Z/28 Clone free zone = parts restriction

[PYROLYSIS]

I'm just waiting to see if some of these same parts will be released later through Chevrolet Performance parts. All they have to do is remove a logo and lower the price.

[Muscle Car Lover]

Originally Posted by R6P

This was the case back in '87 with the Buick GNX

^^^^^^^^^
I was not aware of that!

I think this is great. I don't have nor want nor could afford a new model Z/28 but it's best this way. Special cars with a special history. Keep it limited and exclusive and it stays that way IMO.

[Skylane765]

"I think this is great. I don't have nor want nor could afford a new model Z/28 but it's best this way. Special cars with a special history. Keep it limited and exclusive and it stays that way IMO."

I hope someday I can meet you, you are a very unselfish person and above statement was a very nice remark. For some to say that may not have a Z28. I commend you and hope one day you will have one, you deserve one in my eyes.

[Nick S]

First of all when the Camaro team engineered the Z/28 the goal of exclusivity was never one of their target goals. Their one and only goal of the Z/28 (which has been repeatedly stated by the entire engineering team and program mangers of the Z/28) was to make it the fastest Camaro around a track as possible. That's it. They never cared about exclusivity for the buyers. The price you are paying is the price for GM to make back their R&D expenses and pay for the production of the car. You are not paying for "exclusivity". The main reasons for low production volumes is most likely corporate MPG's averages and the fact that the LS7 is hand built which inherently creates production volume limitations.

This same discussion happened with the ZL1's. There were people that were always worried about people that were cloning their ZL1's. The thing that always irks me is the individuals who complain the most about other people "cloning" their model of a car are usually the same people that are the first ones to take those exclusive factory parts off their "exclusive" car and put aftermarket parts on.

I hope that all of the people that are on here saying that these cars (Z/28's) and their parts should be "exclusive" keep their cars 100% completely stock then including air filters, tires, and wheels and all aesthetics. The minute you take any factory part off the Z/28 and put an aftermarket one on you lose the right to bitch about people cloning Z/28's. You can't come on here complaining about wanting an exclusive car and not wanting other people to be able to buy Z/28 parts but then turn around and take those factory parts off your car because now they aren't "good enough" for you or "unique enough". You wanted exclusivity now keep every one of those parts on the car.

The only reason certain parts are likely limited is production volume capabilities and blanket order buying agreements for the unique Z/28 parts.

If exclusivity is what you want then you should buy a 2013 1LE because I'M pretty sure there are fewer than 2000 built for that model year which means it will be even more exclusive than the Z/28 for 2015 model year. Does that mean all 1LE parts should be restricted to preserve exclusivity?

[350 HRSS]

Originally Posted by Skylane765

"I think this is great. I don't have nor want nor could afford a new model Z/28 but it's best this way. Special cars with a special history. Keep it limited and exclusive and it stays that way IMO."

I hope someday I can meet you, you are a very unselfish person and above statement was a very nice remark. For some to say that may not have a Z28. I commend you and hope one day you will have on, you deserve one in my eyes.

I agree with you both 100%. I could not agree with GM more on this decision, and think it's appropriate. I am glad someone sees it the way it's meant to be seen. No other regular 5th gen should be running around with Z/28 parts.

[madmax13]

Funny how this car got bashed for being the ultimate Camaro... haters

Also.... the restrictions may be lifted at some point, for some parts. I'm hoping they come through with the Cold Air kit

[PYROLYSIS]

Originally Posted by Nick S

First of all when the Camaro team engineered the Z/28 the goal of exclusivity was never one of their target goals. Their one and only goal of the Z/28 (which has been repeatedly stated by the entire engineering team and program mangers of the Z/28) was to make it the fastest Camaro around a track as possible. That's it. They never cared about exclusivity for the buyers. The price you are paying is the price for GM to make back their R&D expenses and pay for the production of the car. You are not paying for "exclusivity". The main reasons for low production volumes is most likely corporate MPG's averages and the fact that the LS7 is hand built which inherently creates production volume limitations.

This same discussion happened with the ZL1's. There were people that were always worried about people that were cloning their ZL1's. The thing that always irks me is the individuals who complain the most about other people "cloning" their model of a car are usually the same people that are the first ones to take those exclusive factory parts off their "exclusive" car and put aftermarket parts on.

I hope that all of the people that are on here saying that these cars (Z/28's) and their parts should be "exclusive" keep their cars 100% completely stock then including air filters, tires, and wheels and all aesthetics. The minute you take any factory part off the Z/28 and put an aftermarket one on you lose the right to bitch about people cloning Z/28's. You can't come on here complaining about wanting an exclusive car and not wanting other people to be able to buy Z/28 parts but then turn around and take those factory parts off your car because now they aren't "good enough" for you or "unique enough". You wanted exclusivity now keep every one of those parts on the car.

The only reason certain parts are likely limited is production volume capabilities and blanket order buying agreements for the unique Z/28 parts.

If exclusivity is what you want then you should buy a 2013 1LE because I'M pretty sure there are fewer than 2000 built for that model year which means it will be even more exclusive than the Z/28 for 2015 model year. Does that mean all 1LE parts should be restricted to preserve exclusivity?

Engineering and marketing are 2 different things. GM's ultimate goal is to make money. I don't think there's a problem with keeping the parts exclusive. I do agree that if you've complained about cloning, you should keep the car bone stock. Most Z/28 buyers will be happy with this decision because if they can afford the car they can afford the parts.

[el ess A]

They restricted parts for the first round of ZR-1 Corvettes back in the early 90s.

But there's no restrictions that I'm aware of for the secondary market.

Nick S has some pretty good points, but the 1LE doesn't have exclusivity because you can buy everything for a 1LE over the counter, some in packages even. Plus, it's just an option package on an SS with no special VIN sequencing.

I guess technically the Z/28 loses 100% exclusivity before it was even built because I've got Z/28 fenderwells and rockers on my ZL1. Molded right in there. Same can probably said for the the Spring edition and the Hot Wheels editions use the rockers as well and the grill and spoiler from the ZL1 (I'm betting if you pull off the hotwheel emblem in front you'll find the ZL1 indentations). So the factory even mixes/matches parts.

And if you dig deep into the RPOs, you'll see the Z/28 actually starts life as an SS and uses an RPO code to signify it changing to a Z/28 and changing the VIN. (nothing new, GM did that in the 80s) Weirdest part is it doesn't use the Z28 RPO to do that.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. The VIN tells the story. Even if the Z/28 parts were available for people to walk up and buy, the ONLY ones I'd be interested in if I had a 2014/15 non-ZL1 car is the spoiler and upper grille, and possibly the flowtie and paint it black.

No doubt to me that the Z/28 is the best track capable Camaro ever built. But to me, it's not the best overall Camaro ever built. If you don't know the difference in what that means, I don't think if I broke out the overhead projector to explain it would help. I really don't fear that many people will end up buying all the Z/28 parts and putting them on their non-z/28 cars. I'm not convinced the popularity of the specialized parts would warrant a slew of wannabes. So those who are buying the Z/28, worry about world famine instead.

Rhetorically speaking it still boils down to this- It's my car, my money, and if I want to buy Z/28 parts or even Ford parts and put them on my car, always remember you don't have a vote on paper. You don't have to like it, but then again, I wasn't asking you whether you did or not either.

[Dfault]

If you really wanted to clone a Z/28 it would still be easy.

Find a friend with a Z/28 and ask them to buy the parts for their car, if they get asked why they want them, they're just replacement parts for the track.

[el ess A]

Dfault, you didn't read the entire thread, did you? At least for now, you have to turn in a part to get one. So I doubt one of your 500 friends will order a part for you. So...not very easy.

[McRat]

It just means if you are racing for a points series, like AutoX (SCCA Solo2), you really should buy 2 of them in case you break anything. You can't alter anything and still run in Stock, so a fender bender driving to work can put you out of the running. No splitter? You can be protested.

[Synner]

Completely ridiculous GM b.s.

Whats with the 2 differential part numbers? Is one the diff cover?


Edit: Answered my own question, one looks like the complete rear and the other is just the posi. So there's hope for the diff cover.

[AWSME SS]

There will still be ways to get the parts. I bought "2008 Civic Si Mugen Edition only" parts by 2009 for a Honda Civic Project in the past. The parts won't be cheap but somebody will sell them.

[2010SLVRBULIT]

Originally Posted by Mikebrinda

I tend to think those of us who own a Z/28 will be known by name and face to our dealer of choice.

..yeah, but dealers come & go(in my neck of the woods, it seems). I think once the Z/28 owners have legitimately registered their cars in the GM database, then there shouldn't be a lot of red tape..