BigAls87Z28 |
10-08-2006 06:24 PM |
Brando, the ZL1 Camaro was a Camaro created by GM's Central Office Production Order. This part of GM is the part you contact for specialty vehicles, namely police cars. Due to the popularity of the 427 powered Yenko's and Baldwin Motion Camaros, someone, I forget who, wanted a factory produced drag Camaro. In order for him to race the Camaro in NHRA, this car had to be in normal producton of at least 50 units or more. So this person orderd 50 of these special Camaros. The ZL1 Camaro was a base model Camaro, equpied with an All-Aluminum 427 Big Block Chevy. This was advertised to make 550hp, but some have said it made that to the wheels. The car was also equpied with a lot of deleted options, and it was basicly a stripper car with a big engine and racing suspension. 69 total were produced in 69, but the price of the ZL1 was so crazy, that they sold very very few. Most were then auctioned off in the early 70's so that the dealer could recoup some of the cash. These cars were then raced to within an inch of its life, and not many exist.
Now, these ZL1 Camaros are VERY rare, and thanks to Baby Boomers on Barret-Jackson with lots of money, are very expensive. They also made ONE ZL1 Corvette, but that remains with GM I belive. Its in the Corvette Museum.
There was a modern ZL1 done by GM Performance, using an late 4th gen Camaro, and a 572 big block chevy. There are many vids of this car tearing it up around tracks, both straight and curved. This car raced against Ford's SVT Boss Mustang, which used a massive displacement motor as well. I belive durring the competition, both cars broke and no one was declaired a winner, but the Camaro is still in GM's toy warehouse. I have a vid of this ZL1 4th gen running mid 9's in the 1/4.
Berger/GMMG also made a vew ZL1 4th gens for sale, having 3 stages of performance. One was LS6 powerd, the other was moddifed LS6 powerd, and then the Stage III was a 427 based GenIII motor, making 600hp or so. They went for mucho bucks, soemthing like 60-70k if I recall.
As for the 5th gen, Motor Trend just used the history of Camaro to say that the 427 powerd Camaro would be called ZL1.
And for the record, and to start a fight, Z28 is higher then SS.
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