power up a little bit more. The next year 1974 the Camaro saw a big redesign since the new federal safety standards car bumpers needed to have. The new bumpers added 7 inches to the whole length of the car but not the wheelbase. They also added am/fm radio and new radial design tires as options. Power outputs were drastically low this year due to the oil crisis of 1973 and 1974 Chevrolet was forced to reduce power levels to save fuel. Near not many Camaros were sold this year due to people favoring gas efficient imports. In 1975 new additions to the Camaro was the rear wrap around window giving the driver a better view out of the rear of the car while driving chevy also removed the z28 model because of the oil crisis. In 1976 nothing really changed much except for the