White and Orange Anniversary Camaro SS Lights Up Ohio Cruise Night
A well-preserved example of one of the hottest Camaros of the 1990s made an appearance at a Memorial Day car show.
Memorial Day weekend offered us a chance to spend time with family and friends, and reflect on the sacrifices of our fallen veterans. In towns big and small all across our great nation, those fine Americans who gave the ultimate sacrifice were honored in various ways.
In Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio – a suburb of Akron, Ohio, the one-time rubber capital of the world and historic home of Goodyear – Memorial Day began with a parade, capped off by a fighter-jet flyover. In the early evening, that same road was partially blocked off for a car cruise, a stone’s throw away from the Cuyahoga River.
It was there that we found this 1997 30th Anniversary Camaro. As far as fourth-gens go, this is among our favorites. While it’s a year shy of getting the excellent LS1 engine, the LT1 is no slouch. That’s especially true considering that this is an SS model, good for 305 horsepower over the Z28’s still-respectable 285.
The 30th Anniversary package is most notable for its orange and white color scheme, which was lifted straight from the 1969 Camaro that paced that year’s Indianapolis 500. The 30th Anniversary Camaro features a small Indianapolis Motor Speedway emblem underneath the driver’s side taillight, but no Camaro paced the Indy 500 in 1997.
That honor fell, instead, to a GM stablemate: the Oldsmobile Aurora. 3oth Anniversary Camaros were used, however, in that year’s Brickyard 400 festivities.
Curiously, the then-brand-new 1967 Camaro also paced the Indianapolis 500, utilizing a subdued white and blue color scheme for that first go-around. While it may have made more sense to use the 1967 scheme for the 30th Anniversary model, we’re glad that they went with the ’69 scheme instead. The orange and white pant scheme is more dynamic and more iconic.
The orange and white theme continues inside, with two-tone leather seats matching the exterior color scheme. We’re big fans of the T-top here at LS1Tech, and we lament their absence from the current options list every single day. Here, they let plenty of light in and do a great job of showing off that interior.
It was all too appropriate seeing this rare Camaro the day after the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, given its connection to the famous race track. With the sun shining, the birds chirping, and the early evening air buzzing with patriotism and Americana, we couldn’t imagine a better car for the occasion.
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