The History of Production Z

The History of Production Z-28 #1 By Jon Mello I'm sure that many Camaro enthusiasts are aware that the Z-28 came about because of a desire by Chevrolet to promote the Camaro through success on the race track. The one-year-old Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) Trans-Am racing series, which had a 305 cubic inch (5 liter) limit on engine displacement, was felt to be one of the premier places to showcase the new Camaro. The Camaro was originally going to have a 327 as its smallest displacement V8. This V8, however, was too large to fit the requirements for Trans-Am racing. The first prototype (test mule) for a Camaro to fit the Trans-Am rules was put together in August of '66 by Vince Piggins' Product Promotion group. This car was powered by a highly- tuned 283 cubic inch small block V8, since that was an engine that Chevrolet had already been making for many years and it fit under the 305 cubic inch limit. It was quickly realized that a 327 block with a 283 crank would get them much closer to the maximum allowable displacement. Thus, the 302 cubic inch motor was quickly approved. One of these new motors was put into another prototype (see section on the 13M640 car) which was to be showcased at a press preview at Riverside Raceway in late November '66. It was not determined what to call the car until shortly before unveiling it. As such, it was called Camaro Sport Coupe with option Z-28. Approximately three weeks later in mid-December, the car became available to order. Since the magazine write-ups from the press preview were still several months away, the only people who really were aware of the Z-28 and its availability were the people that Chevrolet wanted to let know. These people were mainly racers. One such person-in-the-know was Hugh Heishman, a car dealer and racer from the Alexandria, Virginia area. He felt that this car would be extremely competitive against the Mustangs and similar cars in the Trans-Am series. His order was placed immediately and according to a letter from none other than Vince Piggins' files, he received the first production Z-28 built (assembled 12/29/66). The car was Granada Gold with the twin black racing stripes and a black standard interior. It was purchased through Aero Chevrolet in downtown Alexandria and delivered to Mr. Heishman on January 18th. It is unclear what the cause of the delay was in getting the first batch of 25 cars to the dealers. Roger Penske's car was built on 12/30/66 and he finally sent George Wintersteen to pick up the car from the assembly plant on 1/10/67 rather than waiting an extra week. Since both cars were already entered in the Daytona Trans-Am race, to be run on 2/3/67, there was precious little time to waste. Heishman prepared the car as quickly as he could but it was still the least modified of the four Camaros that made it to Daytona. Johnny Moore, who worked at the Heishman dealership and Jim McDaniel were paired up to drive the car. They were out of the race after only 18 laps with a damaged crankshaft. The car ran in four more Trans-Am races that year plus an SCCA National race. The car won the first SCCA race for Camaro on May 13th at Cumberland, Maryland. It also ran twice more at Daytona, finishing 5th at the inaugural Paul Revere 250 (a night race) and having a DNF at its final race in February 1968. A list of the races the car ran in is:
Daytona 300 (T/A) 2/3/67	Paul Revere 250 7/4/67
Sebring 4-Hour (T/A) 3/31/67	Bryar 250 (T/A) 8/6/67
Cumberland (Nat'l) 5/13/67	Marlboro 300 (T/A) 8/12/67
Mid-Ohio 300 (T/A) 6/11/67	Daytona 24-Hour (T/A) 2/3/68 - 2/4/68

There is an interesting thing to note about this particular car. It was purchased with the intent to convert it back to a street car and sell it once they were done racing. What Hugh didn't realize when he bought it was that the Z-28 would only race for one year. This came about due to some foot-dragging by the SCCA. It seems that there was some uncertainty as to whether the '67 Camaros were going to be allowed to run the new crossram intake manifold or the 4-wheel disc brake systems. Hugh decided in January, 1968 that he'd better buy a new Camaro so he could take advantage of this new equipment. The new car wouldn't be ready in time for the '68 Daytona Trans-Am so there was to be one "last hurrah" for the '67 Z-28. Before they got down to Florida, they got a call saying the intake and brake systems had finally been approved for the earlier cars. Vince Piggins instructed them to stop by the loading dock at Spence Chevrolet in Daytona Beach and these special parts would be waiting for them to pick up. They were installed on the car down in Florida for its last race. When they returned home after Daytona, they decided to go ahead and proceed with converting the new car into a racer. Since the car he had already was a Z-28, Hugh had purchased a 327 4-bbl, 4-speed and went about changing drive train components between the two cars. He felt it was unnecessary to order an actual Z-28 the second time around. This was because he already had all the pertinent racing components on his original car. The postman who delivered mail to Heishman's shop expressed his desire to purchase the Z-28 once the conversion steps had all transpired. It was his desire that the Z-28 not look like a race car upon completion of the process. He also specified that he would like a color change to Rallye Green, which was a new mid-year color for '68 Camaros. Those details were all agreed upon. The postman got his one-year-old Camaro (with low miles, though hard ones!) and got it for a good price. A little over a year later, he moved to California with it. The car exchanged hands with each new owner having no idea what they had. A couple more paint jobs were added, never sanding down to the original paint. It was a complete fluke that I ever saw this car. My friend, Rich Fields, was attempting to purchase some 327 parts from the car's owner through contact over the Internet. He was curious why the car had a complete "matching numbers" drive train from a '68 Camaro in a '67 body. Rich didn't happen to live anywhere near the owner. I mentioned that I'd be visiting in the area where the car was and it wouldn't be too hard for me to have a look. With the amount of miles that appeared to be on the car and the fact that it was generally not very well taken care of, I assumed the drive train was replaced due to too many miles being piled up. There were some odd things that I saw on the car such as what seemed to be a covered over cowl plenum air cleaner hole. Also, there were some holes under the back seat. I thought they looked like they were for a roll bar. I had been looking for another Camaro as a project car. Something that may have been hot-rodded or raced at one time was not necessarily a turn-off as I was not going to do a concours restoration. I was wanting to make a fun "driver". A low-optioned coupe was what I liked and I saw that the original color of this car was gold, one of my favorite Camaro colors. I also was wanting a four-speed car, which this happened to be. I made the owner an offer and after some consideration, he accepted. Once I got it home, I was able to take my time and look over the car more closely. From the build date of the car, I knew it was around the time when the first Z-28s were built. Ha, that would be amazing, I thought to myself. I had acquired pictures of old Z-28 racers over the course of many years. I knew that this car was gold new by looking at the trim tag. The only gold Z-28 that I knew of that was a race car was driven by Johnny Moore. It had a quick-fill gas cap on top of the driver's side quarter panel and a hole for a vent-line on top of the passenger side quarter panel. I had a look at this car I had bought and sure enough both of those holes were there and patched over. I wasn't 100% sure if they were in the exact right spot but it sure looked like they might be. The holes for side-exit exhaust were under the rocker panels. The hood had the hood pin holes patched over but they looked to be in the right location. The holes under the rear seat sure seemed to be in the right spot for how the roll bar looked in the photo. I thought I'd better see if I could track down Johnny Moore. I actually didn't have too hard of a time locating him. We talked for a while and he thought it sure sounded possible we were talking about the same car. I mentioned the green re-paint and many of the other aforementioned items. John told me that I really needed to speak with the original purchaser, Hugh Heishman. I made the call and was surprised to learn that he had kept the original dealer paperwork for the car. I found out the VIN on my car matched his paperwork! Hugh said he would drop the original paperwork in the mail for me. I now had proof as to what the car was, a real, racing Z-28. The fact that it was the first production Z-28 made was documented by Michael Lamm, the author of "The Great Camaro" book. He had interviewed Vince Piggins in the mid-1970s and had been granted access to many of Vince's personal files on the Camaro. In his files was the list of when the first 25 Z-28s were built, what dealer ordered them and, in many instances, who the purchaser was. Mr. Lamm was kind enough to forward a copy of this letter to me. I am still amazed, humbled and thankful for my good fortune in finding this car. I wish to thank Hugh Heishman, Johnny Moore and Michael Lamm for their help and generosity. My hope is to restore the car to its former state as a Trans-Am racer and to do some vintage racing with it. My thanks also go out to Rich McCabe for letting me share this story on his excellent website, to Rich Fields, without whom I would have never gone to look at the car, to my good friends Ron and Jan Tribble who have been a big help to me and, last but certainly not least, to my wonderful wife Rachel for her love and support.