Camaro SuperFest 2017: Best of 1st and 2nd Generation Camaro, 1967-1981
Here are the heavy-hitting Camaros, 1967-1981, at this years Camaro SuperFest.
If you couldn’t already tell, Camaro SuperFest had a lot going on this year. Between behind the scenes tours at Livernois Motorsports, the GM Heritage Center and Lingenfelter; track time at Waterford Hills and the show itself, there was a ton to see. Indeed, there was more to it than that, the greater purpose of Camaro SuperFest is charity. This year from the 585 registered cars in attendance, $12,000 was raised for this year’s selected charity: The Miracle League of Plymouth. This group brings community awareness and support for the special needs community. It’s called the Miracle League, as they teach kids with special needs or disabilities the game of baseball, resulting in a full roster of teams and a whole season of the sport. It really is a great way to help those with special needs. After speaking with Barry Hensel, CSF Chairman, it seems that charity and community is the name of the game here. Camaro SuperFest has contributed $67,700 in charitable donations to 10 different charities in the past 10 years.
If you couldn’t make it Detroit for this years event, however, we’ve got you covered. As there was so much going on, with hundreds of beautiful cars in attendance at the show, it’s easiest to divide everything into separate posts. Up first are generation one and two of the Camaro, covering 1967-1969 and 1970-1981, respectively, so let’s jump into it.
There were a ton of beautiful Gen One cars in attendance, early and late model. It seems Detroit is all about the Pro Touring builds, oh yeah, and LSX swaps. Here is an early car lapping Waterford Hills race circuit. All the chrome was deleted off this one, opting for the black out treatment instead.
This groovy early model features a very period-correct respray. The minimalist, paint-matched engine bay looked like some serious effort went into it, as well. Far out, man.
I wasn’t kidding about the love for Pro Touring, a lot of these cars get worked out, regularly.
Both of the cars below represent the Pro Touring build, but with a different spin. Blue Steel down there features LS-power, and a healthy amount of modern track toy convenience. I spy air-conditioning, a carbon fiber intake and fan shroud as well as triangulated reinforcement bars with speed holes. On the flip side, the orange car retains old-school cool with a carb’d Small Block V8 and subtly massaged fenders hiding big boy rubber underneath. Crucially, both feature the Trans Am style front air dams and rear deck spoilers.
Of course, it wasn’t just racers in attendance. Though, that said, I wouldn’t put a bit of street racing action past the drivers of some of these cars. There is so much deviation between ’67 to ’69, especially when it comes to options and packages. Below is a good example of this, if you look closely, all of these cars have different combinations of factory options. Coupes, drop tops, vinyl tops, different engines and trim packages, it’s a lot to take in.
The Z/28 below wins the “best stance” aware of the first gens in attendance. Perhaps the delightful blue paint is working wonders on me, but I love how this car sits. The massive cowl hood and heavily worked over fenders exude menace. Of course, the massive Hoosiers tucked beneath the car set it right off, talk about meaty fitment.
I saved my favorite two first gen cars for last, check these out.
Arguably the cleanest drag car I have ever seen. So clean, in fact, I thought it had to be a respray. Either that, or someone did one hell of a job wetsanding all of the orange peel out of the paint. This car is gorgeous.
Of course, his buddy’s car, parked next to him, is the bad mamma jamma in the featured image.
Excuse my language, but Goddamn this thing is badass. Built by Heads Up Racing, this Procharged Camaro runs 6-second quarter miles, and has been doing it for many years. Both Heads Up Racing and this Camaro are owned by Bruce Kimmen, who seemed like a fun guy to talk to. He was animated, and quite the character, while also being nice enough to pop the hood for me when I asked. I guess after you’ve been doing 0-200+MPH in 6 seconds for years you loosen up in life.
Admittedly, after watching the Heads Up Racing Camaro set off car alarms just backing into its parking space, it’s a tough act to follow for the Gen 2 cars. However, there were some absolute gems here.
More second gen F-Body cars than I have ever seen before.
The second gen Camaro doesn’t get as much love as its predecessor. Some of that boils down to aesthetics, and some, more practically, point to primitive emissions control devices putting the stranglehold on performance. Fortunately, for both the die-hard preservationists and the hotrodders, there were some great custodians at CSF2K17 who took damn good care of their rides.
While the wheels are a bit much for me (I would downsize to 17s), the rest of this second gen is modern muscle goodness. With a very tidy LS1/T-56 combination swapped into it, this thing sounded great, with perhaps a mild cam, and looked like a blast to drive. Peeking out behind the chrome rollers appear to be brakes also lifted from, what looks like, a C5 Corvette. I love the “OEM+” upgrade path, and this F-Body wears the factory goods well.
Here is a cool comparison between the SS and Z/28 of the period.
Personally, the more aggressive Z/28 takes the cake. The SS needs more front air dam to balance out the nose-high look these second gens all had. Of course, both cars were immaculate inside and out. The red car featured the best preserved vinyl interior I have ever seen before. If you have a gen two, make the pilgrimage to mecca next year and ask this CSF attendee how they keep their interior so clean. Whatever they say, follow it to the tee because it works.
While the late-model second gens don’t get much, if any, love thanks to the emissions-controlled engines that were choked to point of uselessness, it’s hard to deny the appeal of this ’79 Z/28. I mean, look how minty this one is, also, the black and gold Smokey and the Bandit colorway is just too good not to notice.
And with that, we are up to the last of the second gen F-Bodies. Naturally, we saved the best for last. Double click the images below for full-size resolution, because you need to see this car in high-def. This is a 10/10ths effort show car paint job. Highly metallic, popping with hyper blurple flake, and then airbrushed over, this car was a showstopper. Check out the first two pictures, one underexposed and the other overexposed. Check out the difference in what the paint is doing. You’re seeing the 3(4?)-stage paint in action.
And there it is. The first two generations of Camaro as seen at Camaro SuperFest. Stay tuned for the follow-up showcasing everything F-Body, 1982-2002, aka the third and fourth gen Camaros. Much like I have never seen this many second gens, I certainly have never seen this many show car quality third gens before. So, stay tuned, but the Camaro lineage keeps on going, and Camaro SuperFest 2017 is only getting started here at LS1tech.
