Tested: 1977 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 vs. Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am

From the April 1977 issue of Car and Driver.

Five years ago, all the smarties, including those occupying positions of responsibility on this staff, told you that those manifestations of the great performance binge of the 1960s known as Pony cars were as surely doomed to the automotive tar pits as ragtops and side-mounted spares. No one believed these predictions more than the Detroit moguls who read the omens of inflation, energy shortages and the ravings of consumerist loonies as sure death for all performance automobiles in general and Pony cars in particular. Ruthlessly they offed the Barracuda, Challenger and Javelin from the corporate menus while altering the Cougar and Mustang to a point where they were to high-performance motoring what Longines Symphonette represents to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Suddenly they were gone or transmogrified, and the enthusiasts of the nation—who had not gotten the word that driving for fun was gone forever—puzzled over why everybody had acted with such maniacal haste. They responded in a variety of ways: Some kept their old Pony cars in loving repair; others turned to the few sporty vehicles that remained, hence the booming sales of Corvette, Datsun Z-cars and Porsches. And still others began to buy in ever-escalating numbers the only legitimate Pony cars that, in some bizarre role as an automotive Ceolanth, had defied evolution and had remained in production.

Those cars were the F-bodied sisters from Pontiac and Chevrolet, the Firebird and Camaro, which remained in the marketplace as rather wispy reminders of the old days. Each year, with the exception of the modestly sporty Camaro Rallye Sport and the Firebird Formula, the cars became increasingly aimed at an audience of secretaries and suburban housewives. Only one car of the lot, the Firebird Trans-Am, sustained an unvarnished position as a pure, all-out-hell-for-leather performance automobile.

Why Pontiac chose to keep the Trans-Am around in the face of the retreating competition is of little interest here, other than to note the irony that of all the machines of the species there is little debating the fact that the best of the lot was preserved. (Automotive Darwinism is alive and well)!

The Pontiac Trans-Am turned into a hellishly successful car in the face of all the gloomy sales forecasts. As the years passed it lost some of the brutal acceleration it enjoyed during its 455 Super Duty era, but that lapse in power was more than offset by steady improvements in suspension and running gear that created a delightful American 2+2 Grand Touring automobile. Pontiac stylists were not totally immune to the temptations of littering its splendid contours with increasing acreages of cornball decals, but in general the Trans-Am remained what it was when introduced in its most recent form during the middle of the 1969-70 model year: the sportiest, most roadable four-place automobile built by an American manufacturer.

Then a strange thing happened. In 1976, Trans-Ams began accounting for half of all Firebird sales. The surprise miniboom did not escape the Motor City sales analysts and prompted attempts to cash in on what was considered a renaissance of the performance market. Perhaps the most spectacular—and superficial—effort came from Ford, where the Mustang II was decked out in garish paint and tape combinations to become the Cobra II. Chrysler has made a similarly feeble gesture with its Plymouth Volare Road Runner, while a more legitimate try was undertaken by American Motors and its Hornet AMX.

But these are all stopgaps, designed to plug holes in the model lineup until proper performance machines can be created. Therefore the field was left to Trans-Am in terms of anybody manufacturing a really honest sporting coupe in the mold of the old Pony cars. Until now, that is, when Chevrolet unloads its all-new Z/28 Camaro on an unsuspecting industry and a delighted public.

The Z/28 was last seen in 1974 when the power and speed that emanated from its light, high-revving small-block engine was in a state of seemingly terminal decline. Rather than let the proud name become just another plastic applique on the flanks of various ordinary cars—as happened to the Pontiac GTO and Plymouth Road Runner—Chevrolet yanked the car off the market. Now it returns in a fashion that is sure to blow the lid off the entire world of fast automobiles and end, once and for all, the notion that Detroit and the American public have forgotten performance.

We first encountered the automobile on the flat terrain of General Motors’ Mesa Arizona Proving Ground, where it appeared in the proud possession of Jack Turner, the Chevrolet engineer who headed the design team for the Z/28 project. It was hardly a dazzling visual sight, mainly because we were so familiar with the liquid lines of the Camaro after so many years, but the presence of spoilers fore and aft, relatively discreet decal treatment and custom wheels indicated that this was no ordinary machine.

A few moments in the car, with Turner lashing furiously around a small test loop, removed all doubt. “We think this is a pretty special machine,” said Turner, a confident, square-shouldered guy who learned to drive—and dig cars—on the convoluted mountain roads around Old Forge, New York. “I wanted a road car, one that was fun to drive, like the Porsche 924. We had a Porsche during the initial stages of this project, and we were really impressed with its handling. But frankly, I think this machine will run right with it.” And then he accelerated to 105 mph on a long straight and flung the Z/28 sideways.

The car yawed to the left, its body rolling slightly, its steel-belted tires screeching angrily, then snapped back on course. Turner yanked the wheel hard right, and the car responded with the same precision. “I wanted a car with a lot of linear stability, one that would make really good transitions, both in lane-changing and in hard cornering.” After the car had returned to straight-line travel, we noticed that Turner had negotiated both brutal slides with one hand. Perhaps he had something here. But proving-ground running can be deceiving. The surfaces are often billiard-table-smooth or unnaturally rough. Both can give invalid impressions of an automobile, so we fled the compound and headed for a stretch of bumpy, twisting mountain road running northeast away from the ragged collection of gas stations and fast-food joints known as Apache Junction.

There the Camaro revealed itself as a road machine of the first rank. Its 350 V-8 (operating through a catalyst and two small resonators but no mufflers) sang that special, keening song that issues only from good Chevy small-blocks, while the Z/28 blitzed up the canyons and charged over the arroyos. It was as close to being a neutral steerer as any car with a heavy iron engine tucked up front probably can be and could be easily kicked into more gentle oversteer/understeer conditions by easy application of the throttle or brake.

It was a treat for Turner to work on a machine like the Z/28. For the past four years he had been assigned to Chevrolet’s new B-body intermediates, and it was he and his fellows who created the “F-41” optional suspension that makes large, solid-axle sedans handle like tiny sports cars. “There is only one way to make a suspension work, and that’s out here,” he said gesturing at the blurred dirt banks and cactus. “I’ve worked with computers, and they’ll only take you so far. Then you have to get out here and drive’em. You take a lot of cars like this with big front sway bars, and when you drive’em really hard you get bad under-steer and the feeling that the front wheels are doing all the work. I like to feel the rear wheels working too. That’s where this car really has an edge.”

Did he mean the Z/28 had an edge on the Pontiac Trans-Am, the majordomo in this field? “We’re buddies with all the guys at Pontiac,” said Turner affably, “but they are our rivals too. Sure, they are interested in what we’re doing with this machine, and we’ve shown’em most of what we’ve done. But not all of it. We’ve got some stuff in reserve. We’re not finished with this project by a long shot. Wait until you see what we do next year.” (Turner’s claims for improvement boggle the mind, based on this year’s car, although we know the ’78 Camaro will use the same basic body. The 1978 Z/28 will have a better-integrated front and rear bumper, plus louvers in the front fenders, a la the new T-Birds and Continentals.)

Before climbing aboard the Z/28, we had spent some time in Los Angeles with a 1977 Trans-Am. The City of Vapors was in the midst of one of its rare monsoons, and all of our driving was spent hissing along soaked roads and freeways with the gentle clatter of the wipers mingling with the soft exhaust note and the faint mechanical whines rising out of the engine and transmission. Trans-Ams are old friends, essentially unchanged over the past few years, save for the 1977 addition of a weird Batmobile grille treatment and the use of a somewhat tamer drivetrain. Our test machine was the Special Edition, which meant that its black body was decked out in a variety of gold stripes and decals, plus gold-anodized alloy wheels and Hurst hatch sunroofs (weighing a hefty 108 pounds).

This package costs an extra $1143, which made it the biggest contributor in boosting the base price from $5427 to $8161. Our car was what you might call “loaded” and in its own way lent emphasis to the fact that a good Trans-Am can be purchased without the effluvia for about $6500 to $7000. All of the right suspension pieces come as part of the base car, as does the striking interior and exterior styling bits. Therefore we recommend the car with simple options like air-conditioning, radio and the $50-extra 200 hp, 400-cubic inch engine.

The basic Trans-Am motor is rated at 180 hp, and the extra half-a-yard produces a slightly tweaked version of the same powerplant with a better horsepower curve, a different camshaft and higher compression ratio. Unless you are fascinated with the notion of displaying yourself publicly in the overblown Special Edition (when will car makers purge themselves of the idea that hairy decals must be present on all fast cars?), you can purchase a Trans-Am for relatively low cost.

Because the Trans-Am and the Z/28 are the same automobile in terms of the chassis and inner body panels, there is very little difference in weight or even performance. They are both highly pleasurable to drive and difficult to tell apart until really hard cornering begins. Because of its larger front sway bar, it would seem logical to assume that the Trans-Am might lapse into serious understeer more quickly than the Z/28, but skidpad calculations do not bear this out.

Our Trans-Am generated 0.80 G, while our Z/28 could do no better than 0.74 G and exhibited considerably more understeer in the process. If either of the cars seemed to be neutral steering within the rather sterile precincts of the skid-pad, it was the Trans-Am, regardless of the pleasant sensations generated by the Z/28 in the Arizona mountains.

If the Trans-Am can claim an advantage in terms of lateral acceleration, then the Z/28 is a winner in straight-ahead performance. It ran the quarter-mile in 16.3 seconds (83.1 mph), which was clearly superior to the Trans-Am’s 16.9 seconds at 82.0 mph. Moreover, our Z/28 produced a top speed of 105 mph (limited by the redline and the 3.73 rear axle), while the Trans-Am with a 3.23 final-drive ratio was no faster than 110 mph.

The major drawback of both these cars is usable interior space. The shape of the vehicles produces dwarf-sized rear seats with limited headroom and visibility and ludicrously tiny trunks. The instrumentation and decor of the Trans-Am is much sportier and features an excellent, small, vinyl-rimmed steering wheel in contrast to the Z/28’s dull black four-spoker that first appeared on the Vega (that hopefully will soon be discarded in favor of a smaller, three-spoke sports wheel). “Don’t forget, we’re not finished,” says Jack Turner, pledging that the 1978 version will contain all the proper components.

Both cars are superior examples of what a true American GT automobile should be. However they both need to be updated; for instance, thin-shell bucket seats with full-back adjustments and stalk controls for the headlight dimmer and windshield wiper/washer are long overdue. Both are two-hand, two-feet automobiles when driven properly and the omission of such components is inexcusable. Otherwise it is hard to find serious fault with either machine, although we eagerly await the results of Chevrolet’s escalation of the rivalry in this recently moribund field, both in terms of its neighbors at Pontiac as well as the rest of the industry.

Pontiac’s T/A 400: The Same Power in a Smaller Package

Special performance engines are all but extinct in Detroit, but Pontiac is bucking the trend with a new powerhouse for the 1977 Trans-Am. There were two goals in developing this engine: better fuel economy and performance at least as good as last year’s. The first suggested smaller displacement, so the 455-cubic inch V-8 was dropped in favor of the old standby 400. To cut the energy loss this move involved, long hours were spent in the dyno room to fatten up torque curves.

Cylinder heads from Pontiac’s 350 V-8 were specified for the T/A 400. They are identical in every way to 400 heads except for combustion chamber volume. Since this dimension is smaller, compression ratio is automatically boosted from 7.6 to 8.0. The camshaft is unique to this engine, and its timing events have been chosen to improve high rpm breathing. In addition, calibration of the Rochester Quadrajet carburetor and the spark advance curve in the GM high-energy ignition are specific to the T/A 400. A low-back pressure muffler completes the package. Actually, there is so much restriction through the single catalytic converter that the Trans-Am is fairly quiet with no muffler whatsoever.

As the above curves illustrate, a significant achievement has been made. The new T/A 400 engine actually smokes its predecessor above 3600 rpm, and the gain over a standard 400 is a healthy 20 horsepower. The low rpm range is obviously softer, but Pontiac claims the better high-speed breathing makes 1977 editions quicker. In any case, it’s the thought that counts. And when Pontiac thinks horsepower, we all get there a little quicker.

What “Z/28” Really Gets You, Besides Home Quicker

The Z/28 is a special automobile. While it bears close physical resemblance to other Camaros, its suspension is available only within the Z/28 package and cannot be ordered as an option on tamer Camaros or other Chevrolets. The original Z/28 was introduced in late 1967 as an option symbol for the high-performance 302-cubic inch engine that was available in the Camaro of that era. Now it stands for a suspension system, rather than an engine (which is a stock LM-1, 350-cu. in.) four-barrel V-8 with an increased diameter air-conditioning pulley). It is expected to produce about 180 hp, and that typifies the change in thinking in Detroit, where nimble roadholding has replaced raw, eyeball-rupturing acceleration as the central theme of performance automobiles.

The Z/28’s suspension has been totally and originally revised front and rear. The front end carries a larger sway bar, increased spring rates, specially-valved shocks and revised jounce travel. At the rear is a new, larger sway bar, stiffer springs, different shocks and higher-durometer shackle bushings with new shackles. These components, coupled with Goodyear GR70-15 steel-belted radial tires (also used on the Corvette) on 7.5-inch rims form the key to the Z/28’s superior handling. The steering gear is a 14:1 straight-ratio unit with somewhat increased effort.

Chevrolet engineers wanted to employ a dual-catalyst exhaust system of the type being used on their Nova police cars, but cost considerations prevented such a luxury. They compromised by using a single catalyst feeding directly into a pair of resonators. This produces a relatively-free exhaust system and a healthy exhaust note.

The drivetrain is completed with a Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed gearbox of the same design used in the original Z/28 and on numerous Corvettes. It replaces the widely-employed Saginaw unit because of durability. It has been modified to carry a 2.64-to-one first-gear ratio. A larger 11-inch clutch and pressure plate are part of the package, although less ambitious enthusiasts can circumvent the entire problem by ordering an optional Corvette CBC three-speed automatic. A final drive ratio of 3.73 to one for the manual transmission and 3.42 to one for the automatic provide good mid-range performance, satisfactory acceleration and 105 to 115 mph top speed, depending on the ratio and the driver’s resolve to override the 5000-rpm redline.

While Chevrolet has not announced a final price list for the Z/28, insiders believe that it will be closely aligned with the Trans-Am. This means that another superb-handling sporting vehicle will be available for $6000 to $7000, depending on the options.

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