Writ by Ben on 3-20-09:

Paul Eisenstein at The Detroit Bureau is reporting GM is shelving plans for a 570 HP Camaro Z28. The reason? It would be prohibitively expensive for GM at this time. With a program price around $50 million, the Z28 got the axe in favor of other efforts.

GM doesn't have $50 mill to blow on this thing, and if they did, they need to spend that money on other shizz, like the Volt and Cruze. Once those start selling and generating revenue, GM can revisit the Z28 concept.

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Similarly, I believe Wes when he says that the Mustang has great steering feel and handles so well that you are inclined to forget that it is a live axle car, but even so, I would still be willing to bet that the Camaro outhandles it.

@WhoistheWalrus: A fair point.

As far as I know, the demand for the GT500 has been through the roof since it came out, so much so that the dealer near me always charged well above sticker, and they still couldn't keep them on the showroom floor.

Perhaps the Camaro SS will eat away at GT500 sales as it offers 90% of the performance for ten grand or more less than the cost of the GT500.

@Rock517: An extra 110hp and an unbelievably refined live-axle chassis will do that. Given the chance, though, I think that the Z/28 would edge it out.

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I like the CTS-V, but I think that the Camaro is the better looking car, and, plus, it's a frickin' Camaro. It just plain looks meaner. Until such time as I have kids, I would rather theoretically have the Z/28 Camaro.

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Base Six

Base V8

SS

Z/28

ZL1

There has been no production ZL1 since.

In the third gen, the SS nameplate was dropped and the Z28 took its place, while the IROC-Z took the place formerly occupied by the Z28 nameplate, until the Z28 nameplate was also dropped until 1991.

With the fourth-gen, the IROC-Z nameplate was dropped, and both the SS and Z28 nameplates returned, but in reverse order, with the Z28 nameplate being the middle trim, and the SS the highest trim. There was a protoype fourth gen ZL1, but it was never intended for production, and was more of a stunt on the part of the engineering department to prove that they could stuff a big block in the fourth gen body.

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But Token here has it right.

The original Z28s were built for TransAm, which required engines smaller than 305ci.

[en.wikipedia.org]

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Word on the street is that they took a sample of Pamela Anderson's skin and genetically engineered it and put it into mass production. Hence orange leather in Zs and Camaros.

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It's not the weight thing that bothers me. Yes, it's heavy, but at the same time, I understand why it is so heavy. Modern safety equipment, and IRS, and the fact that it is meant to be an everyman's car, which means that there is no room in the budget for a lot of fancy carbon fiber and aluminum. And even with that heft, it certainly is slow by any definition. Hell, even the V6 Camaro can hustle pretty well.

What gets me is paying an extra $25k over the price of a fully-loaded 2SS Camaro for an extra 136hp. 426hp is more than enough to cause trouble. And if you absolutely must have that extra 136hp, you can buy the parts and do it yourself for a hell of a lot cheaper. I mean, seriously. He bolted on a supercharger and remapped the ECU. Is that really $25,000 worth of labor?

@skaycog: Where was a girl like you when I was growing up?

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