- Chevrolet Camaro SS
- Chevrolet Camaro 1LS
- Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
- Chevrolet Camaro Shock And Steel Edition
- Specialty Vehicle Engineering Supercharged Yenko/SC Camaro
- 2020 COPO Chevrolet Camaro John Force Edition
- 2022 Chevrolet COPO Camaro
Let's take a moment for the underappreciated pony car.
The sixth generation of Chevrolet Camaro is coming to an end after a seven-year run of underappreciation made real by a lack of sales. There's plenty of debate out there on why, with reasons bandied about like blaming Chevrolet for not making enough of a visual difference over the previous model to mark the Camaro moving to a new platform, General Motors' big pivot to electric power putting off existing customers, more expensive entry-level models, its poor outward visibility, a lack of marketing, its shift to being more of a sports car than muscle car, and a sub-standard interior. Some have merit, some don't, but we're not here to debate that right now. We're here to celebrate that Chevrolet built a world-class sports car and, on the platform, some outstanding versions and special editions.
Chevrolet Camaro SS
For something so many people consider “not a muscle car,” the Camaro SS's 6.2-liter V8 making 455 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque is pretty damn muscular, and it comes with a manual transmission. For just over $40,000, it's one hell of a car, and yes, the Camaro is a world-class sports car now. As well as a ton of power in a small sports car, the 1SS comes with Brembo brakes, a limited-slip differential, performance suspension, and rides on 20-inch wheels. It's a fearsome back-road brawler and can do some damage on the drag strip if going fast in a straight line is your jam.
Chevrolet Camaro 1LS
Before we get into the crowd pleasers, let's just address how good the base model Camaro actually is. In 1LS base form, the sixth-generation is a great, simple, rear-wheel-drive sports car with excellent balance and entertaining driving characteristics and dynamics. Snobs inevitably wrote off the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, but it currently makes 275 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. Fourth-generation Chevy customers had to buy the SS model with an LT1 V8 to get that kind of power. Match all of that to a six-speed manual, and you have a lot of sports car for just under $28,000. Or, in Ford vs. Chevy terms, for the same price as a boring as-hell base model Ford Ranger truck.
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
The Camaro ZL1 returned for the sixth generation and was somehow even more brutal than before. It's a track weapon with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that sends 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. Plus, for all you “save the manual” diehards, it comes with a manual transmission if you can handle it.
The Camaro ZL1 is a bit long in the tooth now and faced stiff competition from the Mustang Shelby GT500, but Chevy's engineers went to town to make sure it would hold its own for a long time to come. It's lightweight, rides on magnetic dampers, its fenders are widened to fit the wider Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar G:2 tires honed for aerodynamic efficiency, and it has a wide array of upgraded parts that help it grip and handle in ways you wouldn't have believed a Camaro could ten years ago. Track weapon, indeed.
Its only failing was that Chevrolet never updated it with new colors and bits and pieces to keep it fresh in the face of new competition. That's GM's failing, not the Camaro's.
Chevrolet Camaro Shock And Steel Edition
There are two types of car enthusiasts. There are those that think the sixth-gen Camaro is a sleek, sharp, good-looking, and well-proportioned sports car and those that are wrong. After a hiatus mainly due to the issues thrown up by the heights of the pandemic, the Shock And Steel Edition package returned to accentuate the Camaro's looks. The package is made up of 20-inch blade design aluminum wheels on 2LT and 3LT trim levels, Carbon Flash-painted outside mirrors and center stripes, yellow-painted calipers, a fuel filler door in Black with a visible carbon fiber insert, black suede knee pads, a carbon fiber instrument panel surround, premium floor mats. 2LT and 3LT models also gained Brembo four-piston front brakes. Any which way, it looks fantastic.
Specialty Vehicle Engineering Supercharged Yenko/SC Camaro
While not a factory option car, the Yenko/SC Camaro is built by Specialty Vehicle Engineering, and the limited run of 1,100- and 1,150-hp cars became available through Chevrolet dealers as 2023 models. Yenko-tuned cars are legendary, and the Specialty Vehicle Engineering take carries that on beautifully. The 1,100-hp version comes with 910 lb-ft of torque, while the 1,150-hp version comes with 960 lb-ft of twist. There's no parachute option, but unlike the Dodge Challenger, the Yenko Camaros are designed to go around corners as well as eat up straight pieces of track.
2020 COPO Chevrolet Camaro John Force Edition
The COPO (Central Office Production Order) Camaro is a factory-built and sold drag car. It's already built in limited numbers (69 for the 2020 model year) for NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) classes, but only one John Force Edition exists, and it was a million-dollar car. John Force is a legendary name in NHRA drag racing and the 16-time National Hot Rod Association winner's signature is featured on the car (inside and out) along with the black-and-silver paint scheme with a ghosted American flag adorning the hood. It's not counted in the production run and features a supercharged LSX-based 350ci engine featuring a 2.65-liter Magnuson supercharger and all-new LSX-SC cylinder heads.
2022 Chevrolet COPO Camaro
Is there anything more muscle-car than a special-order factory coupe built for drag racing using a 572-cubic-inch (9.37-liter) V8 engine? Chevrolet brought back the Big Block engine for the COPO Camaro for the 2022 model year, and it channels the 1969 original with the Big Block, wheelie bar, an ATI Racing Products TH400 three-speed automatic transmission, and an optional trunk-mounted weight box and parachute.
It could also be optioned with a 5.7-liter supercharged V8 producing 580 hp or a larger 7.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 that delivers 470 hp. The Big Block is available as a crate engine in two forms – one making 621 horsepower and the other producing 727 hp.
Keyword: The Greatest Hits Of Chevrolet's Sixth-Generation Camaro