Auto Trends

1972 Chevrolet Camaro Budget GT

four out of the five words in this particular Camaro sure sound cool. “1972”… yeah, okay, we should be talking some real all-American muscle. “Chevrolet”… okay, they made the Corvette, Chevelle, Nova, and several other nasty muscle cars in the 60’s and 70’s.

“Camaro”… We all know the Baldwin Motion and COPO Camaro’s were awesome. “Budget”… hey, what the heck is going on here. “GT”… yeah, okay, this thing has got to be fast. Maybe it just omitted a few radio features and creature comforts.

Wait a garsh darn minute… this thing can only go 0-60 in 10.5 seconds, the quarter mile in 17.6 seconds. I guess the budget means that they left the engine completely out in exchange for some Flintstones cutouts.

This lowly “Budget” Chevrolet Camaro was not the only one to suffer in 1972. Due to the growing emissions laws, compression ratios dropped along with the horsepower numbers of all the Camaro’s. Of course the fact that horsepower became measured by its “net” ratings rather than “gross” effected things somewhat.

Net, meant that the horsepower numbers included all the drag and inefficiency of the pulley run accessories and smog gadgets. This combined with the stricter smog stuff pulled the 1971 Camaro LT 350 from 330 horsepower, down to 255 in 1972.

The high performance LT-1 could only barely muster 255 horsepower on a good day, and the big daddy (big block) 396 cubic inch cranked out a total of 240 horsepower. Heck you would spend about $240 just to get this gas guzzler across the state line with today’s gas prices.

1975 Corvette L82

Today, you could buy either the base Corvette or top of the line Corvette and it wouldn’t really matter in the big picture. You would have to wear an adult diaper with just about any of these if you were not used to a performance vehicle. But 1975 was but a whole other situation all together.

You see, 1972 may have been bad enough for the Camaro, but 1975 was the year of the depression in terms of the Corvette. It was under a whole new pile of emission laws and safety regulations, so by the time the Vette rolled off the line it was practically wearing training wheels as it went from 0-60 in 9.6 seconds.

First off, the infamous and feared big block 454 was yanked from the line. There was just no way they could have used that engine and still upheld the regulations enforced upon them. The Corvette L82, which was a 350 cubic inch power plant, was the next weapon of choice, hoisting a rather unimpressive 205 net horsepower.

If you didn’t have the big bucks to spend on the performance oriented L82, you could have always settled for the 165 horsepower base Corvette, which would have you left in the dust today by just about every current model compact, minivan, and maybe even a hybrid or two.

If your ever in a Volkswagen Beetle, Chevy Aveo, Toyota Yaris, (or something along these lines) and see one of these Corvettes next to you at the stoplight, go ahead and rev your engine. They will probably slink down in their seat, turn up their 8-track playing the Bee Gees, and pretend they can’t hear you.