Kurt's Cars - 1978 Camaro

Today's edition of Kurt's Cars highlights the 350 V8/4-speed 1978 Camaro that Sherry and I owned in the early 1990s; in our household it was simply called "The `78" because we had already owned a V6-powered 1981 Camaro which we sold in favor of the older car. Laugh all you want about Camaros being the "Ultimate Mulletmobile," then drive a 70s-era once. They might hook you like they hooked me and Sherry. We've owned two: this `78 and an `81 with a V6 and a leaky sunroof.

In 1992 a friend of mine had taken this car as payment on a debt. Turned out the clutch pedal was not good to his aging soccer knee and he put a mere 50 miles on the odometer before parking it. At the time I was looking for a 4-speed car, so I bought it from him. The `78 had 79,000 original miles at the time and drove tight. With low miles the car had no trouble passing the stringent Washington emissions tests. It even had the original license plates from 1978, issued at the dealer in the Everett WA where it was originally purchased. The interior was basic, done in "houndstooth pattern" cloth, with no console for the 4-speed shifter. Being a standard Camaro Sport Coupe, there was neither a tachometer or any extra gauges - just a speedo and a gas guage. It appeared his car was ordered originally for one thing - speed - because it had zero flash or options whatsoever. Oh yeah, I recall it had an stock AM/FM radio. Woohoo.

After buying the car, I replaced the clutch, added 15x7 rally wheels, bolted on a rear sway bar, and piped it for 2 1/2" dual exhaust from the catalytic converter back - the same style and layout as a 1978 Z/28. I then proceeded to put 30,000 miles on the car. We both loved driving it; Sherry used it as her commuter car because of its manners going in and out of Seattle. Don't let the factory 165 horsepower rating fool you; this car was plenty fast and plenty nimble. Although the front end shoveled more than our V6-powered Camaro did (presumably from engine weight) it still had great manners in the corner and could hold the road with cars three times its value.

I had first intended to put an Z/28 spoiler on the rear, going so far as to buy a New Old Stock unit from The Paddock. But the longer I owned the car the more I liked it without. There was something attractive about it from behind -- sway bar, fat pipes, and no spoiler. In the early 1990s there were still a lot of `77 - `81 Camaros on the streets, and most were Z/28s or wannabes with spoilers and such. Owning one that was pared down and basic was unique, and secondarily the car was easy to find in parking lots. It consistently got 18-19mpg on trips.

In 1995 I sold the `78 to get enough money to make our `77 Corvette roadworthy. The buyer drove up from Chehalis and promptly told me he was getting this one to replace his wife's Thunderbird...which he had just totaled. I suspect he crashed it too, and that The `78 is now in a wrecking yard.