Chevrolet finally responded to the Mustang with the legendary Camaro in September 1966. The new Camaro was introduced as a 1967 model and by the end of the model year, 220,906 Camaros were produced. The 1967 Camaro was hugely successful and this one model represented almost three percent of all car sales that year.
The 1967 Camaro came in either a sports coupe or a convertible. The sports coupe was available in three versions: the base model, the Super Sport, and the Z/28. The convertible was available in base trim or as a Super Sport.
The Rally Sport was an option package that was available with any engine choice. The Rally Sport had an appearance package that added hideaway headlights, unique taillights, special side moldings and other trim moldings including “RS” emblems. The package didn’t add any performance but it did look good. About one in four or around 64,842 customers opted for the package.
The base Camaro was by far the most popular version of the pony car with 160,648 of the 220,906 produced being the most basic of Camaros. The base Camaro came with a choice of two six cylinder engines or a 327 cubic inch V8. The base six cylinder was 230ci and produced 140 horse power. The 327ci had an output of 210 horse power.
The Super Sport was the ground pounder model. The 1967 Camaro SS came standard with a 350ci V8 that produced 295hp or optionally a 396ci big block V8 that produced 325hp or 375hp depending on the version chosen. Appearance upgrades included “SS” emblems, simulated hood air intakes on the hood, and a bumblebee stripe on the front of the car. Other performance upgrades included upgraded suspension, larger tires, and stiffer shocks. Sales came in at 34,411 for the year.
The 1967 Camaro Z/28 was available as a mid-year package and was aimed at the racing crowd. The Z/28 was designed to compete in the newly formed Trans-Am racing series and one of the rules of the race was an engine size below 305 cubic inches. The engine chosen for the car was the 302ci small block V8 that produced 290hp. The Z/28 came with an extensive list of performance upgrades including a mandatory four speed manual transmission, quick-ratio steering, high performance tires and power front brakes. The 1967 Z/28 was easily the most expensive of the Camaro coupes. The Z/28 retailed for $3,273 while the Camaro SS started at $2,783 and the six cylinder base model cost $2,466. Understandably, the market for the Z/28 was somewhat limited and only 602 were built.
Performance for both the Camaro SS and the Camaro Z/28 were similar on the drag strip. The Z/28 was faster in the quarter mile but the SS 396 was faster going 0-60. Both cars could go to 0-60 in about seven seconds and the ¼ mile in the fourteen second range. However, the Z/28 was a much better car on the road course.
Also, the convertible served as the official Pace Car for the Indianapolis 500. Most of the Pace Cars were Super Sport models with the 295hp 350ci small blocks. Chevrolet built 104 of these cars and leant them to Indianapolis Motor Speedway VIPs for the month of May 1967. After that they were sold by dealerships in the Indianapolis.
Finally, a small number of Camaros were modified by dealerships for even more extreme performance. These cars were fitted with 427ci big blocks taken from Corvettes. They were capable of thirteen second ¼ mile runs. Five dealerships were involved in the conversions. They were the Don Yenko dealership in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; Baldwin Motion from Long Island, New York; Dana Chevrolet in South Gate, California; the Nickey Chevrolet from Chicago, Illinois; and the Fred Gibb Agency of La Harpe, Illinois. These cars are very rare and very expensive today.
