With the soaring prices of Bandit Trans Ams, this black and gold 4 speed 5.7 liter Camaro Z-28 seems like a really good buy at $26,900. The car has only traveled 23k miles and is being sold on consignment by Canyon State Classics in Tempe, Arizona. The car has always been garaged and has been in two different collections.
Besides the pristine condition of this car, the 4 speed makes it fairly rare and a blast to drive. It maintains its original cloth interior with bucket seats, original carpet and appears to be factory fresh and highly detailed.
The car is a true time machine with no rust and was ordered with the 5.7 liter V8 4-barrel V-8, Borg Warner T-10 4 speed and 3:73 rear gears. The Sport suspension came with special shocks, front and rear sway bars, and was designed to provide a more comfortable grand touring ride as compared to its competition. The car starts up on the first turn of the key and is said to be a pleasure to drive.
The car came from the factory with the black 5 spoke 15×7 steel wheels and the new owner will receive those wheels with 1982 dated coded Goodyear tires as a bonus. The current owner opted to add the aluminum turbine wheels which were optional in 1979 and the gold highlights look great with the black and gold paint scheme.
With T-tops, a 4 speed, and the 5.7 liter V8, this car must be fun to drive and would probably take you back to ’79 with every turn of the key. Comment below if you drove one of these in high school or if you live in the Phoenix area and can go see this car in person.
For those folks who didn’t like the V6 Firebird you’ve got to love this car!
Had a ’78 and ’79 Z28. Looks pretty legit. My only squabbles are that the center grille emblem is missing and it has ’77-78 center caps on the aluminum rims (the factory Kelsey-Hayes rims have the correct caps). Both easily correctable.
Beyond that, it looks very original and complete. Even the original single cat with dual resonator exhaust is present. Very rare! Most people scrapped that system pretty early on and went with true duals (usually without cats). I would definitely leave that alone.
If I remember correctly, the Z cars didn’t carry a center grill emblem. I had a ’79 Camaro, only a base model with LG4 305 in it. Like most base Camaro owners then, the ’80’s, I toyed with the idea of turning it into a Z clone. The center grill emblem is one of the things I distinctly remember as different though. I did buy a Z hood, nose, front fenders and grill to start this project but never installed them. The grill I bought also had never had an emblem.
They carried the center grill emblem. For 1979 it was the standard Camaro shield. For other years from 1977-81, it was a tri-colour Z28 emblem.
I had almost this identical car in high school. I bought it in 1989 with 27K miles with the 350 and 4-speed. Mine was burgundy with gold stripes and cloth camel interior. Mine had the optional turbine wheels from the factory. I would love to have this car (although I like the colors on mine better), but to me $26K seems a little rich for this era of Z-28. Although, I haven’t really been watching the market. I paid much less for mine in 1989.
This thing was not a speed demon off the line, but it was the first car I drove over 100 mph – all perfectly legal, of course, closed course, do not try this at home.
Recently sold a 79 K-20 with 33K original miles. Was driving from Northern AZ to the Phoenix area at 6 a.m. one Saturday morning when the Eagles song “Take it Easy” came on the radio.
Suddenly it was 1979 again, driving in a (similar) truck that I had spent a lot of time in back in the day.
I swear that for just a second or so I was in a time machine!
Nice Z-28, would be fun to try to capture that feeling once again…
Wow just gorgeous!! Price seems about right.
Nice looking Z28! No a/c is a bummer, especially for AZ residents.
I’ve seen it, pretty nice car but not too desirable here in AZ (black, t tops and no AC) I had the same car in red, 10k orig miles, 4 spd and no AC. I damn near gave it away, nobody here would by it. Ended up in the Pacific NW
Ordered one of these new at the end of 1978. Got it fully equipped too. Because of the popularity of the Trans Am, and to a point the Z/28’s, and Rally Sports dealers jacked the prices up. I lost the car because supposedly the dealer couldn’t get me 4 grand of the financing. I went back two weeks later, and the dealer had jacked the price up 5 grand. I was mad. Same day I went to a better Chevy dealer. Bought a 1978 Z/28 with only a thousand miles on it. Looked just like the 1979, except it was a 1978 already broke in. And it cost me 6 grand less then the new one. I took the money I saved I bought Walker mufflers, Hooker headers, read window louvers, air shocks, as well as new tires, and wheels. Was I glade I lost the 1979. LOL.
I believe the mileage, since the original converter is still on. Surprised there’s no air pump. Gotta be a non Calif car. Super ez to change plugs on this one.
Wonder what this revs at, at 70mph with that rear & the chevy small block’s short stroke.
With the longer stroke 455 pontiac & 3:08 rear you don’t even need overdrive.
Surprised the designers didn’t notice the steering wheel blocks some of the gages. Was there a bigger thinner steerin wheel avail?
I prefer the hood on the ’77 – can’t remember the last time i seen a ’77.
http://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/canyon/1/867/71997/1920×1440/w/1979-chevrolet-camaro-2dr-coupe-z28
The manual had no overdrive and came with 3:73 gears. So it revs pretty high on the highway. Autos came with 3:42 gears. Still steep.
Gotta need those low gears for the umph on get go, saves wear and tear on a 4 speed clutch car.
Is that some kind of spedo adaptor with the tie wraps on the side of the trans? It looks out of place.
I used to see them screwed directly into the transmission at the connection that the speedo cable attached to, the bullet. Never like that one in the pictures.
Had a 79 and an 81 had an air induction hood , great cars , the 79 Camaro z28 went through a fire hydrant, telephone pole then a rock wall, sold it for parts, had a LT-1 engine 4 speed, not ready for it as a 17 year old I guess.
Nice car. prices are ratchetting up on not what some would consider REAL muscle cars due to exhorborrant prices on older MUSCLE cars. I drove a 79 in body shop i worked at in high school in 79. 4 speed. Had a lift for reverse shifter. I power shifted third and shifter came out of floor i got kinda shook up i told my boss RANDY and he told me it HAPPENED to him also the night before We both laughed our azzzes off as he was about 50 years old. Cool old boss guy. He also had a 68 roadrunner and i was the only guy at shop ALLOWED to drive it. first time i did he told me to TREAT IT AS MY VERY OWN. It kinda over heated while chasin paint for body shop. I drove it like i drove my 70 roadrunner. PUT IT TO THE FLOOR AND MAKE ER SCREAM FOR MERCY
Usually don’t comment ,but? No engine came that nicely painted from factory. Door jam latches are painted black. Factory was natural. Do like the original exhaust system. Bit pricey.
I owned this same identical one w/ 19k miles in ’85 w/ TTops, 350 & 4sp but yellow w/ black int & yellow 5 spoke fact rims. Motor slightly built & it was a hell of a nice, fast car. Best handling like my ’74 Formula 400 7 yrs prior. But after about 7-8 mos, the thrill was gone being I already had traded that bird for a ’70 Vette conv 350/350 4sp I had already in the garage & instead, went to an ’83 Caddy eldo triple black w/ roadster top, wires & rolls grill. Yeah, extreme change lol! I see lots of these old muscle cars on here I owned in the past, all low miles & near mint, a ’69 DZ, ’68 Cam SS 396 conv, ’66 GTO, ’69 GTO, ’70 Challenger R/T 440 among several others so now with the high prices on most, conclude being I had already had them, from a fraction of what people pay for them now & recall why I sold them all.
The novelty wore off quick. Kind of like a gf in those mid teen yrs of the mid 70’s. If not in true love, never get too attached & after you’ve shown it to your friends & had some good times, it was on to another. Most in less than a year. But nice to see them here bringing back good memories, hell of a lot cheaper than owning them again, especially when they start giving you problems just like…well, you know what I mean lol! No offense ladies lol!