DoubleOhSS

With the new Camaro on the horizon, there's a lot of talk about the new "SS" camaro, and a z/28 further down the road. A lot of conflicting opinions arise about SS and z/28.

To me, SS means a more brute force camaro, unforgiving on new M6 drivers, feathered going into corners, and eased into coming out of them, and king of the straight line. More or less the "SS" camaro to me represents a barbarian in a business suit.

z/28 on the other hand to me (as it was back in first gen) had a DZ302 option motor that would turn 7k+ RPMs! WHOLLY underrated @ 290BHP (estimates range from 400-500BHP from old timers and magazines etc etc). z/28 in my mind is THE track car. Unhindered and agile in the corners, with a higher revving engine, and road hugging superiority.

RS/V6 Camaro's mean less trips to the gas station.

What does SS and z/28 mean to you guys?

The02Witchburner

Well I mostly agree with you, I think in 2002 SS still meant something, nowdays though everyone has been driving these machines for years with no new Camaros to buy, pretty much all of us with Z28's and SS's are modded up by now...But like you said, back in 69 the Z28 was the machine to have. My father had kept the motor and tranny out of his for 25 yrs after rolling it, (Mom finally made him sell it when moving) that tells me it must have been pretty wicked. No RS/SS came close to a Z28 in 1969. I've really been keeping up with the 5th gen thing the best I can, the word from GM has changed so many times now that I just don't know what to believe anymore. The original word I received at a GM booth during an auto show was three years ago, that was that the SS and RS would be out in 2008 and the Z28 would debut in 2009 with enough HP to kill any reasonably priced American made machine on the road. Since then I've heard that the production slowed down the release of the cars and that all 3 models would be available this year, and of course every other variation of the story from several different websites and articles. I signed up with GM to be on the 5th gen mailing list 6 months ago, about 3 weeks ago I received an email from them with the pre-order form for the 5th gen. It basically said I can go to any dealership, pre-order it and hopefully have it in 4 to 5 months. I freaked out like I had just won the lottery and was getting ready to close out bank accounts until I realized there was no Z28 on the list for options!!....I went down to the dealership anyways to complain thinking there wasn't going to be a Z28 anymore (because I heard that rumor too) and the salesman at the dealership told me that the Z28 will debut next year with over 500HP, trans brake, you name it and the car will have it. So I guess that brings us back to the original word I heard from Chevy 3 years ago. I personally will not buy an SS, I've had two Z28's now and can never change. I'm sure this is largely in part due to hearing my father talk about the 69 DZ every day of my life! The way I see it is that the Z28 is the original most extreme muscle car, SS was a marketing ploy brought back by SLP to get more cars to their shop and sell a bunch more Chevy's. Basically you get 3k of bolt-ons for an additional 5k on the sticker price. Plus there is always the fact that just about every car from Chevy has an SS version, only one car ever made has a Z28 option...ha ha ha. That's just my two cents, either way, your still getting the coolest car ever made!

Camaro ss 2001

Camaro remains Camaro whatever it's SS or Z28, cauz in the end of the day we killing FORD machine's with them ^_*