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After two years of watching the Ford Mustang enjoy tremendous success, General Motors finally launched its entry into the pony car segment, the Chevrolet Camaro. Although available with a mediocre six cylinder for volume sales, the Camaro could be equipped with several V8s and a myriad of performance options. Then, of course, was the famous Regular Production Code, Z/28, that would change the industry's view of pony cars.

After just three years, Chevrolet released their second generation model halfway through the 1970 model year. This generation would last over 12 years and would see the once mighty Camaro become strangled by crash and emission standards.

The state of things wasn't too sad in 1970 though. The new Camaro was released with much fanfare and much success late in the 1970 model year. Most of the credit went to the new styling, which was European-inspired. Still based on the Nova, the new Camaro was two inches longer and had five inch longer doors, and was now available only as a coupe (no convertible). It featured a new A-arm front suspension and better noise insultation. Under the hood, the proposed new 454 blocks never made it and the Camaro SS continued with the 350 and 396 engines. After January 1970, however, the 396 engines no longer displaced 396 cubic inches. Chevrolet actually enlarged them to 402 cubic inches but the executives decided to name it the 396 to take advantage of the name recognition and avoid any attention from insurance carriers. The RS option now included a free standing grill, twin bumperetes, an Endura rubber grill frame, and parking lights between the headlights and the grill. The SS option included a special black grill, hidden wipers, power brakes, engine trim, white-letter tires, chrome dual exhausts, and the SS396 also came with black-painted trunk panels and a special suspension.

The Z28 saw the most radical change -- an all new 350 cid engine know as the LT-1 350. It was rated at 360bhp (it had a rating of 370bhp when installed in Corvettes). This engine proved much more tractable, reliable, and generally outperformed the 302 engine of old. It was also available with an automatic transmission, the first time for the Z28.