Chevrolet Camaro
It's from 1967, before you were born.
- Iconic generation
- 1967 first-generation Camaro
- Origin
- Detroit, Michigan, USA
- Engine
- Z/28: 302 cu in (4.9L) V8; SS: up to 396 cu in (6.5L) big-block
- Power
- Z/28: 290 hp (advertised); SS396: up to 375 hp
- Production
- 99,855 Camaros for 1967 (just 602 Z/28s)
- Price when new
- Z/28 package added roughly $400 (1967)
- Claim to fame
- Chevy's answer to the Mustang
About
As of 2026, it's 59 years old.
When Ford's Mustang lit the pony-car fire in 1964, Chevrolet was caught flat-footed and furious. Their answer arrived for 1967 under the project name 'Panther,' but launched as the Camaro — a name a Chevy exec cheekily claimed meant 'a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.' The muscle-car wars were officially on.
The first-gen Camaro could be ordered as anything from a mild six-cylinder cruiser to a fire-breathing SS396 or the road-racing Z/28, whose high-revving 302 V8 was built specifically to go Trans-Am racing. Long hood, short deck, endless options — it was Chevy's freedom machine, and it looked the part.
The third-gen IROC-Z of the 1980s gave the Camaro its mulleted, T-top, ground-effects heyday — the unofficial state car of every high school parking lot in America. It traded raw 60s muscle for tech and attitude, and an entire generation grew up wanting one with the windows down and the cassette deck blasting.
Then the fifth-gen reboot in 2010 made a movie star out of it: a yellow Camaro named Bumblebee transformed into a giant robot and introduced the nameplate to a whole new audience. Through cancellation, revival, and reinvention, the Camaro has kept doing the one thing it was built for — eating Mustangs, or at least trying to.
Chevrolet Camaro through the years
Mustang gets a rival
Chevrolet launches the first-gen Camaro, including the race-bred Z/28, to challenge Ford.
Peak first-gen
The 1969 Camaro's sharp restyle becomes one of the most beloved muscle-car shapes ever.
Third-gen IROC era
The sleek third-gen and its IROC-Z spinoff define 1980s T-top, ground-effects cool.
Cancellation
Slumping pony-car sales force Chevy to retire the Camaro after 35 years.
Reborn as Bumblebee
The fifth-gen revival roars back, supercharged by its 'Transformers' movie stardom.
