The L78 was not overrated. I only have anecdotal evidence to go by (being that I wasn't born until 1970) but my understanding was that L78's were actually producing somewhere in theneighborhood of 425 bhp from the factory.

 

The Z/28 was both Super Stock (straight line) and Trans Am (curves) champion in 1968. The Super Stock Z/28 was faster than Super Stock L78s.

I think on the street, stock for stock, is up for grabs, but in Super Stock trim there was more power to unlock in the Z/28 than the already more powerful 396. From everything I've ever heard, the L78 was probably around 390 horsepower stock (that was the NHRA adjustment for it) and the Z/28 closer to 350.

 

I don't doubt the Z/28 was underrated, but there's no way they put out 400 HP stock. With headers and tuning - maybe. Most estimates I've seen put the Z/28 @ 290 - 325 HP factory stock with 240 - 270 HP at the wheels. With tuning and exhaust it's a whole different story.

 

Wrong again.

I'll quote Bob Cosby on this one (One of our more knowledgeable members) from a different thread:

 

+1 for Z28

Despite recent efforts to reign in the SS line as true performance vehicles, the moniker is still commonplace among Chevys and a bit watered down. That combined with the Corvette's use of "Z" designations at the top of its line leads me to believe the Z28 (w/ or w/o "/") should be the top-of-the-line model. I wouldn't even be against an SS-topping Z24 Cobalt!

That said, there will be nothing "watered down" about the Camaro SS and I'd have no hesitations about owning one. I hope the V6/base model is a capable car as well. I also like the idea of offering an RS package for entire line.

 

With AWD, and almost 300 HP. That'd give the Evo and STi guys something to worry about.

 

I had always heard that Old Reliable was pretty much just as fast. It currently runs 11.8s in about the same trim as it had in 1968. What were the Super Stock 396s running at the time?

And whether we're talking bracket or heads up, it was still a racing champ in 2 series in 1968, which I think counts for something.

 

i would love to see the Z28 as the high performance model but im not shure if it will be. it could go either way because the SS was the top model in the 4th gen and the Z28 was the top model in the other gen. i dnt know but my opinion is it could go either way.

 

The SS/B cars ran at least 6 to 7 tenths faster. A few tenths may not sound like a lot, but it is a HUGE difference in the 1/4 mile.

If we're talking drag racing, it says more to me about the driver of the car. It's more about reaction time and running your dial-in rather than the actual speed of the vehicle itself. In bracket racing, a 14 second car can beat a 10 second car if it runs the number and has a better reaction time.

Old Reliable's E.T.s are still impressive though.

 

Thanks for posting the link as it mentions one of the first Z/28 owners as David D. Horchler, who is a friend of mine. One of my favorite people when it comes to early TransAM racing lore, including some interesting behind the scenes stories about Roger Penske and his TransAM efforts. Dave, BTW, had the yellow ZL1 < that Roger Judski ended up with > as his company car for a time. Dave raced TransAM for a few years Gib Hufstader < a name most hi -performance Chevy fans should know > was among his co drivers.
Sorry to digress...back on topic... Z/28 started as a road racer car...keep it that way. Those that are fond of the SS will want the SS to be "Top Dog" and Z/28 folks will champion their favorite.
I'm far more into road racing than drag racing, but I have good friends involved in both. I have owned 5 Z/28's, and I think what you buy says much about what you think is "Top Dawg".

 

I've said something (more or less) to this effect in the past:

Camaro SS = the meat and potatoes, working man's bread and butter, high performance, street and strip, daily driver, V8 Camaro that can be optioned anywhere from no-frills to everything including the kitchen sink, available in coupe or convertible form.

Camaro Z/28 = the limited edition, limited availability, ultimate Camaro built to be taken straight from the showroom floor to the racetrack and dominate in its class. For this cause some exotic and lightweight materials may be used to improve performance over the SS. Limited options, only available as a coupe.

 

On the subject of old muscle power, I was doing some searches for 302 Z28 numbers and found a couple interesting posts online. That is stone stock and I'm sure they're choked (as the bigblocks would have been too) but that is no 400 hp, even accounting for Gross numbers. If you figure that's a little under 300 net hp today at the engine, 325-350 gross hp was probably about right for back then

and



I would really really love to see a accurate same day/same dyno comparison of most of the hot old muscle cars on a dynojet. The few I've seen (HPP mag did a GTO dynotest shootout awhile back against a LS1 GTO for comparison) were pretty weak for the oldschool stuff. I seem to recall a 330ish rwhp number for a stock 426 Hemi in a Hemi vs Viper shootout but I don't recall the exact numbers.

If anyone has any for any of the 396 muscle cars post em up, I haven't found any w/ stock setups.

 

Round and round this goes....

Yeah, and z28 was a low cost option that was put on a large percentage of the cars built most of that time too. Now suddenly z28 is going to be a limited production, ultra high price option after years of it being practically a 'base' V8 car?

A special edition camaro that shares a badge with what maybe > 1million sub 200hp camaros, the marketing department is going to sure have an easy go at polishing that badge up that high. I'm sure it will work for the rose colored glasses crew. The big question then is, how many of them are there? Of course, with the over the top retro interior too, i'm pretty sure the folks in charge are betting pretty high on the cache of 'camaro' and especially first gen nostalgia, so why not keep that theme with the 'fabled' badge too.

 

Yeah, I knew the LS7 will be gone soon and I agree with the cost of the LS9. I was just using what was currently available to describe how I'd like to see it laid out. My personal opinion and reality is different though. I'd love to see the Z/28 have the LS8 as an option, but I don't know if that would be cost efficient. I guess a better way to have said it in my original post would have been "LS_ or available equivalent".

 

I highly doubt it.

I don't think Scott would appreciate that.