50 Years of the Chevy Camaro, in Pictures

To create the Camaro, Chevrolet started with the compact Chevy II Nova (itself a belated response to Ford's Falcon). In much the same way that the first Mustang is mostly a Falcon under its skin, the first Camaro is mostly Nova bits. That includes its hybrid structure of a unibody with a front subframe. But while Novas like this '65 were in production as the F-car was being developed, the Camaro would be based on the upcoming second-generation Chevy II that would appear as a '68 model.

The first Camaro went on sale in September 1966 with a base price of $2466. Just over 220,000 were sold that first year compared to more than 480,000 Mustangs during the same period. The base engine was a 230-cubic-inch (3.8-liter) straight-six rated at 140 gross horsepower. The option list was long and included four different small-block V-8s and two big-blocks. The top choice was the 375-hp, 396-cubic-inch (6.5-liter) L78 big-block.

Alongside the coupe, Chevrolet offered the Camaro as a convertible. Priced roughly $240 more than the coupe, just 25,141 convertibles were part of 1967 Camaro production.

The 1967 Indianapolis 500 was paced by a Camaro convertible with a 325-hp version of the 396 big-block V-8 engine under its hood. Chevrolet didn't produce replicas as such, but there were 100 of these Ermine White droptops built for Indianapolis Motor Speedway use, most of which were later sold as used cars.

Chevrolet was determined to establish high-performance credentials for the Camaro. It did that with the creation of the 1967 Z/28 powered by the 290-hp DZ302 4.9-liter high-compression V-8. In the hands of team owner Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue, the Z/28 would prove, after some creative engineering including an acid bath for the body shell, to be racing dynamite in the SCCA Trans-Am series. During the 1967 season, Donohue would win three times. In 1968, the same car (redecorated as a '68) was among those used by Donohue to win 10 of the 13 races that season.

Camaros have long been among America's most-raced cars. Alongside Donohue's Camaro, legends like Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was campaigning Camaros in NHRA drag racing. Here's Grumpy's 1968 Camaro on its way to winning the very first Pro Stock title at the 1970 Winternationals.

Changes for 1968 included "Astro Ventilation" that eliminated the need for vent windows. New taillights and grilles were also part of the package. Choosing the RS option included hidden headlights. The SS option included dual exhaust, red-stripe tires, black accents on the grille, and a retuned suspension.

Structurally, the 1969 Camaro was little different from the first two editions. But the bodywork was more voluptuous and slightly provocative. For the second time, a Camaro paced the Indianapolis 500, and this time Chevrolet produced 3675 replicas of this "Z11" convertible with its signature orange houndstooth upholstery. Fully loaded, these Z11s included both the RS and SS packages, plus the new-for-'69 "ZL2" cowl-Induction hood.

The 1969 Z/28 wasn't mechanically much different from the '67 and '68 models, but many consider it the ultimate Camaro in appearance. During the 1969 model year, the Z/28 was joined by two special-order, low-volume, and race-oriented models. Built through the Central Office Production Order (COPO) system, they were the COPO 9560 and 9561. The 9561 was powered by the 425-hp, L72 iron-block 427-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) big-block V-8, and many of the examples made went to Yenko Chevrolet in Pennsylvania, where they became the Yenko Camaro. Only 69 of the 9560s were built, and they were all powered by the aluminum ZL-1 big-block also rated at 425 horsepower. Those ZL-1 Camaros built in 1969 are considered the most collectible of them all.

Hot rods are an essential element of the Camaro's heritage. Over the years, the Camaro has been twisted by its owners into parade floats, jacked-up street racers, gilded Pro Street show cars, and a few truly awesome supercars. GM engineer Mark Stielow's series of first-generation Camaros are thoroughly rebuilt around the vast hoard of aftermarket parts available for the car as well as later-model components adapted to the vehicle.

Even as GM prepared the second-generation Camaro for 1970, C/D was still playing with the '69. Our "Blue Maxi" remains one of the magazine's most indelible project cars. "The Company Car: a dazzling, dizzying blue wonder that had no easy goals to meet," we wrote. "It would have to handle with its Trans-Am brothers and do us justice on the drag strip. At the same time it would have to be tractable on the highway and it would have to be a credit to its publisher. Mostly it had to represent everything we thought was right about the automobile in an atmosphere of increasing criticism of anything with four wheels—especially four fat wheels."

The second-generation Camaros didn't make it to dealers until February of 1970, making them 1970½ models. Bigger than before and lacking a convertible variant, the new Camaro was nonetheless similarly engineered to the first-generation car, with a front subframe and a unibody rear structure.

From C/D's first road test of the 1970½ Z/28: "Somehow, though, the Z/28 is not as thrilling as it once was. It's more tolerant to driving techniques now, more mature in its behavior. All things considered, it's a better engine now but the loss of a care­free and irrepressible adolescent spirit can never be witnessed without some regret. And although the Z/28 seems much tamer now than it once did, the transformation is more a function of the car than of the increase in displacement."

The Z/28 carried over to the second-generation Camaro, but it was now powered by a 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) small-block LT-1 V-8 rated at 360 horsepower. The LT-1 may have sacrificed some of the DZ302's high-revving charisma, but it was a much friendlier everyday driving companion. The Z/28 in this photo features the new RS front end with its split bumpers and driving lights alongside the grille. The high-back seats indicate that the pictured car is a 1971 model—when a switch to SAE "net" power-rating standards dropped the nominal output of the LT-1 to 330 horsepower.

The second-generation Camaro carried on visually almost unchanged through 1973. And yes, the styling was cribbed from Ferrari. Most obviously GM stole from the 1963 250GT Lusso. The big-block V-8s fell off the menu for 1973.

New federal bumper regulations meant the nose and tail of the Camaro had to be redesigned for 1974. Considering how massive those aluminum bumpers were, the car survived their addition admirably.

The Z/28 got bold new graphics for '74, but the car itself was becoming fat, lazy, and underpowered. The 350 V-8 under the hood was rated at only 245 horsepower. Yawn. Maybe the Z/28 needed to be gone. And by 1975, it was!

With the excision of the Z/28, the most exciting thing about the 1975 Camaro was the new wraparound rear window that slightly—very slightly—increased rear visibility. This was the first year for catalytic converters, and the output of Camaro engines skidded downward. The six could wheeze out only 105 horsepower while the "big" 350 V-8 was rated at a miserable 145 horsepower when equipped with a two-barrel carburetor or 155 horsepower in California and high-altitude areas where a four-barrel arrested the decline.

In '75 the Rally Sport option became a paint-and-tape package. Flat-black paint in the 1970s was a challenge to protect. Painted bumpers were, um, well, er . . . 40 years later, they don't look so good. Little changed with the '76 model.

Midway through the 1977 model year, the Z28 returned shorn of its mid-name slash. Now emphasizing handling, it rode on big, 15x7-inch wheels, and its 350 small-block was rated at a towering 185 horsepower. (In 1977, 185 horses was huge.) Despite this lack of excitement, Chevy sold almost 219,000 '77 Camaros—that was almost three times the sales of its younger, smaller, sport-coupe brother, the Monza.