Second generation Camaro questions

[Dave Rifkin]

I was watching "My Classic Car" today and saw the feature on a Motion collection. When they looked the '73 Phase 3 Camaro the owner remarked that the car had started out as a white Type LT Z28 and Joel had changed a number of things to create the car that was being highlighted. This leads me to my questions:

1) Did all 2nd generation Motion Camaros start out as Z28's?

2) If not, did Joel convert any of the 600 L78 Camaros into Phase 3 Camaros?

I would guess that the owner is a member of this board and I must say he has quite the collection (green with envy).
He seemed like a really nice guy too; mentioned he also had a Motion Maco Shark under restoration.

[Fhakya]

I just got done editing some of that episode. And, to answer your questions:

1) Did all 2nd generation Motion Camaros start out as Z28's?

Answer: No. It is likely that when you see a double (Z-28) striped car it was "probably" a Z-28 to start with. I've seen 2nd gen's that I believe were orgiginally SS's that were converted (If my memory serves). *Bill Ogle's car?*

2.)If not, did Joel convert any of the 600 L78 Camaros into Phase 3 Camaros?

Answer: That would be an interesting question especially considering fellow member JoeG's Phase III L-78 68 Chevelle.

My educated guess would say "no".....but I wasn't there. It would have been more expensive than the lesser 396's to obtain. Unless, of course a customer came in for an L-78 upgrade (similar to JoeG's story)which would change that answer....that's completely plausible. Joel, at that time...and earlier, was focussing more on the 427 (ZL-X) package and the new 454 and would have opted/ tried to sell that I'm guessing.

An interesting side-note to this topic is that I have had a long-standing theory that he would have preferred swapping a healthy BB (Phase III) into a Z because it gave him a VERY nice SB w/ great internals to keep and build from (The Z30 70 Camaro & Green Meanie 69) for other projects (Vega or Nova etc) for profit.

[DarrenX33]

FYI the "owner" is our very own Dan McMicheal (MOTION1). Very cool guy with some nice hardware.

[COPO]

My '71 BM Camaro that I owned started as a Z-28 then got LS-6 power from Motion. Some of the old CARS magazines do show 2nd gen. SS Camaros converted to 454's, so both SS and Z's were used.

[427TJ]

If you were going to have a Motion (427 or 454) car built and were going to order it new through Baldwin Chev, then Motion (Joel Rosen) preferred you to order an L78 car. That way, the car came with HD running gear (hi-perf speedos and tachs too) and the factory L78 could be sold over the parts counter at Baldwin. Baldwin likely gave the buyer a credit for giving back the L78.

But, if you were on a budget and could not afford to begin with an L78 car then Motion would happily work on and convert just about anything. Logically, Motion wanted the most able platform to begin an upgrade on (an L78 car) but they probably did 427/454 swaps on everything from Z/28s to six-cylinder cars.

Good to point out that JoeG's Phase III Chevelle began life as an L78 and kept the L78 for the Phase conversion. Again, if you didn't have the bucks (or desire) to go for the full 427/454 conversion then you could have your 396 massaged to Phase I, II, or III specifications.

[CamarosRus]

Seattle owned 71 B/M (ex Z-28).....Bumper Guards are another Z-28 give away.......

[427TJ]

Here's a '70 RS SS 396 Camaro converted to Phase III 454/"500hp" status. No mention of what 396 the car came with from the factory. From Hi-Performance Cars, 9/70.

[427TJ]

Probably the same car as above, but with Cragars added. Marty Schorr drove this car (on loan) to write his articles for Cars and probably swapped mags on in place of the bland dog-dish bowtie moon hubcaps. (No offense to guys who like the bland dog-dish bowtie moon hubcaps.)

[MosportGreen66]

Chuck... please post any other pictures you have of that Camaro.

-Dan

[427TJ]

From the article "Son of ZL-X!" in the 8/70 Hi-Performance Cars magazine: