This 1970 Chevy Camaro Performance Package Is A Rarity That Still Wows Today

The 1970 Camaro Z28, one of the best-looking Chevy Camaros of all time, was a package for the Camaro that sold 8,733 units during the 1970 model year. This was just 7% of the 124,901 Camaros GM sold that year, making it an especially rare package. 

The Z28 was a homologation package for Trans-Am racing, which required automakers to produce a minimum number of street cars equipped with specific hardware in order to make the hardware legal to race in the series. For 1970, the Z28 package consisted of a 350-CI LT-1 V8 with a Holley four-barrel carb and solid lifters producing 360 hp, similar to the one available in the 1970 LT-1 Corvette. The Z28 package also included a heavy-duty suspension and a Positraction rear axle, all for a hefty $573 premium (nearly $5,000 in today's money).

The Z28 package was essentially a small-block V8 performance setup for serious gearheads who also wanted a car that could handle corners well. Car and Driver tested an automatic 1970 Camaro Z28 in May 1970 and recorded a 0-60 mph time of 5.8 seconds, a 0-100 mph time of 14.2 seconds, and a nearly identical quarter-mile time of 14.2 seconds at 100.3 mph. Observed top speed was 118 mph. Car and Driver's particular Camaro was equipped with both a three-speed automatic transmission and an acceleration-friendly 4:10 rear axle ratio, which likely restored some of the performance lost to the automatic.

There are reasons why the Z28 was not a popular choice among Camaro buyers that year, beyond the extra cost. While an automatic transmission was available for the first time ever in a Z28, it didn't come with air-conditioning. This model was already niche to begin with, and the lack of the increasingly-popular air conditioning likely meant that many customers went with a different — and more affordable — Camaro with factory AC. For reference, 1970 Camaro sales figures show that the most popular model was the V8 Sport Coupe, with 112,323 buyers. This equals 90% of all the Camaros sold that year. 

The 1970 model year represents the absolute zenith of the muscle car era. The age of emissions regulations was about to arrive, with high-powered muscle car engines about to have less horsepower than ever before. This would be followed by a fuel crisis, making these cars exorbitantly expensive to fuel and run. One more nail in the coffin was a rise in insurance rates for muscle cars, further adding to the cost of ownership. Times quickly changed, and the Camaro Z28 steadily lost power over the next few years. It dropped to 330 hp in 1971, 255 net hp in 1972, and 245 in 1973 and 1974. The Z28 was then discontinued for several years before GM revived it in 1977.