We're staring at the taillights of a 2014 Camaro SS 1LE through the green-tinted windshield of a 1971 Camaro SS as we drive along the Atlantic coast in Satellite Beach, Florida. For fifty years, pony cars like these have let middle-class Americans tap into a level of performance usually attached to a high price.
This 71 is optioned with a 402-cubic-inch V-8, an automatic transmission, a Positraction rear end, and upgraded front and rear suspension components?serious hardware that bumped up the price almost $2000, to $5175. That was just within reach for Kevin McKeown, then a college dropout and eventually a Green Beret commander. He convinced his mother to cosign on the loan and has owned the sunflower yellow SS ever since.
The big-block 71 Camaro looks and drives like it?s fresh from the showroom, which isn?t high praise. Acceleration is weak, impeded by a mild 3.42:1 final-drive ratio and a V-8 with 300 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque, figures that seem to exist only in ink (indeed, the numbers dropped to 240 hp and 345 lb-ft in 1972, when Chevrolet switched from gross to net ratings). The body sways in slow-speed turns, even with the tighter suspension setup, and we can?t feel the front tires through the thin-rimmed steering wheel.
The 2014 Camaro SS 1LE has the same mission as the old SS, but its execution is dramatically different. Its 426-hp V-8 with 420 lb-ft of torque is responsive and punchy at all points in the rev range. The chassis, upgraded for the 1LE trim level with larger anti- roll bars, retuned dampers, and Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires, is planted and easily controlled in high-speed corners. The 1LE costs about half of what you?d spend on the pricey new Z/28 but is three-quarters the car. It would?ve been science fiction in 1971. If it had existed and cost only ten percent more than a base SS, we would?ve sold a kidney and two toes to get the extra cash.
It?s fantastic that pony cars still exist and that so much performance is available to enthusiasts at such a low cost. If the guy who bought an SS in the ?70s felt excited, the guy buying a 1LE today should be downright, straight-out stoked.
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1971 CHEVROLET CAMARO SS[/TH]
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2014 CHEVROLET CAMARO SS 1LE[/TH]
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[TD]
Engine[/TD]
[TD]
6.6L V-8, 300 hp, 400 lb-ft[/TD]
[TD]
6.2L V-8, 426 hp, 420 lb-ft[/TD]
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[TD]
Transmission[/TD]
[TD]
3-speed automatic[/TD]
[TD]
6-speed manual[/TD]
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[TD]
Drive[/TD]
[TD]
Rear-wheel[/TD]
[TD]
Rear-wheel[/TD]
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[TD]
Wheelbase[/TD]
[TD]
108.0"[/TD]
[TD]
112.3"[/TD]
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[TD]
Length[/TD]
[TD]
188.0"[/TD]
[TD]
190.6"[/TD]
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[TD]
Width[/TD]
[TD]
74.4"[/TD]
[TD]
75.5"[/TD]
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[TD]
Height[/TD]
[TD]
49.1"[/TD]
[TD]
54.2"[/TD]
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[TD]
Curb Weight[/TD]
[TD]
3300 lbs[/TD]
[TD]
3860 lbs[/TD]
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[TD]
Price[/TD]
[TD]
$3261 ($18,800 after inflation)[/TD]
[TD]
$37,850[/TD]
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[TD]
Value Today:[/TD]
[TD]
$20,000-$30,000[/TD]
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[/TD]
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