What is more fun than driving a LT-1 powered 4 speed 1973 Chevrolet Camaro Z28? The car is located in Austin, Texas and is listed here on eBay. The car is bid to over $39,600 and the reserve has not met. There are 2 days left in the auction. This surprises me a bit because the ad does not include very many full pictures of the exterior of the Z28 or the undercarriage. Chevrolet sold 96,751 Camaros in 1973 of which 11,574 were ordered with the Z-28 option.
The Z28 is said to be all original and a factory 4 speed. All Z-28 optioned Camaros came with a 350 cubic inch V8 engine that produced 245 horsepower which was 10 horsepower less than the prior year. The torque rating was fairly low and stayed at 280 lb ft of torque as compared to the prior year. The seller states the car is rust free and still has the original paint and original carpet. The odometer shows approximately 45,000 miles. When the Z28 and Type LT options were ordered on a car, the Z28 emblems and stripes were deleted. The stripes on the hood of this Z-28 were added later.
The 4 speed transmission is a Muncie M21 unit that drives 3:42 rear gears. If a Z-28 was ordered with air conditioning and a 4 speed, the car was equipped with a Muncie M20 manual transmission. This was the first year that air conditioning could be ordered on a Z-28. I bet they sold more Z-28’s in the south after air conditioning was available on 4 speed cars! This car is riding on stock 15 x 7 steel wheels that are painted dull grey with bright lug nuts. The center caps have a blue bow-tie and the wheels were equipped with trim rings.
The Rally Sport (RS) option meant that this Z28 was equipped with one of the best looking front ends of the muscle car era. It was the last year for this front grill before US regulations required larger bumpers. The Type LT model that was first offered in 1973 came with a nicer interior and a quieter ride. All Type LTs came with sport mirrors, rally wheels, full instrumentation, variable power steering, and several other upgrades.
Great combo of options on this one, someone ordered a he77 of a car! Really high bid and reserve not met yet, but I don’t blame the seller. I would have a hard time letting go of it too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v3CzvQ9e_w
This is the last year of the small bumper cars, last of the RS split bumper cars also. The one to have is the 1970 solid lifter LT1 360 HP. The same engine, except for the exhaust manifolds is virtually identical to the 1970 Corvette LT1, except the Corvette is rated at 370 HP. Chevrolet (and GM for that matter) wanted to keep the Corvette as king of the hill. Chevrolet wasn’t too happy when the intercooled Grand Nationals came out. Stock they were faster than the Corvette. I had a “We Brake For Corvette’s” sticker in the back window of my 87 GN… The ‘Vette guys were not amused!
Perfect amount of power and gear that you can wind it out on the street and not be going ballistic speeds. Fantastic looking car
You cannot fault this design unless you have to sit in the back !
The only thing missing on these was a cowl induction hood that blended so well with the lines
I wonder why gm didn’t offer it ?
Most likely noise.
Noise ?
The chevelles had a cowl induction hood !
Could have been a fake cowl hood like on the heavy chevy
Heck yes the 70.5 Z/28 was the one. RS trim package and short rear spoiler.
The ’73 Z/28 engine was the hydraulic-lifter L82 (also shared with the Corvette), which is why they were able to offer A/C.
The clutch pedal shows a lot more than 50k miles. There’s also remnants of orange engine paint on the exhaust manifolds from an old respray. This is a really nice Camaro and it’s at $39,800 RNM and 27 bids but judging from previous features on BF, $35k must be the new $15k. The old car hobby is truly for those with expendable cash nowadays!
Bruce: The last year for the LT-1 engine was 1972. Type LT means Luxury Touring.
IMO, a vinyl roof AND racing stripes were never a good looking combination – on any car.
I don’t see how that RS front end met the ’73 five mph bumper standard – maybe Chevy paid a fine, like Dodge did on its ’73 Challenger? The grills are still too close to the front as well, while with the ’73 firebird, the grills were moved back to protect them. & its bumper looked massive & was heavy as hell too.
1970.5 was the killer combo.
The LT1 that year was a beast. The car was built to kick Arse. And on the street
They did just that.
It was a terror for sure. A good friend had one and we added headers a bigger Holley. Traction bars and this car beat a lot of big blocks.
Didn’t sell. Bidders were playing… bid two dollars short of 40k, reserve not met.