I bought a 1970 Z28 in 1991 for $2500 and brought it home on a trailer and in boxes. After a full restoration, I still have it today. Never get tired of looking at it.

The very underrated LT1 motor was the game changer. 425 factory horsepower out of a small block was nothing short of amazing for the time. Pair that with the cars looks and handling performance - it's very hard to argue against the 1970 Z/28 in any category - including value. I have to agree that the '70 Z/28 is the best ...

Nothing like the old push rod engines. I ordered a '64 Impala new with a 327 300 H.P. engine from the factory and traded in a '57 Chevy 210, 2 door sedan with a 283 Carter 4 brl. I had installed a Corvette kit in- it was a kit you could buy at any Chevy dealership for $40 and came with a Corvette cam, solid lifters to replace the hydraulics and all the gaskets you needed. Both were runners.

The 70 Z-28s laid down some pretty good ETs in the the old car magazines. Back in 1970 I tangled with a silver 4 speed 70 Z28 with a 4.10 gear. It was a memorable street race.

I've still got mine after 41'yrs and it's still great. Doing everything performance is better now than ever

One of the best looking cars of all time. I fondly remember cruising with my buddy in his '73. You hardly see these anymore even at shows. I have a special place in my heart for the 70 -73 Z28's. Nicely done video!

1970 was the pinnacle year of the classic muscle car. I had a 1970 Corvette Lt-1 convertible. So fast! Wish I still had it.

Love the split bumper

My brother bought a '70 Z28. I had a '71 Mach 1. The mustang was a 351 Cleveland, Wide ratio 4 speed, the only one available, 3'55 axle, lowest available. His Z28 had a 4.11 axle, and close ratio 4 speed. His Z28 could run away and hide from the Mach 1. The Mach 1 also had a Hurst shifter (handle) with absolutely junk linkage, while the Z had a real Hurst shifter, with about a 4 inch throw, while the Mach1 was like rowing a boat. The same era Road Runners had the same long throw shifters. Good exercise, but slow.

I gotta say American muscle was just way cooler looking back then European cars. The z28 is probly my favorite muscle car of all time.

1970 split bumper Camaro is my favorite car ever.

I soooo love the split bumper RS with the lower front and short rear spoilers Perfection is often short lived

My cousin had an orange and black 1978 Z28. He got it new for his birthday. I was envious but since we worked together I rode with him everyday. Plus, I did drive sometimes. Man, what great memories.

In 1972 I watched a 1970 Z28 in bright yellow absolutely demolish a Hemi Charger in a drag race. The Z28 spun off the line, gave up 2 car lengths and yet still caught the hemi and beat him by 2 car lengths. I always did love that split bumper model, I thought it looked like the intake on my father's F-86 Sabre Jet.

Always loved the 69's but loved the 70's more. Especially the split bumpers.

Loved the '70 Z28. Felt like it was carved out of a solid block of steel and the Goodyear Polyglass GT tires were amazing!

Cars will never look as kool as those in the 50's 60's and 70's. I love the smell of carbureted fumes in the morning.

I ordered 70 Z28. It had everythihg: outstanding performance, sport car look and feel. Great car all around. I liked it so much that I ordered a 1973 Z285. Another great car.

The older i get the more i miss the early Z28's

My first car I bought was a 73 Z-28 My second one was a LS6 70 Chevelle My third (still have to this day) was a first 6 mos of production 72 LT-1 Z-28. I've had many other cars 69 ss Camaro, vettes ECT ECT But the second generation LT-1 Z-28 is by far the absolute complete package. Looks, performance, and handling set this car apart from the priors in its day.

A HS friend of mine had a '70 Z-28. It would snap your head back during acceleration and cornered like it was on rails. A great car.

Always liked the 70-73 model year!

Owned a 701/2 Z28, Red with Black racing stripes. Wish I still had that awesome car.

I watched one of these Z28s demolish a big block Hemi Charger in Peace River, ALberta in 1972. Awesome. It so inpressed my buddy that he bought a Camaro 1970, split bumper, with the 396 and 4 speed in Light Blue. It was great to drive! I myself bought the exact LT1 Corvette convertible (with white hardtop) in the photo. It was an absolute pleasure to drive. It would lift the front end on launch and howl with that deep Chevy SBC suction whine that I only ever also heard on a F-104 fighter jet. That car was never beaten! I sold it to get married, should have kept the car! I really liked the Sabre-Jet rad intake on the 1970 Z28.

Reminds me of my younger years! Spending the summer with my dad cruising in his 71’ through the mountains of Harlan Kentucky with nothing but the sunshine, mountains and the smell of gas fumes! What I would give to go back and see the smile on his face as he grabs 3rd gear on a mountain road!!!

Ordered from the factory a red 1973 Rally Sport/350/automatic. Took almost six months to get probably because of the strike in '72. Added Hooker headers and pipes. Drove it year-round in western Michigan for fifteen years (needed snow tires and sand bags for bite in winter). The motor and tranny were bulletproof. Replaced a rocker-arm and timing chain and that was it. Even with Ziebart the rust eventually won.

Absolutely love the 1970 Z28. You can see how the front was inspired by something like the Ferrari 250 GT SWB. A grand tourer made affordable, the American way. I love it, the headlights and split bumper are gorgeous. You guys can keep your 1969.

My first car was a 1970 Camaro SS with a 300 horse 350. Man that car could fly. I got it in 1984 from my Mom and Dad and I will have it to this day. Unfortunatly its in my garage in about 100 pieces but one say I will have it restored. Thank you for sharing this video, I really enjoyed it

I have had a 1973 Z38 for about 30 years. I took it to the drag strip years ago and it did 14.2 constantly in the Quarter mile. The only change I did was an Edlebrock performer intake, the rest was stock. And it is a L82 four speed car.

My cousin owned a 1970 1/2 Z28 with the LT1 350 engine, a short-throw 4-speed shifter, quick-steer ratio steering, positraction rear end, and a host of other great options. I loved that car and to this day I think it's the fastest, best handling car I've ever driven. It was a thrill to drive and is an Icon of muscle car performance!

My first car was 1 1971 LT1 Camaro. I bought it used for $1200usd. I loved that car and lost my virginity in it. Made my senior year in high school very memorable.

I absolutely love the Gen 2 Z/28. Stunning!

What a beautiful car, I think the best looking Camaro's. Great looking wheels too...

I’ll never forget how well the 302 sounded. In 1970 I was at a party, a guy in town had a brand new 1970 Z28. It was gold. When he would pull up the 302 sounded so good at idle I would just stand there loving it. Well at this party he decided to get on it going up the street. All of us were enjoying the sound it made going through the gears then all of a sudden I see The headlights shoot up in the night sky and back down again. Oops, the guy was going to fast for the curve. He locked up the brakes and jumped the curb. The paper plated Chevy wasn’t even broken in and the front suspension was tore up. Just another Meatloaf story from the old days. I have a million stories from the 70s. I should right a book.

i now own my older brother 1970.5 camaro copper whilte stripe z28 with original block n gm off road iron angle plug cly. heads. his original 780cfm holley carb was stolen in 1977.. it was replaced with a 800cfm holley double pumper which is on the car still.. i was with my brother when he bought this car in may of 1972...

In 1980, my dad bought me a '71. It was Lime-Fire Green with a 4-spd. I watched him count out six 100$ bills on the trunk and pay the lady we got it from. I got caught doing 140 mph and Dad sold it.

The 71 Z28 with an LT1 4speed was my dream car in highschool.

The 1970 LT1 350 is one of the baddest small blocks of that entire era. In my opinion, only the Pontiac 400 Ram Air IV tops it. The Mopar 340 and Ford BOSS 302 and BOSS 351 were also excellent performers. Can't forget the Chevy DZ 302 either that came in the 1967-69 Z28 Camaro. That little engine was a screamer

My friend that got me into wrenching on cars and bikes the right way had a '72 Z-28 which I think they made less than 2600 of. He got it off the local body man when he was a kid so it was this metallic root beer brown w/ heavy metalflake silver stripes, 3 inch cowl hood, widened Rallies on the back w/ slappers. I forgot how much I loved that car. I tried to buy it when he sold it for $6k, I was a day late. Ended up with my '87 Buick Turbo T a couple weeks later and got twelves on street tires after figuring out the setup, but that car still haunts me. Another person I know back halved a real '70 Z in the '90's for a race car and tossed all of the rare stuff. The septic tank guy a couple miles away had 5 or 6 DZ's sitting on the floor of his garage, a couple tri-fives around and a low mile '70 454 SS Monte that he put a small block and an automatic in for his wife to drive. Those type of things made me want to claw my eyes out.

Thank you for the video. My best friend had one! He was 16 and I was 15 at the time, imagine. It was a LT ,Z-28, Rally Sport Camaro.with a 350/350 and a 400 turbo hydamatic transmission. Spoilers, Grey, no stripes. Only 600 made. The closest I ever had to it was a 91 ZR-1. I liked the Camaro better but they were both headed in the same direction and now I know why. Thanks again, you made my day.

I've always been a MOPAR and a Chevy guy, and the thought of a '70 Z28 with a modern suspension and a 7000rpm, carburetor converted all-alluminum, 450 hp 5.3L LM4 under the hood, attached to T10 4 speed with a 4.10 rear end just makes me want one so bad!

I just bought this Camaro! In 1:64 scale from M2 Machines of course 😀

A lot of research went into this video. Kudos!

As I love both the 69 and 70 Z-28s visually the 69 pulls at my heartstrings a bit more but the 70 LT-1 was a much better driving car on the street. The de-stroked 302 although a high reving flyer and awesome on the track just wasn't enjoyable for every day street driving, I say this from the owner of both. Very good video describing the differences with regards to some of misunderstood subtleties in trims, all exceptionally correct btw, thank you.

I love the first gen Camaro, particularly the 69... but the 1970 Z28 is a gorgeous car. It’s definitely got a lot of European influences in its styling.

I miss my 1968 Camaro. It was lime green with standard interior, 396 and a M22 4spd. It even had air conditioning!

My absolute favorite of all the Camaros.

I purchased a 70 Z28 when I returned from Vietnam in summer 70. Great car! Semper Fi

way back before they were old I bought a 71 z from a friend of mine. I filled it up with gas and ran it through the gears heading out of town. The speedometer was reading over 90 before it redlined in second gear. The solid lifers gave it such an identity. You'd never forget you were driving that engine around. When I got back to town I found my sunglasses still on the little spoiler where I'd put them when I filled up with gas. One never loses a cheap pair of sunglasses but good ones vaporize, just like a favorite car.

yes 70 to 73! were awsome cars! with a smallblock they handle very well!

I recently found this channel and I am very impressed with the content. The information is always extremely accurate and delivered in a manner that's neither too detailed nor too specific: a perfect 'car guy' formula. Great job!!

there was 1 1970 camaro that made it from the factory with the 454. it was a pilot car that was then sent to the legenday smoky yunkic for further testing. it was very first pilot car off the line at norwood. Smokeys testing was cancled before full scale production could start. the was also a 4 piston front and rear disk break option that smokey was testing on this car. there was only 1 spoiler option for 1970 camaro, and that was the one piece spoiler and front spoiler. the taller 3 piece spoiler was a COPO option for dealers and started later in the production cycle around feb/march of 1970. so all 3 piece tall spoilers 1970 cars are COPO cars. Real Big block second gen cars are very rare. they made 600 L78 396 cars (L78 cars were 4 speed only no autos were produced), 1864 L34 cars in 1970. in 71 they made 1533 LS3 396 cars and in 72 they made 970 LS3 cars. big blocks were cancled after 72. L34 and LS3 cars were available with both 4 manual and automatic trans. all total there were only 4,967 big block second gens produced over a 3 year production cycle. to put that in compairison, thier were 8733 Z28 in 1970 alone. the 1970-81 camaros, firebirds, and Trans am's are great handling cars. they average between .75-.90G on a skid pad. depending the the size of the sway bars and the tires. the early 70s cars had bias ply tires and smaller sway bars, but mid 70s cars got radial tires and fat swaybars, the later cars handle like a modern car. to put thos numbers in compiarison the currnent 2017 SS 1LE averages .98G on a skid pad. I had a 76 camaro 4 speed car in HS that i blew the engine in. I swaped it with a 350LT1 that you could still buy over the counter in the mid 80s. it was a screaming machine. I am currently restoring a 1971 SS 396 car.

My dad bought a 70 Z28 with the LT1 and a 4-speed brand new in 1970. He drove it for a couple days showing it off to his buddies then built the motor up, topped it with a tunnel ram and dual 4 barrels and slapped some 10 inch wide slicks on it. His best time was a 10.20 @ 136mph. He still has the original window sticker for it.

Back in the 80's I had a 70 RS Z/28 .30 over, TH400, 4.10 - ran high 12's. The torque snapped the front seat bolts more than once. I miss that car.

Ah yes, I remember those days. It all seemed so important at the time.

I had a neighbor that owned a 70 Z28 Silver with black stripes, with m22 rock crusher. The thing sounded awesome with the transmission whining along with the solid cam.

I had a 1970 Camaro that I turned into a Z28 clone...pulled the 307 and placed in a modified 400 small block. This thing could fly....street raced it every where I went and ran it on the drag strip once a month. You could quickly bury the speedo out on the hwy. Sold it off and put the money into my 68 Z28. Oh, those were the good old days

Love the split bumper camaro! So in a word, "yes"

My Dad put a 389 GTO engine and 4 speed trans in my brothers '70 Camaro after the 307 bit the dust. Nothing could touch it.

My older Brother had a 70 1/2 RS with the LT1/360HP engine, M22 Rock Crusher and 12 bolt 373 Posi Rear with No power steering. That car was so awesome! I still have 1 picture of it somewhere... ;(

Yes it is . Especially with the solid lifter version of the lt1. It was seriously underated and it was seriously fast .

I love these cars. I have had 3 so far - 70, 72 & 73. I actually like the 73 the best because of the power windows.

So glad he mentioned the Ferrari/Euro influence on body design. Many Americans don't know that, because it is a quintessential American/GM look. Once you see it, and the comparisons, you realize why it is beautiful and timeless. (To be clear, NOT a copy! Just a wise and tasteful influence of design.)

While I grew up in the 80's where we had the L98's being (finally) put in the IROC-Z, and later just Z28, personally, the Z/28 I want is the 67-69 302 version. When SCCA made the rule of 5L/305 displacement for the motor, and the engineers at Chevy realized (although there were the guys doing it before hand,) let's put a 283 crank into the 327 and we're ready to go. Motor wise, the 327 is more or less better, but I just love the solution they came up with back then.

I can remember the exact location, the exact color of the first 70' Camaro I saw. The driver was a friend of mine and he had gotten it the previous day. Boy, those were the days!

I had a 70 rs Z 28. my fave car for sure of all time. At 65 still love these

When i was 16 back in '82 the late 60s and early 70s muscle cars were parked for sale on every side street for a dime a dozen.

I've always loved those lines on the split bumper Z.

I'm a Ford guy, but I love the styling of the 70-73 Z28. But my favorite Camaro of all is definitely the 1969 COPO ZL1. My favorite Z28 though is definitely the 1970 model

Had a friend that bought a gold one with pin striping. It really did get up and go racing other models of that time.

I bought a 1974 Z28 my senior year in high school( body shop class) during Xmas break totalled for 550.00. 4speed-350. Redid the complete front end. Every 2weeks i had 2 replace the plugs( at least the 7-8 cylinder) fouled out. The crank broke coming back from seeing my girlfriend that lived approximately 60 miles from me. I now have a 1963-409 2x4 in it . but have not driven it 1mile since.

IMO - the 69 DZ302 Powered Z/28s will always be the legends.

Been watching this channel all day, I subscribed, what a great channel. Thanks for doing a great job...........

70 Z28 was my 2nd of 3 that I owned. Love them.

I still have my 69GTX440 my dad bought it brand new.He died in 1985 of cancer and he gave it to me in 84, the only Parts I changed on it are wearable parts.

I had a 1970 Z28. The unique thing about the 1970 was all Camaros for that year came out with 150 mph speedometer, changed to 130 mph 1971 and up until the government 85 mph speedometers. The 1970 Camaro had it's own steering wheel not shared like the Novas Chevelles, etc. The 1970 rear spoiler emblem was metal, reduced to a decal in 1971. Personally I like the non bumperette front end of the Camaro body best. A guy on my street in the early 70's had a rare red and I think it was 1972 Camaro SS with a 396 red with black stripes factory original because this was in 1972, brand new car.

The 1970 Z28 w the split bumper is one of the coolest 😎 cars GM has ever made from the 70s

Purists say the 69 is I think the 70 is

Love the split bumper rally sports. Had a 71. Prefer the looks of the 68, but second gens handle much better.

My 1971 camaro ran 1420"s at 97 mph 1/4 mile . flat top 350 with 041 closed chamber heads. This was in the early 1980's. Bought it in 1977, senior year of high school. still own it. Much faster now. I still have the Centerline auto drag satin wheels.3 1/2 on the front.8 1/2 on the back.

Makes me miss my 79 z28 but im building a 93 z28 which was the first Camaro in 21 years to hit 275 hp and have 10.4 to 1 compression.

Mopar guy here but the 70 1/2 Z28 probably is the best overall Camaro ever made in terms of both performance and handling although I do prefer the styling of the 67-69's. Second gen Camaro's/Firebird's were excellent handling cars. The 69 ZL-1 is definitely my favorite Camaro ever but they were basically just a race car with a license plate. The Z28 was a true road machine. I love both the DZ 302 and the LT1 350. The 1970 LT1 might be the meanest small block of the muscle car era. They were good for 425 horses at 6000 rpm on an engine dyno...just as much horsepower as an L78 396 big block but the L78 definitely had the advantage as far as low end torque.

The second generation of Camaros is my favorite. I had a seventy Vega. There's a great deal of similar looks between the two. The Vega I had was gold with black stripes. It really wasn't a bad looking car. It had bucket seats, four speed. Of course it had the one fifty one four cylinder. The engine quit running on my way home from purchasing from a private owner. It had an aluminum block. We rebuilt the engine, as well as having steel liners installed. It was a baby Camaro. I really liked that car. That was my first car, that was all I could afford at the time. The first vehicle I bought was a Harley. So most of my money went towards my bike first.

!st car, 69 RS/SS 396 , stolen, 2nd car 72 Z-28, totaled in wreck, 3rd car 77 Z-28 w/ 383 swap and nitrous when it was almost new, sold the original motor for enough to build a beast, traded it for a like new 69' AMX 390, sold it after 2 decades. I also bought the wife a new IROC Z when they came out.. My last camaro was a 97 Z with a 360 crate motor w/ hidden B&M blower. Drove it off the highway one night at 150+ through a field when I hit a raise in the road. The front tires went airborn and sat down slightly cocked to right. Traded it for an F-150 truck. I miss the 77 most. It was red on red vinyl and a sleeper. Good times.

I lucked into a 70 RS with split bumper and nose extension for 450 bucks back in 1990. Original drive trane as it turned out. I raced it at MIR in the early 90's and was my daily driver until the late 90's and still have her today❤

Split bumper Camaro rs/z28 one of GM’s best looking designs. IMHO

I had a 70 z28 silver black stripes, split bumper, 350 ,4 speed. Loved that car!

My dad has a 1970 Camaro with rs split bumper and a 427 4spd 12 bolt posi 3:76 gears silver with black stripes and black interior, my second favourite car , my first fav is my 1967 impala ss 427 convertible, 390 hrs stock , I increased the compression from stock to 11/12-1 , aluminum heads and intake , I have a Holly 750 double pumper for it but prefer my holly 650 double pumper, it’s also a 4spd and 12 blot but I have 4:11 gears , super awesome and pleasurable cars to drive

Yes, indeed... there was no equal to the 360 hp LT-1 in this first year of the first new Camaro! The original 302 DZ V8 was still available, though only for SCCA Trans-Am stock cars; the SCCA did not allow V8 engines in the Trans-Am stock cars to displace more than 305 cubic inches back then, and backdating (using older model year engines) was allowed.

The split bumber camaros aways been my favorite.

I had bought a brand new 1974 Z/28 Camaro, and it was a great car. Handled well, and with simple bolt on hot rodding parts was a decently quick car. I wish I still had that car today...

70 is probably my second favorite year, right behind the 69

It's a beautiful car and collection to must have in car shows

Another great video. I love the stats and comparisons, always very comprehensive videos. Can't wait for the next one.

I’m a Brit and love this channel. Love classic American motors too. 👍

I do love the RS option on the 1970 model!

This post takes me back when to when I was in college in the 1980's and there were two occasions amazing cars slipped through my fingers. One was a 1970 Camero that belonged to a neighbor of mine.The car was in immaculate original condition, low milage and always garaged. I admired that car whenever it drove by but never even knew it was for sale until I saw my neighbor drive by in his new car. The second car was a red 1969 Ford Mustang fastback with a 428 Cobra Jet. Again the car was always garaged with a car cover over it and only had about 24,000 miles. It even still smelled like a new car when I got in and the guy selling it only wanted $6,000 which at the time seemed like a lot of money to a starving college student. I hesitated and when I went back the next day the car had already been sold to someone else. Oh well...

Great comprehensive video !

I "liked" this video before I even watched it. It's already a given that OCM releases top notch content every time and what's not to love with the 1970 Z28? One correction however, all cars were not mandated to run on unleaded gas in 1972. That requirement didn't kick in until 1975 when catalytic converters became standard equipment. My non-CC equipped 1974 Mustang still took regular while my girlfriend's 1975 Camaro with catalyst required unleaded.

These must have been awesome in their day even for their styling alone. I had no idea this generation started way back in 1970. The previous gen late 60s Camaro might be my all-time favorite muscle car but I'm sure if I grew up back then I'd have been crazy about these '70s models too.