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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
Isn't that the one GM junked a few years ago? Something like after the Heritage tour someone at GM had it cut in half and scrapped... It wasnt all that long ago. Hmm...
Looks like the demise was covered in a previous thread with an earlier copy of the same video. LOL Pics are gone now, but I remember what was left was little more than a front clip like you'd see on a shelf at a scrapyard.
I just had to ask a "connection" in GM about this and why it happened.
There were originally about 14 of them built and this was the last one. The destruction of this car happened sometime around the early 00's and without the permission or knowledge of the Camaro Team, such as Settlemire. When it was found out that it happened, many people were very angry over at Chevy as it was a 1 of 1 showcar and a piece of Camaro history. The guy responsible eventually lost the job of taking care of the cars to someone who actually understands the worth of those that are inside GM's collection. Since that car was now gone, they went out and bought a very low mileage 92 Z28 1LE to take it's place in the Heritage Collection for shows and such. (IIRC, it's been out with the 5th Gen Concept a few times) The same guy did this to a few other cars also. So it was a shame and a waste, and wasn't supposed to happen.
There were two made. The first was lent to a magazine, (Car Craft??), for testing and was stolen and stripped in Mexico.
I had the opportunity to speak to a couple of engineers at the time. The thing that killed a production version was the fact that the ZF trans required lots of metal work to the trans tunnel. Had the T56 been a available at the time it would had greatly simplified the producibility of the package.
In the photos it sure looks like the used a Firehawk crossmember. Always figured they probably used the stamped tunnel wart from SLP too. Seems like the ZF bellhousing had to be modified (cut/weld) to make the hydraulic clutch, etc fit. Hard to imagine the ZF6 was that much of a problem, since it'd already been done. Now the costs of making a limited number of oddball cars, and making them emissions friendly, etc would make sense. It's a moot point really, the idea was nice, but it didn't really make much sense other than sparking interest. If you look at it as an advertising tool, it worked out.
I wish they would have sold those runners.
Never really looked at the exhaust very close in the vid till tonigh but those headers sure have a curious layout, almost LT1 style.
Several years ago I saw a GM display with a yellow LS swapped 3rdgen car, I started looking real close at it and saw white under the yellow paint. Always wondered if it may have been one of the old heritage prototype cars.
Swapping the ZF in these cars is truly a interesting feat.
I'm working on that very thing right now and I'm very close to having all the SLP swap parts ready to go in. The firehawks I have seen on a lift or in pix, do not have the floors cut for that special SLP hump but iirc, their prototype did. SLP just hammer massaged the tunnel and put some gray spray paint over the hammer marks in a spot or two.
I have also seen the TTA crossmember used in a few GM ZF swaps through the yrs.
I can't see the pictures in the old links above, can anyone else?
I remember when that car hit the mags. Really got me thinking about modifying my own 3rd gen at the time.
Man that would have been neat if they had been built and sold to the public. Alas they probably would have been sold at "additional dealer markup" and all been snapped up by collectors and hidden away.
Looks like the demise was covered in a previous thread with an earlier copy of the same video. LOL Pics are gone now, but I remember what was left was little more than a front clip like you'd see on a shelf at a scrapyard.
Damn that still stings. Somehow that stupid *** ugly ZR1 powered Camaro made it out of GM's archive alive, but a nice subtle RS with just as significant history gets chopped...
Thanks for the photos anyhow, they show a lot of the hidden details of how the car was made.
I tried to track down the engine ... it ended up in Australia at a rod shop. I spoke to the guy ... not very interested in the engine. So somewhere in a rod sits those one off runners.
Those tunnel mods are quite extensive compared to what SLP did with the firehawks.
Here are a few more prototype pictures from a car that came up for sale a year or so ago.
Perfect car save for the styling choices. I never understood adding black accents to the headlights, hood, and wheels, but then taking away the black grille.
evo305tpi's beautiful car is how it should have been done.
I remember going to the legends tour in 1997 for the 30th anniversary of the Camaro and they had a 92 heritage car on display. My memory is not good enough to say if it was this car or not. I probably wouldn't have known what I was looking at then anyway. It's really a shame that Chevy couldn't find a way to do something special like this for the 25th anniversary. Mark commented in the original thread that the SLP package may have been a shortcut to something like this. No telling if that was looked at and what prevented it.
