My father always tells me about the 67RS Camaro that they had. My parents sold It when I was 4, around 81/82. He said It was a limited production car with all the race goodies from the factory. I do remember some things about it and I know It was hella fast and It did have a factory funtinal louver hood sway bars M22 and he swars that It had alot of other goodies all from "gm" factory installed.
Was thier a special edition RS with all this stuff from the factory? I know It did have all this stuff on it but I hgave a hard time beleiving it was factory installed.
Thanks!
SSC

------------------
85 Camaro, 355/400 "drag car" in moth ***** 13.1@ 101mph on its last season run.
Plans: Possibly add N20 for next season.
82 Firebird, 305/350 currently moth balled.
Current plans: Rebuild 305 with flat tops instead of the dished "cups" for pistons or slightly built 327 with the 58cc heads from the LG4, Upgrade the 2:73 to 3:73 or 3:42 and replace the turbo 350 with 700r4.


"Web site under construction"

G0D Bless.

 

Back in the day, you could build a car to your specs practically. The RS of yesteryear isn't the same as even the thirdgens. It used to stand for the deluxe interior package, nothing more.

But another benefit back then is you could choose engines, trannys and other goodies on almost all different badges. GM was very good back then about stuffing big motors in low models and making sleepers. So it is quite possible that all of that is factory installed.

Just FYI before this gets locked.

------------------

 

The RS on the first gens also included the hidden headlight system. If it had hood louvers (They were not functional, sorry) then that indicate a SS, which would have a 350 or a big block and all the fun stuff. The "race" package of the first gens was the Z-28, the option package to get the Camaro legal for Trans-Am racing. Since the RS package was just appearence stuff, it could be added to either the SS, Z-28, or base car. I have never heard of any special edition '67, being the first year, I would be surprised to see a special edition. If it was a SS or Z, I would think he would remeber that more than the RS. What size engine was it? 302 was the only possible engine for the Z, 327 or smaller would be a base RS, 350 could be anything but Z, big block means SS.

Sorry if I rambled, just trying to cram all the info I could in there, hope it helps.

 

Forgot about the headlights and some of the other appearance stuff they put on the RS. Oops.

 

I know that it did have the flip out lights and had a 327 that died 2 years later and was replaced with a 350. The hood louvers were funtional, I know this was not the case in most cars but this car did have an actual funtionial hood louver system This car is still talked about at family gatherings and that is one particular point that is always brought up. From what im told this RS was a show car built by gm to show the delux models thats why it did have all the goodies. From my understanding thier was a limited number of these made and were displayed around the country. Basicly GM took a few cars bolted on racing parts and sent them out to showroom floors.

Did GM do that? If what Im hearing from my relitives is true than this would be a limited production car with a RPO sticker maxed out worth some major cash today.
SSC

 

RS was a trim package in those days. In 67 you couldn't order it on a Z28, but you could get it on the SS which was either a 350 (the 350 appeared in Camaros 2 years before anything else) or a 396. I had a 67 RS not SS sitting in my garage for at least 5 years... it was a 327/300, nothing really bad exactly but plenty peppy. It was a flat-top 327 with 461 heads and a Q-Jet. Still had the 14" wheels on it, but at least it didn't have the F70-14 Firestone "Wide Oval" tires any more. It had a Powerglide, but of course the 4-speed was available too.

The 67 RS package was unique among 1st gens in that the headlight cover motors were electric, while the 68 and 69 were vacuum-powered.

Most likely, if your dad's had a M22 4-speed, it was a 396... I don't believe I've ever seen a 350 with a 4-speed, and the 327s came with a M21 AFAIK. If it was the big-block SS it probably also would have had the old disk brakes on the front, the 4-piston Kelsey-Hayes ones that are such a PITA to keep working right.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Ok, as a former (unfortunately) owner of a 67 convertible, I've done some research...

You COULD get the Z28 option with either the base coupe or RS (but not convertible or SS). This RS combination didn't happen with many.... there were only 602 reported Z28s made in 67 and most were base coupes... and they all had the 302 and 4-speed manual (I don't belive yo could get the M-22 in 67, only the M-21.

The SS model came with a 350 or 3 flavors of the 396 (and let's not forget Yenko's 427's) and could be combined with the RS package, but not Z-28. All SS models had non-operating hood louvers... the 350 had black oil-cooler looking fins on the hood while the 396's had a strange chrome air intake looking thing.

The 327 engine could be had with either the base model coupe/convertible and/or combined with the RS package with M-21 optional (but most had the powerglide)

------------------
1978 Y-88 TA (WS6, P6.6, T-Tops)
1993 Black 454SS
1989 Black IROC (T-Tops, LB9, 5-speed) ***soon***

 

This is the only picture I have of the car it was right after it paint job by ?carcoa? thye painted it brown
There is a pic back at my paretns house of the engine and the linkage for the louvers. If you look you can see is raised a bit more than a fake system. Sorry crappy 25 year old pic.
SSC

"agrh stupid photopoint"
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewP...p=54573407&f=0

[This message has been edited by SSC (edited September 27, 2001).]

 

That's a good looking car!

Damn, I love the First Gens (well, only 67-68, the 69 was ugly)

Those hideaway headlights were the coolest! Did anyone see 'Better Off Dead'? That's the kind of $200 dollar car I need to find!

 

In 67, only the SS equipped cars had the hood louvers, and they were non-functional. If the original engine in your parents Camaro was indeed a 327, then it wasn't an SS equipped car, as they had either a 350 or a 396. The M22 was not available until 68 and even then could only be had in the 396 or 302(Z28) equipped cars. The RS package was an exterior trim package only, contrary to what someone else posted. I am not saying that the combination of equipment you listed is impossible, it's just not from the factory. All my information came from the Camaro White Book, and with the first generation being probably the most extensively researched of all four, if a special car like you described was ever factory built, someone, somewhere, would have uncovered it by now.

Please don't take this as inflammatory, I only wanted to share information.

 

An honest opinion is the best opinion

So according to the camaro white book, this car is a freak of nature.

So thier is two possibilites.

1.The dealer wrecked it, then transmogrified it with other GM performance A/M parts like the hood, latter bars and all the other parts that were on it That wouldent be on it from the factory. This is a likely possibility from what Ive been told it sat in the dealerships main lobby intil 1973 when it was purchased by my parents. The M22 could have been put in as a replacement they needed the original transmittion for a warenty or something so they swiped this one and replaced it later with an m22.
OR
2.The dealer used it as a display model and put performance upgrade parts on it to show the new parts that were avalible. Like most dealers do today with thier chrome laiden ZZ4's that sit outside of the parts department.

Both of these lead me to beleive the dealer modded it and not GM.

SSC
SSC

 

In 67 you could not get the Z28 with the RS option. In that first year, RPO Z28 was strictly a race car, not a boulevard dreadnaught like it has since become. It was designed for exactly one purpose: to meet the rules requirements for the SCCA Trans Am series. You couldn't even get a radio in a 67 Z28, let alone a bunch of frilly crap like "disappearing" headlights.

That changed in 68. The RS and Z28 options were so popular that Chevy decided to offer them together.

The car in the pic appears to have the stock rear suspension on it, no ladder bars or anything. It doesn't even have the "slapper" bars that everybody used to put on those cars to control spring wrap-up. It looks like it has the 350 SS hood on it, with the square things that are supposed to look like the ends of the old fuel-injection (or multiple-carb) stacks; AFAIK there's no such thing as "functional" those from the factory, they're just a big heavy chrome appliqué. Just think: if it was functional (connected to the carb) and leaked, it would dump rain water right straight into the carb. Even the "louvered" version was a solid piece.

To swap from a M21 to a M22, you also have to change the clutch disc (10 to 26 splines) and driveshaft yoke (T-350 & Powerglide spline to T-400 spline). Externally they appear identical, except for the rear yoke being larger. Shifters are the same between the 2. I doubt anybody in a dealer environment would have gone to that kind of trouble but you never know.

I can't tell from the picture whether the car actually is either a SS (front brakes would tell you that) or a RS (disappearing headlights, single-color tail lights and round backup lights down low instead of the one tail light that's half tail light and half backup light, badges on front grille and gas cap). Although, it is possible that there's a fender badge, there's a smudge or blur in the right place below the "Camaro" badge; if so, it's a 350 SS badge, since the SS396 badge said

SS
396

(two rows of text, just like that) while the SS350 just said "SS".

I would guess that the car is either a SS350 with the side markers removed; or a plain car either with or without the RS package, and the SS hood added. I'm thinking the latter, because it has the chrome drip rail molding and rocker molding. But even that isn't for sure, since somebody has obviously changed the molding; notice the rear wheel well has reveal molding but the front doesn't. On the other hand, those aren't the RS wheels, which would have been the "rally" wheels just like Monte Carlos and Corvettes came with later on. They look like Chevelle SS wheels painted black.

Still, that's a nice-looking car, it would fetch a wad of cash nowadays. Those are hard to find in original shape, or even as close to original as the car in the pic.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Yea it was a nice car, it probably a trailer queen by now. That pic was right after it was fixed in 1980, a 78 pinto slammed into the drivers side fendor and door, thats why the bagdges and stip are missing. Im going to get some pictures from my parents before it was hit, Im going to make a little tribute for the car on my website.
SSC

 

Got a little more info from the Camaro Anthology. The hood louvers in '67 were fins that ran longways, '68 had the 4 carb stack look. (neither were functional) The "smudge" under the camaro on the fender is the crossed flags. (they are not connected to any package, they have the engine size on them, but they were on the 6 clys and the SSes.) The wheels aren't origonal. I agree that is probably something the dealership built, which if it was from a dealership that built the Copo cars later on it would be worth a ton. See if you Dad remebers the name of the dealership. Yenko, Nickey, or Berger are the big money ones. Anyway, it's cool that your family has a history with Camaros, I'm the black sheep... everyone else is into Prosches.

------------------
'89 Iroc-Z
350 TPI

 

Just to clarify, the SS 350 had the finned hood trim, and the SS 396 had the carb stack hood trim. In 69 all SS models had the carb stack design.

 

More clarification (probably not needed) but those backup lights in back/low were rectanglular rather than round, as were the fog lights up front/low (the non-RS had them in the Grill, inside of the headlights)

 

Keep to thirdgens guys, anything outside of 82-92 is off topic on this site.