Vehicle Description
Vehicle to be offered for Auction sale January 19th - 22nd, 2017 at Russo and Steele's 17th Annual Scottsdale Arizona Auction at the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Please contact us for more information.
By 1969, Chevrolet's Camaro was no longer playing catch-up to Ford's Mustang, with strong showroom sales driven in no small part by the sporty Chevy's brilliant racing success. Conceived and built with development spearheaded by Vince Piggins as Chevrolet's SCCA Trans-Am contender, the Z/28 option was quietly introduced for 1967 and carefully refined through 1968 and 1969. At its heart, the Z/28 package included a high-winding 302 V-8, highly developed underpinnings, and other race-bred chassis and powertrain tweaks. All-out racing versions were most successfully campaigned by Penske Racing and piloted by Mark Donohue, winning back-to-back SCCA Trans-Am Championships in 1968 and 1969 against ferocious competition from the Bud Moore and Shelby-prepared Mustangs.
However, the first-generation Z/28's 302 engine lacked low-end grunt and only truly came alive at 5,000-plus rpm, making it impossible for Chevy to offer the car with an automatic transmission for the street. A significant change in Trans-Am rules brought big benefits for street-performance fans with the SCCA's new move to allow larger-displacement street versions of each manufacturer's racing cars to be reduced in displacement to a 5.0-liter or 305 cubic-inch limit for the track. Accordingly, Chevrolet developed the hot LT-1 engine for the next-generation F-Body Camaro. Carved into the history books as perhaps the finest small-block V-8 engine ever developed, the LT-1 was a masterpiece of performance engineering. Prime features included 11.0:1 compression, a solid-lifter camshaft, free breathing big-valve cylinder heads, efficient exhaust manifolds, and an aluminum intake with a big 780-cfm Holley four-barrel carb. A four-bolt main cylinder block, steel crank, forged rods and aluminum pistons provided strength.
The second-generation F-Body design for 1970 was an unqualified masterpiece of design that easily matched the work of the finest Italian design houses of the era and continues to turn heads today. The Rally Sport appearance package brought even cleaner styling with a body-color Endura grille surround and a pair of trim front bumperettes. A strike at the Norwood, Ohio GM assembly plant delayed the new F-Body Camaro/Firebird introduction, and when the cars were finally launched in 1970, they were designated as 1970 1/2 models due to the time constraints of the shorter model year. Just 8,773 were produced in all, with each quality survivor highly coveted by collectors today.
Featuring the Rally Sport package and a striking color combination, this 1970 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro RS Z/28 is a highly desirable 4-speed car. It is exceptionally well presented throughout with proper parts, components, finishes, and materials all in plain view upon inspection. Riding on a set of 5-spoke steel Z/28 wheels mounting discreet trim rings and topped by a set of iconic Rally stripes with a rear spoiler, this 1970 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 is one of the finest examples of a true performance-car legend.
