Rare Camaro History

[William]

"Under consideration" is meaningless.

Some excellent books that cover the real story on Chevrolets' involvement in racing in the '60s:

Chevrolet = Racing?
By Paul Van Valkenburgh

He worked in Chevrolet R & D in the ‘60s. Chevy had tremendous involvement with stock car racing, T/A racing with Penske/Donohue, sports car racing with Jim Hall/Chaparral. He mentions the real story behind the JL8 option. In the "under consideration" category, the Tech Center built a Z/28 with a Corvette rear axle assembly. Surprise, didn't corner any better than the live axle.

The Unfair Advantage
By Mark Donohue

There is no better source for perspective on what dealing with Chevrolet was like. The Penske/Chevrolet relationship was so bad by the end of ’69 they switched to AMC Javelins for the 1970 season. When their ’67 Camaro race car was damaged in a trailer wreck it was rebuilt with junkyard parts.

Best Damn Garage in Town
By Smokey Yunick

The consummate insider, Smokey was there at the birth of NASCAR and was involved with R & D well into the ‘70s. There are some amusing comments about the Hemi 302. A constant theme throughout the book is how cheap and difficult Chevy was to deal with.

I also have the FIA Homologation documents for the '67, '68 and '69 Z/28s.

Nowhere in any of these publications is the sb 3 x 2 manifold mentioned. And why would it be? Looks to have been cancelled April, 1966, months prior to the introduction of the Camaro. As for Smokey Yunick, he was not partnered with the factory in SCCA T/A racing. The SCCA didn't much want him around either, finding many rule infractions in the Camaros he built. That he had this 3 x 2 intake doesn't mean much either. He had buildings full of factory parts that were never used. Chevrolet may have asked him to evaluate it. Since it was never released for production, safe to say he wasn't impressed.

Sorry for the rant, attempts to re-write history need to be addressed.

[70 copo]

William,

Do you have a copy of Echoes of Norwood?

Multiple eye witnesses from the Assembly line have gone on the record as stating several examples were built for GM. Cars produced had Z/28 style stripes.

[William]

So what? Many things were considered for production.

[Fast67VelleN2O]

Very interesting that this manifold has an actual production part number and is not an 0- part, especially being dated February of 1966.

[Lee Stewart]

IMO . . . GM was still selling 3x2 engines in muscle cars during the 1966 model year: GTO and 442. The Camaro was to debut in Sept. 1966. There was no 396 option. Just the new 350 4bbl. A 3x2 option would offer higher horsepower which the Camaro would need to compete with the new restyled 1967 Mustang's 390/320 HP option.

Then the mandate came where only the Corvette would get 3x2 options and all other GM cars would lose their 3x2 engine options for the 1967 model year. And the SB 3x2 option was cancelled.

It had nothing to do with racing and everything to do with the growing muscle car market.

[rlw68]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

Why would they use a 3X2 setup for Trans Am Racing instead of 2X4?

It seems like the fuel injection off the C2 327 Vette would have been a better choice for racing. I thought both of these systems were at least ten year old tech at the time.

[William]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

IMO . . . GM was still selling 3x2 engines in muscle cars during the 1966 model year: GTO and 442. The Camaro was to debut in Sept. 1966. There was no 396 option. Just the new 350 4bbl. A 3x2 option would offer higher horsepower which the Camaro would need to compete with the new restyled 1967 Mustang's 390/320 HP option.

Then the mandate came where only the Corvette would get 3x2 options and all other GM cars would lose their 3x2 engine options for the 1967 model year. And the SB 3x2 option was cancelled.

It had nothing to do with racing and everything to do with the growing muscle car market.

Sounds like a plausible explanation; the GTO lost tri-power for the '67 MY also.

One of these 3 x 2 manifolds turned up at a Pomona swap meet in the '80s. Think that one had a '0-' part number. The L70 was intended to be an option for the Camaro SS350. If it had proven viable, it could have been sold OTC as the cross-ram was.

[rlw68]

Originally Posted by William

Sounds like a plausible explanation; the GTO lost tri-power for the '67 MY also.

Yea but no one writes songs about a Hyundai

[70 copo]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

William,

Do you have a copy of Echoes of Norwood?

Multiple eye witnesses from the Assembly line have gone on the record as stating several examples were built for GM. Cars produced had Z/28 style stripes.

Originally Posted by William

So what? Many things were considered for production.

I am not sure if you understand? I asked you If you had a copy?

The L-70 was produced at Norwood according to workers who were eyewitnesses, and this story along with images of the engine are in the book.

[scuncio]

Are there images of the engine in the Norwood plant?

Perhaps this was a pilot build prior to cancelation.