What is the difference between a Z28 and a Z/28?

[GoldenBear]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

the only difference between a Z/28, a Z28 or a Z-28 was the style of the badge.

I doubt that many would agree that the only difference between a 77 1/2 Z28 and a 1969 Z/28 is the style of the badge.

[AZCamaroFan]

that's not the point. horsepower has gone up and down, yes, but to say the 1st gens were somehow 'race cars' or something is not correct.
i'd love to find some engineers from the time and ask them 'so you took the slash out of Z/28 in 1970, that was because the car was not all hardcore race car anymore?'
probably look at us like we were crazy.

[MYDLIFECRISIS]

Originally Posted by Inferno Orange 2SS-RS

I have studied this very carefully and I think the major difference between Z28 and Z/28 is the "/".

LMAO!!!

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

how is that nit-picky?


we're talking about the street versions.
the first generation Z/28 was designed to get parts homologated for racing. namely the 302 engine. it was hardly a stripped down barely- legal -for the street car. the Rally Sport package was available, and even vinyl roofs!
the only difference between a Z/28, a Z28 or a Z-28 was the style of the badge.

Really??? Thanks for the education as I just fell off the turnip truck...

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

that's not the point. horsepower has gone up and down, yes, but to say the 1st gens were somehow 'race cars' or something is not correct.
i'd love to find some engineers from the time and ask them 'so you took the slash out of Z/28 in 1970, that was because the car was not all hardcore race car anymore?'
probably look at us like we were crazy.

My point is/was they GM stopped racing after the first gen. The further development of the car was not due to racing it was to sell cars only.

[GoldenBear]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

that's not the point. horsepower has gone up and down, yes, but to say the 1st gens were somehow 'race cars' or something is not correct.
i'd love to find some engineers from the time and ask them 'so you took the slash out of Z/28 in 1970, that was because the car was not all hardcore race car anymore?'
probably look at us like we were crazy.

The first generation Z/28s were built to qualify for and compete in the SCCA Trans-Am racing series and they were very good at it, having won their class in both 1968 and 1969. The 302 engine in the first generation Z/28s was not a great street engine as it didn't have a lot of torque below 4,000 RPMs, but it's high revving capability and durability made it a really good engine for Trans-Am racing. The later Z28s came equipped with engines that made them much more street friendly vehicles, and were not built with concern with qualifying for Trans-Am racing. That is part of what separates the first generation Z/28s from the later versions.

Of course the slash has nothing to do with making the Z/28 a race car, but the slash over the years has become symbolic of the differences between the first generation Z/28s and the later versions.

[Kevlar382]

Originally Posted by fastball

There is a big difference between a Z with and without the slash.

The bottom line is you need to know the difference if you're talking to Camaro enthusiasts and purists, because they will most likely bite your head off if you refer to a 4th gen Z28 with a slash, or forget to type the slash when referring to a 1968-70, which the 2014 is descended from.

The 2014 is NOT descended from the 2nd - 4th gens that were Z28s. The IROC, the Z28 SS, the SLP engineering package..... all cars that were fast and handled well, but were not what the Z/28 was about. I think in a way GM understood that, hence the fact they kept the slash off for this long. When the 5th gen came back into production for 2010, the SS was used and any reference to any Z was kept on the back burner because GM knew how revered and hallowed the Z name is in Camaro history despite many calls to use the Z28 (for those uninformed newbies) and the Z/28 (for the hard core enthusiasts). They could have continued from the 4th gen and made the V8 model a Z if they wanted to, but that continues the dilution of the original Z, and also Chevy is intent on using "SS" in a more uniform manner, to designate all of their performance cars. So the decision was made to not use anything with a Z on it until a Camaro worthy of the original intent of the Z was designed. The hard core enthusiasts voices were heard...... if you haven't noticed, this 2014 Camaro Z/28 is NOT an "SS Z/28"..... it is a "Camaro Z/28", and that is how it will show on your insurance card.

The '68-70 and 2014 is a Z/28. Anything else is a Z28 and not the same. Just a name.

The 71 was just as much a Z28 as a 70. The 30 hp was really no big deal if you advanced your timing and ran premium gas. Every thing else was the same. Even the 72 still had the LT1.

[14pilot]

Z28 = some badges, decals, maybe some spiffy wheels on a otherwise run of the mill V8 Camaro

Z/28 = A $100K race car that you will never own

[nasty2ss]

I bought a brand new 1978 Z28 and it was no way a track car.My dad's caddy could kick my ass

[AdamZ]

Man...some dicks in the thread

[wildpaws]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

how is that nit-picky?


we're talking about the street versions.
the first generation Z/28 was designed to get parts homologated for racing. namely the 302 engine. it was hardly a stripped down barely- legal -for the street car. the Rally Sport package was available, and even vinyl roofs!
the only difference between a Z/28, a Z28 or a Z-28 was the style of the badge.

While it may not have been "stripped down, barely legal for the street", first gen. Z/28s could not be had as a vert or with A/C or auto tranny. As for your vinyl roof comment, Penske ran some full bore race Z/28s in the Trans Am sedan series with a vinyl roof. And the RS option was not much more than foldaway headlights. So your point would be??
Clyde

[shaffe]

Question for the z historians, when the badge first changed from z/28 to z28, did GM do it knowingly bc the car was changing or did it just kind of happen?

[2cnd chance]

I've followed he Camaro closely for (too ) many years, and I can say I've never heard of this before now???

Anyone else?

[ShnOmac]

Originally Posted by shaffe

Question for the z historians, when the badge first changed from z/28 to z28, did GM do it knowingly bc the car was changing or did it just kind of happen?

Originally Posted by 2cnd chance

I've followed he Camaro closely for (too ) many years, and I can say I've never heard of this before now???

Anyone else?

Good read....

Originally Posted by fbodfather

Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

The ONLY reason for the original Z/28…

(note I once again used ‘Z/28’ and not ‘Z28)

….. was to go road racing. SCCA Trans Am racing had a rule that no competing car in the series could have an engine displacement larger than 305 cubic inches.

Our Camaro SS-396 was FAST…..but it wasn’t really a ‘track’ car. So the purpose of the Z/28 was to compete in Trans Am Racing – meaning it had to stick to the road like Velcro. Tidbit: None of the 602 1967 model year Camaros with option code Z28 had a nameplate that said Z/28 on them. It really wasn’t meant to be a main-stream entry.

As we moved into the 2nd gen years, the SCCA engine rule went by the wayside…….. And with increasingly stringent fuel and emissions standards, performance was on the wane……at a startling rate. Fast-rising insurance rates certainly didn’t help things…… And by the early 70s, there really wasn’t room for both a Camaro SS and a Z/28 as we knew them. By 1974, performance was so diminished that the Z/28 was dropped at the end of the model year because it had become to many of us a ‘caricature’ of what it once had been. The SS had been taken from the line up at the end of 1972…….

When the Z28 came back in 1977 (note the difference in the name…..there was no “/”….) it was definitely a road hugger – and it DID offer more performance than any other From then on – whether right or wrong, the Z28 was the ‘performance’ Camaro….until the IROC came along. The Z28 was then relegated to ‘2nd fiddle’ and that didn’t set well with Z/28 purists. But – on the other hand, the Camaro was the “International Race Of Champions” chosen brand – and one could go down to their Chevy Dealer and buy a new Camaro – an IROC Camaro – that sure looked a lot like the real race car.

…….And then Chevy pulled out of IROC racing -- and the Z28 was once again the ‘ultimate’ Camaro…that is, unless you ordered one with 1LE.

Fast forward once again to the advent of the 4th gen. We offered a Camaro Sport Coupe with a V6 engine – or a V-8 Camaro Z28 with an LT1 small-block with a ‘blistering’ 275 horsepower.
(to some of you young-uns – that was a LOT of horsepower in 1993….)

Yes – the Z28 was the ‘ultimate’ Camaro back then………and then Ed Hamburger at SLP Engineering came to us and said something along the lines of: “….Chevy -You’ve done a magnificent job with the Z28 – but I’ve got plans to take it to the next level…”

and we said “Sure!” …and the Camaro SS roared back to life. That also put the Z28 as ‘second-in-line’ and again, Camaro Z/28 purists were not happy! I very much remember getting several phone calls, letters, and emails that weren’t –shall we say – ‘charitable’ in their content…..

It all became moot when the Camaro went onto Hiatus in the late summer of 2002……..and I continued to say to you, our Camaro Enthuiasts – to “keep the faith…” - -that GM understood the importance of the Camaro nameplate. Yes, there were a few people within the corporation that proposed moving the name to the J-car platform.

(Blasephemy!)

(….they were last seen being shoved into a fleet of black suburbans – never to be seen again…….)

As John Heinricy said in a meeting that I attended: “The ugliest sight I can imagine would be tire smoke coming from the FRONT tires of a Camaro!..”)

As I’d said before, as Custodians of the Brand, it was crucial that we ensure that the 5th gen Camaro build upon it’s rich 35 year heritage. And yet, as I mentioned earlier in this article, we were questioned at every step of the way. And that’s not a bad thing, I suppose.

We felt so strongly about the heritage of Camaro and ensuring that the new Camaro would “check all the boxes” that were important to Camaro Enthusiasts - that we drafted the 15 members of the Camaro Enthusiast Advisory Board (better known as ‘The 12 Disciples of which there are 15’)

So—after all that: The 5th gen Camaro hit the streets and blew people away…..it’s still #1 in the segment – so I think the team did a pretty good job, don’t you agree?

At the same time, we’d been working on a Camaro that took performance way past our SS. It had been in the product plan for some time – but with the Housing Melt-down of the mid to late 2000s – and the resultant Bankruptcy of GM (and Chrysler and many vendors) the “HP” Camaro was put on ice. That the “HP” car was put back into the program was a miracle in and of itself. Interestingly, it was internally called the “HP” and kept top secret….. but the intended name was to be Z28. Talk about controversy. There were emails, letters, threats, banging-on-desks – and perhaps some thinly veiled threats made……and it was finally decided that the original Z/28 had a naturally aspirated V8 engine. The “HP” Camaro was to have a supercharged engine…….so perhaps the Z/28 moniker wasn’t really appropriate. Our President, Mr. Mark Reuss – himself a Camaro Enthusiast since the time he was able to recognize a Camaro – made the final call…..the “HP” would be christened “ZL1.” What you DON’T know is that he had another plan in mind for the Z/28.
(Note the “/”…..)

Volumes will be written about the 2014 Z/28 – but what’s important to understand is that while we made “Z28” enthusiasts happy over the years with 275hp – and then 285hp – and then an LS1 based Z28………we continually disappointed the “Z/28” purist.

The 2014 is dedicated to the “Z/28” purist. This is a track car that makes no excuses. That this car is a full three seconds faster on a track than the mighty ZL1 speaks volumes to its intent. Make no mistake – this isn’t a slap at the mightly ZL1. Far from it. If you want a car that blows other cars off a road course on Saturday and Sunday – and yet will get you to the office in comfort on Monday morning – the ZL1 is the car for you. If you want blistering track performance at a reasonable cost – the 1LE is prescribed. And – if you want to shame exotics on a road course – with an automobile that’s not meant for daily driving, then the Z/28 makes no apologies and may grab you by the collar – shake you silly -- and shout “LET’S GO MAKE HISTORY!”

So—that’s been a lot of words.

And that’s my take on why we’ve done what we’ve done.

Many already understood before I started typing away.

Some others now have a better understanding.

[Wizard1183]

Originally Posted by 90503

The slash, no slash difference is the most significant feature and the cause for all the controversy....The slashed Z/28s were the first built in '67 to the racing specs needed for Chevy to compete at the track...

...They watered it down in subsequent years with the Z28 cars which was a "rip-off" of the original Z/28s purpose...

...The 2014 Z/28 went to great lengths to guarantee that mistake will never be made again...

Thats the only sentence I disagree with. Reason being IF they make a 6th gen Z/28 or Z28, which is very probable considering they've ALWAYS made one regardless of whether or not it stayed true to a '67, it'll be cheaper than a 2014 for more consumers and it wont perform at or better than a 2014. So producing this Z/28, how are you going to stay true to something that won't nearly be as engineered as this car? No way they build ANOTHER Z/28 road race car in the price range of $70-95k. Therefore, I cant see them staying homage or true to the 1st gen or the 5th gen primarily when the cost will be reduced. Not saying they wouldnt build a track worthy 6th gen, but it wont hold a candle to this one. Otherwise, why pay this price tag when you could sell it and get a cheaper 6th gen that'd outperform it?