Local Car Buffs Capture Rare Wheels

Although "rare" is usually a term applied to sports cars from Germany and Italy, few people realize that domestic manufacturers occasionally produce limited production vehicles to fill a certain niche. One such car is the Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 1LE, a car so rare even most Chevy dealers are unaware of its existence.

Such was the case for Gates Chevrolet General Manager Jim Outman and Gates New Truck Manager John Russell until a Saturday afternoon last October.

According to Russell, the two men were looking through Chevrolet Camaro literature when the discovered something unusual. "Jim and I were looking at the option list for a particular IROC-Z when we noticed it had extras that weren’t available on other Camaros," he said, "and suddenly this hit us like a ton of bricks that it was a race car."

What the pair had discovered was a vehicle upgraded for heavy duty road racing which could be ordered by the lucky few who were aware of its existence. Tagged the 1LE to distinguish it from lesser Camaros, the car is specially equipped with larger barks, a less restrictive duel exhaust system, gas shocks and struts, a special engine oil cooler, an aluminum driveshaft, 16 inch wheels, a larger, baffled gas tank and come either a 350 cubic inch, 245 horsepower or a 305 cubic inch, 230 horsepower V-8. The car does not come with fog lights or air conditioning in order to reduce and offers either an automatic (with the 350) or a five-speed (with the 305).

Chevy has built the car in extremely limited numbers since 1988 as a means for Camaro lovers to be more competitive in SCCA Showroom Stock road races. These races pit street legal Mustangs and Camaros in head-to-head competition which (until the introduction of the 1LE) normally saw the Mustangs dominating their Chevy counterparts. Normal IROCs where under-braked and overweight and simply could not keep pace with the leaner Fords.

In ‘88 and ‘89 only licensed SCCA drivers could purchase the vehicles, but that restriction was lifted for the ‘90 model run, making it possible for others to obtain the cars. Outman decided to take advantage of this fact and placed an order to purchase one of the rare IROCs.

"I placed an order on the computer but it was rejected," he said. "We discovered we had to write a letter and call Chevy to get the order through."

He then enlisted the help of Gates Inventory Manager Jay Poland to process the order. After Outman’s order cleared, additional cars were ordered for Gates Toyota General Manager Mark Keobbe, local collector Jerry Buczkowski, Russell and Watson.

Gates salesman Steve Waltz jumped on the bandwagon after seeing a description list of the cars Outman had ordered.

"I was looking through the options list and noticed that none of the cars had air conditioning," he said. "It made me curious, so I asked Jim why he ordered those IROCs without the air."

Outman then explained the story of the 1LE and Waltz decided to get a car of his own, but chose a slightly different route then the others. Waltz did a computer check of dealer inventories and found a 5-speed 1LE in Ohio. After calling the dealership, he discovered the car had been ordered for the owners son.

"When I called and said I was interested in the car, he was ecstatic," he said. "His son had decided to get a Firebird instead and he was thrilled to be able to unload the car." When Waltz took delivery, he was thrilled as well.

"I was a Corvette salesman and I’ve driven Ferraris and Porsche’s," he said, "but for the price, you can’t beat
the 1LE. It drives like a ‘vette."

I fact, Waltz was so impressed, he called the editor of Motor Trend Magazine who then assigned a staff of writers and photographers to do a feature story for their June or July issue.

"They came here for the technical side of the story," Outman said, "but they went away with a story about how a bunch of guys in South Bend beat the system and ordered the cars."

Chevrolet only manufacture 28 automatic 1LE’s and 34 5-speeds for 1990, and of that number Gates has obtained six of the cars for South Bend area owners and five for owners throughout the state. In addition a 1LE Firebird was located for area resident Dave Gushwa. The 12 owners who make up this special fraternity have given a name to their group by forming the 1LE Club which meets every Tuesday at Gates.