1978 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

When I was younger, there was a sociocultural demarcating line between urban/suburban and exurban/rural America that I took to calling the "Camaro Line" after something that happened in my mid-twenties

In 1994 I was driving a 1979 Datsun 280ZX 2+2 and, though I'd grown up in the near-side 'burbs of Atlanta, Georgia, I'd gotten a job working at a pawn shop in the city of Cumming, in then-semi-rural Forsyth County. When a cool in-dash CD head unit came off pawn at the shop, I scarfed it up and called the local car stereo joint to get the bits I needed to put it in my car, which I told them was a "'79 Z-car."

I showed up and found a kit waiting for me..for a '79 Z28. Lesson learned: "Z-car" means different things in different places.

The regular production option code known as "RPO Z28", which defined performance Chevrolet Camaros in the early Seventies, had been discontinued for the 1975 model year in the wake of the first gas crisis.

After a two year hiatus, it returned as its own sub-model of the Camaro for 1977. The '77 Camaro Z28 was differentiated cosmetically from the base Camaro Sport Coupe by tape stripes and decals, but for 1978 the design got a thorough refresh, as seen on the Dark Camel Metallic example in the photo.

A sleek urethane nose cone of the type that its sister F-body, the Pontiac Firebird, had been using for years replaced the painted metal bumpers of the earlier car. The hood got a prominent NACA duct (fake) and the front fenders sprouted heat extraction gills (functional) and it all added up to a businesslike look.

Under the hood scoop was the trusty Chevrolet LM1 4-barrel 350 cubic inch small block V-8, which in various states of tune powered half everything in Chevy's '70s lineup. In the '78 Z28 is had a hotter cam and an 8.2:1 compression ratio and was rated at 185 SAE net horsepower.

In a period test of a 4-speed Z28 with a 3.73:1 Positraction rear end in the March '78 issue, Car and Driver extracted a respectable-for-the-Malaise-Era 7.3 second zero-to-sixty and a best quarter mile run of sixteen seconds flat at 91 mph. Top speed was measured at 123 miles per hour, and the power front discs and rear drums hauled the 3,560 pound Camaro to a halt from 70 in 181 feet.

Base price for a '78 Z28 was $5,604, and C/D's test car added optional 15" alloy wheels, the Posi rear, a heavy duty radiator, and some cosmetic and comfort stuff to bring the as-tested price to $6,819, which comes to about thirty-three grand in today's coin.

The one in the photo was snapped with a Nikon Coolpix S6500 in August of 2014.