My buddy 1brd2brd3brd4 found some oooold magazines awhile back that had 3rdgens in them. I offered to scan them in and share with TGO! Thanks to JT for hosting and resizing all the pics. Eventually they will find their way into the TGO archives This article is the January 1982 Car and Driver magazine write up of the 1982 Camaro Z-28.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the posting!!!! Gives kind of a dismal outlook for the Camaro's, doesn't it??? Though the article does point out a lot of the good handling (by the day's standards) of the Z... I do remember reading the 16.0 flat quarter mile time for the "performance" cars of the day, and thinking that Detroit had really killed performance!!!!!

 

Thanks for posting the article. I love reading those old reviews.
I like the 2nd last line . . .

 

I have some of these same road tests from those days. I turned 16 in 82, and had a brand new 82 Z28 by fall of that year. My friends had a few of those at the same time. Where performance is concerned, it is important to keep things in perspective. We street raced every weekend, and these cars were competitive with what was on the road at that time. We lived in fear only of 400 or 403 Trans Ams, 280zx Turbos, and earlier pre 73 performance Camaros. Plenty of guys remember the old days with rose colored glasses. Everyone thought they had a supercar, but plenty of Detroit muscle was in the 16-17 second zone when new, especially the average 64-72 small block and smogger big blocks, too. The Japanese were formidable opponents, too. First gen RX-7's, Supras, and Datsun Z cars were plenty of fun to race, and we could beat any of them except the deadly 280zx Turbo. Good ones would run mid 15's and top out at 135 or so. We won some, and we lost some, but had plenty of fun doing it. Plenty of old classic muscle was still on the road back then, and we had good success against them, too. We were not about to beat any LS6 Chevelles, Stage 1 Buicks, etc., but we hardly saw those cars because they were so rare even when new. The usual 350 Malibus, most Fords, junk Mopars, etc. were fair game. Lots of those guys were surprised to loose to the wimpy little 305's we had, but it happened with frequency. Looks and handling, however, no one could touch. I believe that other old guys on this forum will back me up when I say that the 2010 Camaro launch compares well with the 82 release of the F cars. To own a Z or TA in 82-84 was to have the world by the ***! There were quicker cars around, but none more desirable, I guarantee. Thanks, Oldtimer.

 

awesome post! Thanks for sharing

 

I've posted a few times here that the Z28 and IROC-Z were the cars to have in the 80s. I had friends with 84 GT 5.0s, Thunderbird Turbo Coupes and Porsche 924s, but most friends in school had older cars or used imports. The guys with the 80s Camaros had the best cars. Mind you, high school for me was 1983 - 1987. During those years, I had the 82 Z with a cross fire and an 83 Z28 LG4. My 82 was fire engine red and got looks everywhere I went. One of the girls mothers bought an 87 Monte SS and ordered it with the loudest legal exhaust from the factory because she loved the sound of my car. Those were good days and in today's economy and political world, I sometimes wish I could go back!

 

"Those were good days and in today's economy and political world, I sometimes wish I could go back! " Well said, the 80's were a great time for me too!! Seeing the old mag and article brought back lots of memories.

 

I liked "fake leather wrapped steering wheel"

 

Those were the days. I remember those 83-84 z-28's with the L-69's just trouncing on most of the cars of the day. We had fun beating on those pure stock Mustang GT's and listen to them insisting we had 350's instead of a 305. One friend in high school got a Mustang GT for graduation in 85. That 85 GT was the quickest stocker around. It was running 14.31 in the 1/4. We could beat that car off the line with our 83 L-69 but at 3/4 down he would run us down and pass us very slowlyj by a couple cars at the end.

Had one friend who had a 85 Monte Carlo SS that had headers and true dual exhaust, secondary metering rod change, hyperchip, 160 T-stat, shift kit and slicks that would run 14.20's on a cool night. Surprised a lot of muscle cars on the street. I remember a couple of 71-73 Mustangs with 351 Clevelands and quite a few mid 70's Z-28 and T/A's as well. We knew better than to mess with any big block chevy's back then though.