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 Second Generation Camaro Owners Group Message Board
 Camaro Questions
 1977 Z28 (Page 4)
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| Author | Topic: 1977 Z28 |
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rich m Veteran Member |
posted September 14, 2003 07:57 PM
   
Dirt, are you sure about the WS6 coming out in '78? Thought it was offered way before that. Car & Driver, by the way, tested both cars on a skid pad (though the article says the T/A came with the "stock" suspension!) and the T/A pulled .80 g's while the Z came in at .74. By the way, did you say that your T/A came with the T/A 6.6 400 @ 200 HP, or the base 6.6 400 @ 180 HP? How cool that you've owned both the '77 T/A AND the '77 Z !!! Which do YOU think was honestly the better car?
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kenny77 Veteran Member |
posted September 14, 2003 10:52 PM
 
I had a 76 T/A SE 400 4 speed, that I think was a better built car then my Camaro that I have now. The 77 was a 77 1/2 model year car, as my paperwork and date codes on mine shows. Every part of mine was intact except for the grille surround which was mangled. I have several of the mags and articles, ie: the Road and Track against the 77 T/A.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ken
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rich m Veteran Member |
posted September 14, 2003 11:12 PM
Als78, the WS6 was an option code for an extra sporty suspension. Pontiac, like Chevrolet and most other GM divisions, used the same codes on different models, and I recall that the Pontiac Can Am also had an optional WS6 sport suspension, but then again I could be mistaken. The Chevrolet code for a sport suspension was F41, though the Z28 also carried the F41 designation, even though it was a much different suspension than the F41 already available on V8 Camaros. Kenny, what Road and Track article are you referring to? The only comparison article I have seen yet between the Z28 and the T/A was that Car & Driver article. I have yet to see any article or road test in R & T at all other than a one page press release in the June '77 30th Anniversary issue (check my earlier list on this post. Yes, the '77 Z28 was officially a '77 1/2 model, having been announced at the Chicago Auto Show as well as having a "debut" at the Daytona Speedway "Speed-weeks", both in early 1977, halfway through the model year. What was the earliest rumored reports in auto trade publications about the Z28 coming back, does anyone know? [This message has been edited by rich m (edited September 14, 2003).]
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kenny77 Veteran Member |
posted September 14, 2003 11:30 PM
Ah, you're right............It IS the Car and Driver, with them both on the cover. We cannot forget that without the Smokey and the Bandit Craze, the Z-28 would have never returned. I read that the Pontiac sales really took Chevy by surprise and thus the 77 1/2 came about. GM was wetting their pants trying to figure out ways to make more of these cars as fast as possible. I think the car was thrown together rather quickly by GM to capitalize on the feeding frenzy. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ken
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rich m Veteran Member |
posted September 15, 2003 12:04 AM
Ahhh, but you are wrong, grasshopper ..... Smokey and the Bandit DID sell a ton of Trans Ams, but the movie came out later in 1977, months after the Z28 was re-released! I remember taking my new bride to go see it in Louisiana, AFTER we got married and she came down there (and after I didn't get my new Z after all!) I'd have to believe by what I read in that Camaro book that Chevy decided after the end of the 1976 model selling season (seeing how many Trans Ams Pontiac sold that year!) to start researching and tooling up the new '77 Z28. Yeah, they probably did rush it a bit just to get it in, in time for the '77 new car season, and make some sales? Most manufacturers, when developing a new model such as this,will do several different design themes/concepts, then pick a single one to go with. I'd love to see the other choices that they were considering for this car .... maybe a letter to Chevrolet Historical or PR will help uncover this? I've seen magazines like Collectible Automobile get access to this type material before!!! Trivia Time: Those body colored 5 spoke rims that come on all '77 1/2 Z28's, had a special "official" Chevrolet name .... anybody care to guess what it was??? (That wasn't the first year they were available, by the way. They came on earlier Camaro's and Chevelles in the early '70's, and were painted gray then!) [This message has been edited by rich m (edited September 15, 2003).]
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Dirt Reynolds Veteran Member |
posted September 15, 2003 04:13 AM
quote: Yep, '78 was the first year for the WS6, to the best of my knowledge.
quote: Mine had the optional 400, the T/A 6.6 litre, auto trans, red velour interior with silver exterior, hood bird etc. I've also had two 1980 Z-28's years ago also; one a 4-speed dark blue metallic, and the other a black auto trans Z with red interior. As far as to which is the better car - the '77 Trans Am or '77 Z/28 - Its a tough call. I had a lot of fun back in the day with the TA, but I enjoy driving the Z also. I'd have to say they are both great cars. ------------------
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rich m Veteran Member |
posted September 16, 2003 11:09 AM
Dirt, I did some checking, and you are quite corect my friend. The first year for the WS6 option was in fact 1978. And the Can Am had what they called "RTS - Radial Tuned Suspension". Interestingly enough, I just received a back issue of Road Test magazine with an article called "Supertuning the Z28", where a new stock '77 Z was brought to Edelbrock, for a bit of "tweaking". They wound up comparing the suspension to that of the T/A with the results being similar to what I quoted in my earlier post. They then swapped in parts of the T/A suspension, expecting the Z to respond as the T/A did, and were disappointed that it didn't! Seems they felt that the difference in the two cars came down to factory tire selection, which apparently handicapped the Z !!!
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rich m Veteran Member |
posted September 16, 2003 11:32 PM
Dirt, checked on production figures for the '77 T/A. Guess what? Production WAS almost 5-1 to the '77 Z (68.745 vs. 14,439). Add in the extra 21,801 Formula's (same car, different trim) gives you a total of 90,546 !!!! Don't you think Burt Reynolds would've looked cool in Special "Bandit" Edition '77 Z28 instead!!!! LOL. Still haven't had any guesses on what the actual name for those rims was !!!!
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Als78z28 Veteran Member |
posted September 17, 2003 06:34 PM
I don't know about GM, but I've always called them Z-28 rallys.
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rich m Veteran Member |
posted September 17, 2003 07:05 PM
Yeah, we probably all do! When I found out that Chevy officially refers to them as the "Trans Am" wheel, I almost pee'd my pants laughing! Actually, I guess that name comes from the Trans Am series back in the late '60s-early '70s. Saw that name in a folder that Chevrolet PR sent me years ago with in-house info on the '77 Z28.
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sharon77 Veteran Member |
posted September 23, 2003 11:03 PM
Hi guys! I also have a '77 Z28 st-10 4spd. I've never seen another one in the flesh (or metal) even here in arizona. It's been great to hear about so many still around. It started off with me in January as an engineless chipped out white thing. I thought the old duffs in my car club were going to spit their teeth when "thunder beast" grumbled into the parking lot for the august meeting. They were hard pressed to belive it was the same car now that it is back in it's proper red and decals 
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aero80 Veteran Member |
posted September 24, 2003 12:42 AM
my 77.5 four speed Z was a charmed car from the very beginning. When it was brand new everyone stared at it. Pedestrians would stop in the crosswalk, or if I came out from a store there would be a crowd around it, etc. I had no privacy in that car. I bought mine from a GM exec who special ordered it for me. Due to some regulation or other, I had to take delivery at a chevy dealer, which was Long Chevrolet in the Chicago area. It was a zero-option car, and was always light on it's feet. I've posted before that I was fantastically lucky to recieve a ZL-1 engine as a gift, which went into the Camaro within a week of delivery, and remained there for many years until the car was stolen. No, I've never been that lucky since. If only..... !!! I was in the Navy at the time of delivery, and upon reporting to the fleet I refused to park the car on the dock area while we were at sea, and so I made a two hundred mile round trip every time we would depart for a couple of days, which meant at least ten such trips a month, just to have a garage (my parent's house) to park it in. I could go on and on and on with stories about the excellent times I had with my half-year Camaro, but I don't want to seem like an idiot who talks too much. this is my fave thread here on the site, and I vote for a separate category for the 77 1/2 Z28. ------------------
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kenny77 Veteran Member |
posted September 24, 2003 11:40 PM
quote:
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sharon77 Veteran Member |
posted September 25, 2003 01:35 AM
The engine that came, was not the one I ordered. What showed up was a 4 bolt main, bored +.030, no idea what cams, but pretty sure they are not standard. Edelbrock performer man., heddman hedders. The cat. was long since gone, so we just H piped back to twin Flowmasters. The first time we fired it up, I thought I'd made a SERIOUS design mistake. We had no hood on, and nothing aft of the hedders. Not only could you feel the rumble in your chest, I could feel it from the ground through my boots. It instantly earned the nick name "thunder beast." You should hear this thing comming down a local hill...8% for 2 miles dead streight. Good thing nobody lives along it or I might have had a chat with the sheriff by now bubble pop!
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nwz28 Veteran Member |
posted September 25, 2003 10:51 PM
I just received the August 1977 issue of Road Test Magazine I purchased on Ebay. Interesting article on improving the performance and handling of the 1977 Z. in conclusion, the article determines that the Trans Am actually had better handling than the Z. They forgot to mention that the Z looked much better!
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