Union strife and rapidly changing emission standards converged to reduce production severely. Total production came in at 68,651 or about 60% of the previous year’s total. 1972 was also a year of lasts and marked the end of both the big block engine option and the Super Sport option.
The problems began when the United Auto Workers Union began a 117 day strike at the Norwood Ohio factory responsible for producing the majority of Camaros. During the strike, new emission and safety rules took effect and GM ultimately had to destroy 1,000 Camaros that were in various stages of production when the strike began. It was ultimately cheaper for GM to destroy the cars that it would have been to modify them to meet the new standards. A frustrated GM nearly cancelled the entire F-body program.
With the exception of the safety and emission modifications, changes were relatively minor. The Super Sport was back for the last time and the 1972 Camaro Z/28 continued to be the ultimate Camaro.
Performance was down across the board but the public really didn’t care. The market was moving away from outright performance numbers. The environment was changing and performance cars were becoming too expensive to drive.
