The Chevy Camaro was all-new in 1982, replacing the prior generation that had been in production for nearly a dozen years. The new Z28 impressed the folks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway enough to choose it as the pace car for the 1982 running of the Indy 500. To take advantage of the promotional opportunity, Chevy built 6,000 street replicas like the one offered by the seller. It was a project when he/she got it and is being sold that way again. Located in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, this BowTie is available here on craigslist for $5,500.
Chevrolet was big on getting the most out of a platform, so the third-gen Camaro would enjoy a production run from 1982 to 92. During this period, the cars would gain several new features, including factory fuel injection, 4-speed automatic transmissions, 5-speed manual transmissions, 16-inch wheels, and hatchback bodies. The Z28 continued to flourish and would be Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 1982.
The Indy 500 replicas featured special two-tone silver/blue paint and special striping, orange pin-striping on 15-inch Z28 wheels, and a silver/blue interior with six-way Lear-Seigler manually adjustable seating. There was no change in the performance side of the car to match the real pace car that was equipped with a highly modified, all-aluminum 5.7-liter V8 (the replicas had the 5.0-liter). The seller purchased this Z28 with plans to restore it, but things change, and the seller is moving and cannot take the car along. We’re told it runs well and can leave the garage under its own power.
Background information on the car is minimal. The seller did some minor work on it while is his/her possession, like changing weather stripping, door locks, the hood (why?), and the hatch shocks. Some parts will come with the deal and they’re still in the boxes and may be inside the hatch area. That includes a snappy new stereo system with a custom sub-box also in the trunk. The car is going to need finishing off, including some work on the interior. The T-tops are said to be good and may not leak. Drive it while you fix it!
Dog…
No change to 5.7 but it has a 5.0?
Little confused. It is a different engine in this?
…but on the bright side; this Camaro looks pretty restorable from what you can see, having most of it’s original parts, and it features the top-of-the-line motor, such as it was. If I recall, all 6000 pace cars were built in a single run, so the VINS were sequential. That number is about one third the total number of z28s produced in 69, btw. About 40 RPO pace cars were used at Indy that year. There’s a VIN list of these ‘festival’ cars out there somewhere. If this car happened to be one of those, that would be significant. The pace car package was a coded option, so original cars can be verified by that and the VIN, which creates some value. Depending on options, this could be a pretty rare car. For instance, only a handful had 4 wheel disks.
All that said, the crossfire motor WAS a dog, and there’s not much can be done to help it without getting rid of what has become a very seldom seen intake setup.
Regarding the comment that the T-Tops might not leak…survey says: they will.
That is one good looking car – it is one piece of junk to drive. I bought that exact car in 1982 off of the show room floor in 1982 – with very few miles on it . I sold it a few months later – with a few more miles on it. Most worthless of all the over 50 cars – I have owned . Maybe one of the best looking cars, I have ever owned. If you want to look at it – buy it – if you want to take it shows – go for it. If you want to drive it – forget about it.
gone.