Camaro SuperFest 2017: Best of 3rd and 4th Generation Camaro, 1982-2002
Late model F-Body Camaros join the fray at Camaro SuperFest 2017.
In case you’ve missed it, we attended Camaro SuperFest, the biggest, and most charitable gathering of Camaros in the world. The 585 registered cars in attendance raised money for this year’s selected charity: The Miracle League of Plymouth. Bringing community awareness and support for the special needs community, the Miracle League, teaches kids with special needs or disabilities the game of baseball. The result is a full roster of teams and a whole season of the sport. It really is a great way to help those with special needs. Through a series of raffles, auctions and on-site donations $12,000 was made this year and given to the Miracle League.
Yesterday we talked about the first and second generation Camaros at this years Camaro SuperFest. Now, it’s time we show some love to the later F-Body cars, aka the third and fourth gen Camaro.
Much like part one above we will try to keep things in order. So, that means we are starting off with the third gen F-Body. Now, much like the later second gen cars, the third gen gets a bad rap. The available engines and performance offered during the third gen’s run was pretty lackluster. However, having bottomed out in price, they are dirt cheap and great candidates for LS-swaps. It’s no surprise that a lot of the nicer third gens in attendance at Camaro SuperFest 2017 were swap candidates.
If the flags behind the car and the plates didn’t give it away, this third gen is a Canadian car. How it didn’t succumb to rust is truly a modern day miracle. I spoke with the owner this third gen for quite some time. After serving daily driver duties for some time, it was eventually cleaned up with a full respray in this magnificent copper hue. In the bay sits a lightly worked over 350 V8 with upgraded heads and a mild cam, among other goodies. However, the car is still saddled with the 3-speed auto box, and after one of the longer cruises during the event he had some griping to let out. Sounds like a T-5 swap is in the works for this one.
Below is later IROC-Z third gen. Although the owner had just dropped a bunch of coin on maintenance, this particular car still needed some help. Regardless, the owner was brave enough to put it on the rollers and see what it would do. If I heard him correctly, this IROC-Z has a 305 V8 with headers and an exhaust along with a manual transmission. While the 305 is a dog of an engine, this one, despite fuming up the dyno with blue smoke, laid down about 180 WHP and 270WTQ. Those must have been some damn good headers.
You can watch the dyno run in the video above.
Sadly, that’s where the road ends with the third gen. There were many beautiful examples in attendance, but either the photographs came out poorly or they were otherwise not able to be shown. Shame. Oh well, moving on to the F-Body most synonymous with the name.
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap thanks to factory LS-power in the fourth gen Camaro.
Of course, the fourth gen F-Body existed longer than the 1998-2002 window during which the LS1 was available. However, history looks less fondly upon the early fourth gens, 1992-1997. The LT1 V8 that proceeded the LS simply wasn’t as capable as its successor. That said, the “four eyes” cars have their niche.
In fact, the one pictured below is owned and campaigned by a General Motors staffer in SCCA autocross. The “CAM” (Classic American Muscle) classes have exploded in popularity as of late. Thanks to series like Goodguys autocross and the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Challenge, that cater to the muscle car crowd, owners of these cars have really gotten involved with the motorsport. Talking to the owner, he said that GM used this car as a test bed for performance modifications.
Moving on we have a similar ideology, except applied to a late model fourth gen. Though, this one is privately owned. This car also gets worked out with the Sports Car Club of America, and has been built to do so. It features a modified LS1 with the usual: heads, cam, bolt-ons and tune. The chassis and suspension has been pretty well sorted out with upgraded springs, shocks, sway bars and polyurethane bushings all around. Of course, it sits on massive 18×11 Forgestar stream roller wheels with 305-section width BFG Rival-S autocross tires. We are guessing that this thing can hustle around some cones.
Of course, there were more than just racers here. This Camaro SS ‘vert featured the full rigmarole of SLP factory-backed performance parts. Sitting on those C4 Corvette ZR1 wheels, it has a great “OEM+” appearance to it.
Near the SLP car was a rather curious site. I’m not sure if this is a wrap or actual carbon fiber, but this is the first Camaro I have ever seen with a carbon fiber(?) roof panel.
Wrapping things up is a black 2002 SS, note the fancy wheels. It’s not rocking the 35th anniversary livery, but that’s okay, because it was super minty. The last model year of the F-Body is a good place to conclude our little stroll down memory lane. Of course, if you want more GM, Chevrolet and Camaro goodness check here, here, here and here, oh, and here, for good measure. Following this will be our look at fifth and sixth generation Camaros. Representing the largest jump in technology, they are fast, capable and a definite evolution in the Camaro timeline. Stay tuned.
