‘Car and Driver’ Looks Back at the 1977 Firebird T/A and Camaro Z/28

Camaro and Firebird comparison from 1977 shows how far American performance has advanced.

The Car and Driver website occasionally shares articles from classic issues and most recently, the outlet featured their head-to-head comparison of the 1977 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 and the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. This review is interesting for the same reason that many classic reviews are interesting; it shows how far the performance car industry and the American brands have advanced. However, this comparison review is a bit more significant.

The 1977 GM Performance Pair

By 1977, budding federal emission laws and rising fuel prices had caused the American automakers to pretty much kill all of their performance cars. If they existed by the late-1970s, they had been heavily watered-down. For example, by 1978, both the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger were compact cars and the Dodge Charger had become a large luxury car, but they all fell far short of the performance of their namesakes just 8 years earlier. On the other hand, the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird continued on as best they could, with engineers doing everything in their power to provide respectable levels of performance.

The piece actually begins by talking about the demise of the American performance segment, pointing out that the Camaro and Firebird were really the lone soldiers when it came to affordable American performance cars in this era. For 1977, Chevrolet even brought back the Z/28, giving the Firebird Trans Am a bit of in-house competition.

Camaro, Firebird Details

The Car and Driver comparison piece from the April 1977 issue of the magazine starts by looking at the then-new Camaro Z/28. After a few years out of the lineup, the Z/28 returned as the pinnacle performance model. The classic article talks about the writer’s first experience with the car, with Chevrolet engineer Jack Turner at the wheel. Turner talks about how the handling of the 1977 Camaro Z/28 was based on time spent with the Porsche 924, going on to suggest that the Chevy was the better-handling of the two GM pony cars.

After the bit about the Camaro Z/28, the article talks about the writer’s first time in the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. They drove the car in pouring rain, so they couldn’t really put the car to the test. Fortunately, at some point the Car and Driver team was able to put the Camaro Z/28 head-to-head with the Trans Am in a safe environment, proving which was the superior performance car in 1977.

Ultimately, these two are very similar, but they are not identical. The Camaro has a 350 cubic inch V8 that officially delivered 185 horsepower, although the article estimated 180. The 1977 Trans Am was powered by a 400 cubic inch V8 with 200 horsepower. The two also had suspension differences that led to driving ride qualities and handling characteristics, but in the end, one was clearly the better performance machine in 1977.

The Numbers

The Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 proved to be the better choice for drag racers, turning in a 16.3 at 83 miles per hour while the best that the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am ran was a 16.9 at 82 miles per hour. Those numbers are both markedly slower than today’s base, four-cylinder-powered Camaro. While the Camaro got up to speed more quickly, thanks in part to the 3.73 rear axle, it ran into the redline first, reaching a top speed of just 105 miles per hour while the Trans Am with the 3.23 gears got up to 110. Most modern General Motors products will go faster than 105 miles per hour.

The Trans Am also outshined the Camaro in terms of handling, achieving 0.80g on the skidpad while the Camaro Z/28 only reached 0.74g while exhibiting all sorts of understeer issues.

So the Trans Am bested the Camaro in handling and top speed while the Z/28 proved to be the better drag racer when originally tested.

Click here to read through the classic Car and Driver article. There are also a bunch more pictures of the two cars, in addition to the few that we have shared here from the original piece.

Photos: Car and Driver

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com