All About the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. The 1967 Camaro Review.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS The Camaro reset the standard for pony cars with it's debut on September 26, 1966. The Camaro was more than merely an answer to the Mustang, it was an instant icon that captured the attention of the youth-oriented pony car market. Derived from a French word meaning "comrade" or "pal", Camaro was quickly recognized as a friendly word for sport-car buyers looking for value. With its sleek lines and a long list of luxury and performance options, the new car was a hit with the public. The Camaro's all-new, semi-unitized chassis became the basis for a variety of performance suspensions and power plants. Wrapped around the chassis was a body shell destined to become a classic. The timeless long, short deck design epitomized the pony car concept, and was perhaps the most fluid and undisturbed variation of the theme. Pages of options, as well as upgrade packages like RS and SS, allowed buyers to literally custom build their car from dealers' option lists.

Right out of the gate, the Camaro could be powered with anything from a six cylinder to a big-block 396, but the buying public took a while to warm up to the notion that a pony car could also be fast. A majority of F-bodies were ordered with a small-block 327 or the new 350, both of which easily out-performed Ford's 289, and made excellent foundations for street performance. The mid-year introduction of the 302-powered Z/28 achieved an almost ideal combination of horsepower and weight for all-around performance, and immediately began tearing up the SCCA Trans Am circuit.

For die-hard horsepower enthusiasts, word traveled quickly that the Camaro made an outstanding straight-line terror. Big-block Camaro's immediately began propelling legends like Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins to Super Stock victories at drag strips across the country, and weekend racers followed their lead. Recognizing an untapped performance market, Chevrolet dealers like Dana, Nickey and Yenko soon created some legends of their own, sliding 427 Rat engines under Camaro hoods before sending them out the door.

The 1967 Camaro did not have external Z/28 badges. (They were introduced in 1968) However owners can always add aftermarket badges to their 1967's cars. The result of this lack of emblems mean't the only Z28 clue on the 1967 Camaro's is the twin stripes that go down the Hood and deck lid.

GM-developed energy-absorbing steering column and wheel were introduced.

In 1967, Elliot M. "Pete" Estes was general manager of Chevrolet Motor Division.

It was a good year for the Camaro as production of 220,906 cars was realized in the model year. That represented 2.9% of total U.S. industry production. The total included 58,761 6-cylinder (I-6) cars and 162,145 V8 engine-powered Camaro's. Industry trade journals reported that 154,698 Camaro's were built at the Norwood, Ohio, plant and 65,008 Camaro's were made at a factory in Van Nuys (Los Angeles), California. In addition, the trade journals showed 1,200 Camaro's "produced" at an assembly plant in Bloomfield, New Jersey. According to Camaro Brand Manager Scott Settlemire's sources, these 1,200 cars were actually units produced at the Norwood factory and shipped to a site near Bloomfield (possibly Little Ferry) where they were "knocked down" for shipment overseas. This means that the total number of cars built in Norwood was actually 155,898. Camaro sales for calendar-year 1967 came to 205,816 (2.7% of industry) in 1967 compared to 46,758 (0.6%) in the fall of 1966, right after it was first introduced.

The March 1967 edition of "Road & Track" magazine featured a road test of a Camaro RS (Rally Sport) Sport Coupe with the 327-cid 275-hp V8 engine, 4-speed manual transmission and 3.07:1 ratio rear axle. It did 0 to 30 mph in 3.7 sec., 0 to 60 mph in 9.1 sec. and the quarter mile in 16.9 sec. at 87 mph. The May 1967 edition of "Motor Trend" magazine road tested a Camaro Z28 coupe with the 302-cid 290-hp V8 engine and 4-speed manual transmission. It did 0 to 60 mph in 7.0 sec. and the quarter mile in 14.8 sec. at 96 mph. The magazine noted that this engine was "rumored to bring more than 400 true hp to the starting line." It also pointed out that the Z28 ran a slower 0 to 60 mph time than an SS (Super Sport) 396-cid Camaro, but a faster quarter mile time.

A 1967 Camaro RS/SS-396 convertible was selected to pace the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. A total of 104 similar convertibles were built for "official" use at the big race. The Camaro's front sub-frame was large enough to hold big-block Chevy V8 engines like the 396-cid Turbo-.Jet V8 engine. This meant that 427-cid V8 engines could also be accommodated and a small number of 1967 Camaro's were converted to 427 power by Yenko Chevrolet of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, Mickey Chevrolet of Chicago, Bill Thomas of Anaheim, California (who worked in connection with Mickey Chevrolet), and by Motion Performance of Baldwin, New York.

Of the 220,906 Camaro's built in the model year, 56.2% had automatic transmission, 21.5% had a 4-speed manual transmission, 26.6% were equipped with an I-6 (Inline 6-cylinder) engine, and 73.4% were equipped with a V8 engine.

78.8% had an AM radio, 2.8% had an AM/FM radio, 18.2% had a clock, 12.8% had air conditioning, 3.6% had a tilt steering wheel, 41.7% had power steering, 8.3% had power drum brakes, 6.7% had disc brakes, 2.2% had power side windows, 97% had front bucket seats, 23.7% had a vinyl roof, 63% had white sidewall tires, 37.1% had a tinted windshield (only), 15.7% had all tinted glass, 16.3% had dual exhausts, 14.4% had a limited-slip differential, 67.9% had wheel covers and 0.1% had cruise control.

A total of 204,862 new Camaro's were registered in the 1967 calendar-year compared to 41,100 in the 1966 calendar-year.

The 1967 Camaro SS 350 package (RPO Z27) cost Chevrolet dealers $152 and retailed for $210.65.

The 1967 RS (Rally Sport) package (RPO Z22) cost Chevrolet dealers $76 and retailed for $105.35.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro Description

Standard equipment included a satin silver horizontal bars grille with 6 vertical dividers, inset headlights and parking lights, twin-segment taillights with integral back-up lights on the inboard segment, all-vinyl front bucket seats, an all-vinyl rear bench seat, elegant new interior door styling with bright metal inserts, shielded door handles, a 3-spoke steering wheel with circular "Camaro" horn button, a new gauge cluster with large round speedometer and fuel gauges and monitoring lights, Astro Ventilation with standard cowl side vents and 2 adjustable vent-ports mounted on the instrument panel, an energy-absorbing steering column, seat belts with push-button buckles for all passenger positions, shoulder belts for the driver and right front passenger with push-button buckles and a convenient storage provision on Sport Coupe models, passenger-guard door locks with deflecting lock buttons on all doors, a 4-way hazard warning flasher, a dual master cylinder brake system with a warning light and corrosion-resistant brake lines, latches on the folding seat backs, dual-speed windshield wipers, windshield washers, an outside rearview mirror, back-up lights, a padded instrument panel, padded sun visors, padded windshield pillars, a reduced-glare instrument panel top, reduced-glare inside windshield moldings, a reduced-glare horn button, a reduced-glare steering wheel hub, an inside day/night rearview mirror with deflecting base, directional signals with a lane-change feature, safety armrests, a thick-laminate windshield, soft low-profile window control knobs and coat hooks, energy-absorbing seat backs, yielding door and window control handles, an energy-absorbing instrument panel with smooth-contoured knobs and levers, safety wheel rims, safety door latches and hinges, a uniform shift quadrant, an energy-absorbing steering wheel, snag-resistant steering wheel hardware, fuel tank and filler pipe security, an all-welded steel unit body with separate front rubber-mounted frame section, cross-braced Sport Coupe roof supports, heavy-gauge convertible rocker panels, an independent front coil spring suspension, Mono-Leaf rear leaf springs (multi-leaf rear springs with extra-cost V8 engines), bias-mounted rear shock absorbers, Safety-Master self-adjusting brakes, a dual-chamber brake master cylinder, Rayon-reinforced front and rear brake hoses, a foot operated parking brake, a long-life corrosion-resistant exhaust system with standard emission controls, a 12-volt electrical system with a 9-37-amp Delcotron diode-rectified generator and re-circulating ball-race steering with 28.3:1 manual gear ratio.

In addition to or in place of all of the standard equipment listed above for base Camaro's, the SS 350 package included a special hood with raised simulated air intakes, a big "SS 350" emblem for the center of the grille, a 350-cid 295-hp V8, a color-keyed "bumblebee" type front accent band, "SS" identification inside the breaks on the bumblebee striping, "SS 350" identification on the round fuel filler cap at the center of the rear body panel, red stripe wide-oval tires on 14 x 6-in. wheels and the F41 suspension with stiffer shock absorbers and springs.

After the beginning of the model year, 2 engine options based on the 396-cid "big-block" Turbo-Jet V8 were offered. They included the L35 with 325 hp and the L78 with 375 hp. When either of these motors was added, the engine call-outs on the grille emblem and fuel cap emblem were deleted and the rear body panel carried flat black finish. In other words, both the front grill emblem and rear fuel cap said "SS" rather than "SS 396".
In addition to or in place of the standard equipment listed above for Camaro Base Coupes & Convertibles, cars with the Rally Sport package also featured a vertical ornament with an "RS" emblem in the center of the grille, a similar emblem on the round gas filler cap at the center of the rear body panel, an "RS" emblem on the circular steering wheel horn button, a black-finished full-width lattice grille with electrically operated concealed headlights, lower body side moldings, a black accent below the body side moldings (with some body colors), color-keyed body accent stripes, sporty styling for the front parking and turning lights, sports-style back-up lights, a distinctive edged-in-black taillight treatment with 2 lamps in each taillight unit for driving, braking and turn signal direction, bright metal front wheel opening moldings, bright metal rear wheel opening moldings and a bright drip rail molding on Sport Coupes.
The Rally Sport option could be added to any Camaro with any engine. To determine the cost of other model-options with Rally Sport equipment installed add the package price of $105.35 to the factory prices for the specific SS or Z28 model.