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1967 Camaro Indy Pace Car |
It was new! It was its first year in the market! It was Chevy's answer to the trend-setting Mustang! No wonder the '67 Camaro was treated to an aggressive sales campaign. To fend off competition from Ford's pony and Plymouth's Barracuda, there was a seemingly constant revision of first-year Camaro options and trim choices.
Initially, the Camaro line offered a base two-door hardtop or Sport Coupe and a convertible. You could add Rally Sport trim (including hidden headlights), as well as the SS 350, which added stripes around the nose, special badges and a 295-hp version of Chevy's new 350-cid small block V-8.
Since the 350 Camaro didn't seem to be enough to pull many customers away from Ford's new 390-cid Mustang or Plymouth's 383-cid Formula S Barracuda, Chevrolet very soon added its Mark IV big-block 396 to the Camaro options list. This engine developed 325 hp in its L35 form. Additional power selections arrived when the L78 engine option was unleashed. It provided Camaro SS 396 buyers with a 375-hp option.
Chevrolet got the chance to show off its newest product at the Indy 500, where the Camaro paced the racing cars. However, marketing wasn't what it was to become in later years and the cars supplied were the RS/SS 396 convertibles. Chevrolet employee and two-time 500 winner Mauri Rose (1947, 1948) drove the pace car and A.J. Foyt got to keep a Camaro for winning the event.
Instead of offering replicas to dealers, Chevrolet built only 104 of the Camaros and let Indianapolis Motor Speedway VIPs use them during the month of May. Most of these "Indy Pace Cars" were SS 350swith Powerglide automatics. The 396s used for track purposes had the new Turbo-Hydra-Matic installed. When the race was over, the replicas were sold, as used cars, through local Indianapolis delaers.
The first-year Camaro was a big success with 220,917 produced, but it did not quite beat Ford's Mustang. SS production for the 1969 amounted to only 34,411 cars, making them rarer than those who viewed all the Chevy SS promotions realized. The Camaro would be the Indy 500 pace car again in 1969. That time around, the marketing was handled a little bit better.
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