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1967 Chevy Camaro SS 350 and 396 |
Sketches of a new GM car called the Panther filled car-enthusiast magazines in the mid-60s. They were said to predict what Chevrolet's version of the Mustang would look like. When it debuted on September 29, 1966, the real-life Camaro seemed far different than the drawings in this case, the reality was better!
Just as the Mustang was based on the Falcon, the Camaro was based on the Chevy II Nova. That meant it could accommodate all kinds of muscular Chevy V-8s. To Chevy lovers, the term Super Sport equated to a muscle car, so the high-performance Camaro utilized the same "SS" designation as its bigger brothers.
An extensive lineup of engines was offered for Chevy's late-breaking contender in the pony car market and the initial offering for muscle car maniacs was a hot new small-block RPO L48 V-8 with 350 cubic inches and 295 hp. You could order it only with the SS 350 package, which included a raised hood with non-functional finned louvers, a "bumblebee" nose stripe, special ornamentation, fat red-stripe tires and a stiff suspension. Best of all, you got all this for $211.
A heavy-duty three-speed manual transmission standard in the Camaro SS and options included a two-speed Powerglide automatic or a four-speed manual gear box. There was also a wide variety of rear axle ratios including 2.73:1, 3.07:1, 3.31:1, 3.55:1, 3.73:1, 4.10:1, 4.56:1, and 4.88:1. Car and Driver tested an SS 350 at 0-to-60 mph in 7.8 seconds and the quarter-mile in 16.1 seconds at 86.5 mph. Motor Trend needed 8 seconds to get to 60 mph, but did the quarter-mile in 15.4 at 90 mph.
On November 26, 1966, Chevy released a pair of 396-cid big block V-8 options: The RPO L34, which was priced at $235 with the SS package, produced 325 hp. The RPO L78 ($550 including SS goodies) produced an advertised 375 hp.
Motor Trend tested an L35 SS 396 Camaro with four-speed gearbox at 6 seconds for 0-to-60 mph and a 14.5-second quarter-mile at 95 mph. Car Life (May 1967) drove a similar car with Powerglide and registered a 6.8-second 0-to-60 time and 15.1-second puarter-mile at 91.8 mph.
Since a total of 34,411 Super Sports were built and 29,270 were SS 350 models, that leaves 5,141 that were built as SS 396s.
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