1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS Convertible

There have been a couple first generation Camaro Rally Sport convertibles on the blog already, but they were both 1967 models.

The FMVSS-compliant side marker lights and the lack of vent windows on this Chevrolet Camaro RS ragtop in Palomino Ivory mark it as a 1968 model.

According to the fender badges, this one's got a 327 Turbo-Fire small block under the hood. That could either be the base two-barrel motor with an 8.75:1 compression ratio and 210 gross horsepower, or the four-barrel version with a 10.0:1 squeeze and 275 ponies. Both versions had a single exhaust from the factory, so there's no real external clues.

Both photos were snapped in September of 2023, the top one with a Nikon D800 and a 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens and the lower one with a Nikon 1 V1 and a 1 Nikkor 32mm f/1.2 lens.

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

When the "shoebox" style Chevrolets debuted for the 1955 model year, the only four-door sedan available was a conventional pillared one.

With the 1956 models, however, a sleeker sedan lacking a B-pillar was assed to the lineup. The new hardtop four-door was sold as the Sport Sedan and was only available in the top-of-the-line Bel Air and midrange 210. The spartan 150 still made do with the B-pillar.

We've had a 1957 Bel Air sedan on these pages before, but it was the regular pillared kind. This Adobe Beige and Sierra Gold 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Sedan in the photos was snapped in October of 2020 using a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens.

1970 Pontiac GTO Convertible

Right up front, it's next to impossible to verify that this is an actual GTO Judge without looking at the original paperwork. It's also been repainted and lacks all the badges and decals. The "statement color" for the 1970 Judge was Orbit Orange, which was a lighter, yellower hue than this. This looks more like the Carousel Red from 1969.

Also, 1970 Judge convertibles are vanishingly rare. Skyrocketing insurance rates were crippling muscle car sales in 1970. Pontiac only sold 40,149 GTOs for that model year. Only 3,797 of that number were Judges, and only 168 Judges were ragtops.

It's every bit as likely to be a regular '70 GTO convertible with the hood tach and wing added by a later owner. Still, it's a super cool ride.

When Car Life tested a 1970 GTO coupe with the L74 366 SAE gross horsepower Ram Air III 400cid V-8, a four-speed manual, and a 3.90:1 rear end, they managed a zero-to-sixty time of six seconds flat and a 14.6 quarter at 100mph. Top speed was a buck-twenty-one and price as tested was $5,057, or about $42,300 in today's money.

This one was photographed in October of 2021 using a Nikon D3 and a 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens.

1962 Cadillac Series 62 Four-Window Town Sedan

The newly restyled Cadillacs for 1961 featured crisper, more angular styling than the previous generation. While they still had fairly prominent tail fins, they were but a vestige of the previous generation's monstrosities. Rather than the twin bullet-shaped taillights that protruded from the rear of its predecessor's fins, the new Cadillacs had a single taillight cleanly faired into the trailing edge of the fins, with another lamp assembly at either end of the rear bumper. The lower edge of the bodywork featured a distinctive skeg or strake that became emblematic of these early Space Age Cads.

The Series 62 was the less expensive model of the full-size Cadillacs, with a less posh interior than the pricier de Ville models. The Four Window Town Sedan had a shorter decklid and roof, sacrificing some trunk space and rear seat legroom to give an overall length half a foot shorter than the 222"-long Six Window Sedan, making it easier to park on city streets and fit in normal garages.

Under the hood could be found Cadillac's 390 cubic inch pushrod V-8, with a four-throat carburetor and a 10.5:1 compression ratio, making 325 SAE gross horsepower. Base MSRP was $4,590, or roughly $49,400 in current dollars.

This one was photographed with a Fujifilm X-T2 and an XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R OIS zoom lens in September of 2021.

2000 BMW M5

The first two iterations of BMW's high performance sedan built on the 5-series platform used the classic inline-six motors for which the manufacturer was famous. When the E39-based version of the M5 debuted for the 1999 model year, however, it packed a brawny V-8 under the hood.

The S62, displacing 4.9 liters, was an all-aluminum DOHC 32V V-8 that featured BMW's double-VANOS system, which gave variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust valves. Each cylinder had its own throttle body and the compression ratio was 11.0:1. The result was a motor that wailed out 400 SAE net horsepower at 6,600 RPM.

In Car and Driver's testing, the 2000 M5 hurtled to sixty in only 4.8 seconds and dispatched the quarter mile in 13.3 seconds at 108mph through the traps. Top speed was measured at 156, it circled the skidpad at 0.90g, and the brakes hauled it to a stop from 70 in 156 feet. The car easily outperformed the Jag XJR and E55 AMG Benz against which it was pitted in the test and is one of the last times C/D reviewed an M5 without having to insert caveats.

Price as tested was $73,874, which is about $140k in current money.

This one was photographed in August of 2021 using a Hasselblad Lunar and a Sony Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 zoom lens.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air

1955 saw a complete re-styling of Chevrolet's lineup. The new cars had "shoebox" lines that dispensed with the distinctive pontoon fenders of the previous generation, while the rear fenders had a hint of the then-trendy tail fins and the windshield had a pronounced wraparound curve to it. The models, however, retained their previous designations. There was the spartan 150, oriented toward fleet sales, the midrange 210, and the top-of-the-line Bel Air.

The Bel Air featured many items that were optional on the 210 as standard equipment and could be had as a 2- or 4-door sedan, a wagon, a convertible, or a hardtop sport coupe.

The two-tone Sport Coupe in the picture above is finished in India Ivory over Harvest Gold. Under the hood could be one of two "Blue Flame" inline sixes, producing 123 or 135 gross horsepower, or the big news for 1955: Chevrolet's new Turbo Fire pushrod V-8. Displacing 265 cubic inches with an "8-to-1 ultra-high compression ratio" and a two-barrel carburetor, the new Chevy small block made 162 SAE gross horsepower.

Not long into the model year came the Super Turbo Fire version, with a four-barrel carb, performance intake, larger air cleaner, and dual exhausts. If those are factory duals on the car in the picture, it has the Super Turbo Fire, which was rated at 180 ponies.

In a test of the Bel Air 4-door sedan with the regular 165-horse small block and PowerGlide transmission, Motor Life recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 13.6 seconds.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D3 and a 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens in November of 2022. 

1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

This would be the third '79 Pontiac Trans Am seen on these pages. The first was a Tenth Anniversary Trans Am, and the second was a Sundance Yellow coupe on the standard Rally II wheels, indicating that the original owner had been pretty stingy with the options list.

Then there's this 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am here...

It's a Starlight Black t-top coupe and pixel-peeping in on the hood, it looks like it has the gold outline around the opening for the shaker hood scoop, indicating it's a Black & Gold Special Edition car. The "TA 6.6" decal on the scoop is the tell that under the hood is the 220 horsepower W72 400 cubic inch Pontiac V-8, rather than the tamer L80 403 cubic inch Oldsmobile Rocket V-8, which made 185 horses and came with a "6.6 LITRE" decal on the scoop. 

The car has the iconic 8" wide gold snowflake alloy rims that came with the WS6 performance package, which came shod with 225/70R-15 tires, considered quite meaty at the time. The WS6 package also included rear disc brakes and beefier front and rear sway bars. A Black and Gold Special Edition with the W72 is one of the rarest configurations found on a '79 T/A, with only 1,107 configured thusly.

1979 was the last hurrah for the 400 cubic inch Trans Ams, and the 8,672 W72 motors installed that year in Trans Ams and Formulas were actually hoarded from earlier production. Tighter emissions regs for 1980 meant that the most potent motor in the final Second Generation Firebirds would be the 301 Turbo.

This one was photographed using a Nikon D3 and a 50mm f/1.4 lens in July of 2021.

1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Indy 500 Pace Car

For 1977, Oldsmobile got the nod to provide the Pace Car for the 61st running of the 500 Mile International Sweepstakes, better known as the Indianapolis 500. It was the fourth time since 1970 that Olds had paced the race, the previous three with various iterations of the midsize Cutlass.

The Delta 88 was a full-size Olds, which was freshly revised for the 1977 model year. The seventh generation of the 88 rode on a 116" wheelbase and stretched 217.5" between the bumpers.

More plebeian Delta 88 coupes could be had with a base 231cid V-6 rated at 105 SAE net horsepower or a couple optional V-8s, namely the LV8 110hp 260 cube Rocket or the L34 170 horsepower 350 Rocket.

 

The Indianapolis 500 Pace Car version, of which Oldsmobile built 2,400 examples, came with the top of the line W44 403 cubic inch Rocket V-8, making 185 net horses. It was backed by a TH350 three-speed automatic and could push the 3,700 pound coupe to sixty in a little under ten seconds, which was decent by Malaise Era standards.

This example was photographed in October of 2025 using a Canon EOS 7D and an EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS zoom lens.

1993 Porsche 968 Cabriolet

When Porsche replaced the little 914, it was again with a car that had been designed hand-in-hand with Volkswagen. The 924 was the first front-engined, water-cooled car offered by Porsche and the trim little 2+2 hatchback coupe with the engine up front and transaxle in the back took up the mantle of "entry-level Porsche". Powered by a 2.0L SOHC four-banger that was also used in VW cargo vans, it was very much a creature of the Malaise Era.

In the early '80s the basic design was heavily revised and the VW/Audi-sourced truck motor was replaced with a 2.5L SOHC four that was essentially half of the V-8 from the flagship 928 grand tourer, with the resulting car called the 944. That car in turn carried the entry-level Porsche banner for most of a decade, receiving a string of upgrades that culminated in the 944 S2.

Rather than releasing an "S3" upgrade, the ultimate iteration of the 924 platform was given an entirely new model designator of 968. The inline four now displaced 3.0L and sported a DOHC 16V cylinder head and Porsche's new VarioCam variable valve timing setup. Like the 944 S2 before it, the 968 was offered in coupe and convertible versions, with the latter being fairly rare at only 4,374 sold from '92 through '95.

The 3.0L powerplant put out 237 SAE net horsepower and was capable of propelling the 968 Cabrio to sixty in the low six second range when backed with the six-speed manual transaxle, and about a second slower with the four-speed Tiptronic auto. Unlike the preceding 924 and 944, the 968 was built in-house at Zuffenhausen rather than at Audi's Neckarsulm plant. The convertible stickered at $51k, so something like $117,000 in current dollars.

This Polar Silver Metallic example was photographed in September of 2025 using a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens.

1973 Pontiac Firebird Formula

1973 marked the fourth model year of the second generation Firebird. It was the first year of the federally mandated 5mph front bumper and, while the Endura snout is externally identical to that on the '72 models, the grille inserts have been moved slightly forward in their opening to clear the structural reinforcement beneath the outer skin. Also, the previous year's honeycomb grille pattern is replaced with a rectangular eggcrate.

The Firebird trim levels remained unchanged for '73, with the base model, the plusher Esprit, the performance-oriented Formula, and the top-of-the-line Trans Am. The Formula came with a standard Pontiac 350cid 2-barrel V-8 motor with dual exhausts, rated at 175 SAE net horsepower. The car in the photos had the optional 4-barrel 400, which put out 230 horses. There were also two versions of 455 on the menu, the 250hp L75 version and the snarling LS2 Super Duty 455, based on Pontiac's racing motors and rated at 310 ponies, the last gasp of the Muscle Car era.

Formulas made up a little less than a quarter of the 46,313 Firebirds sold for 1973, and 4,622 of them were Formula 400s, like the Navajo Orange example in the photos. On a stock Formula the hood scoops were cosmetic dummies, but this one's had them opened up. Off the showroom floor with a 4-speed transmission, you could expect 0-60 times of about seven seconds flat.

The top photo was snapped in May of 2025 using a Nikon D300 and 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom lens, while the lower one was taken with a Nikon D7100 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens in the same month. 

1999 Jaguar XK8 Convertible

By the mid 1990s, Jaguar's big grand touring coupe, the XJS (renamed from XJ-S after Jag was acquired by Ford) had been carrying the marque's sporting flag for two decades and was decidedly long in the tooth.

The cash infusion from Dearborn helped push its replacement over the goal line and into production. The new XK8, internally known as the X100, was a svelter design that was intended to be more reminiscent of the classic XK-E from days of yore. Unlike the XJS it replaced, which came into the world during an era when ragtops were on the outs, the XK8 was intended to be a convertible from the start and in fact the droptop XK8 outsold the coupe version by better than two-to-one over its decade long model run.

Carrying the floorpan (and thus the wheelbase length) and a few structural bits over from the XJS, the XK was otherwise largely a clean sheet of paper. Sharing the design of its independent rear suspension with the XJ sedans, the XK8 was launched with a new all-alloy 4.0L DOHC 32V V-8. Dubbed the Jaguar AJ26,  it made 290 SAE net horsepower at 6100 rpm. 

This was enough to shove a '97 XK8 to sixty in 6.7 seconds in Motor Trend's testing at the time, on the way to a quarter mile in fifteen flat at 95mph through the traps.

This Meteorite Silver Metallic example was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in October of 2025.