Launched in September 1966, the Chevrolet Camaro was more than two years late to the pony car market. But that didn’t stop it from becoming one of the most iconic vehicles of the golden muscle car era.
Chevrolet didn’t waste any time and rolled out competitors for every single version of the Ford Mustang. It had entry-level six-cylinder models, small-block V8 pony cars, and big-block rigs suitable for drag racing with just a few upgrades.
The first-gen Camaro also spawned a pair of high-performance COPO models and even an SSCA Trans-Am homologation special. The latter arrived in December 1966 and introduced the now-legendary “Z/28” badge. Created to enable Chevrolet to race the Camaro in the Trans-Am series, the Z/28 was quite popular with the muscle car crowd.
Chevrolet sold only 602 units during 1967, but deliveries jumped to 7,199 examples in 1968. The following year, Chevy moved a whopping 20,302 units, outselling the competing Ford Mustang Boss 302 by 12 to one. Come 2023, the Z/28 is a sought-after rig.
Sure, the 1969 version is nowhere near as rare as its predecessors, but specific options can turn a Z/28 into a low-production gem. Ironically, most of these cars get their one-of-few status from somewhat mundane features. It’s usually the color combo or some option inside the cabin. With this 1969 Camaro Z/28, for instance, it’s the black paint.
I know, right? Black seems like a super common color on muscle cars. It’s viewed as fitting by many enthusiasts and found its way on many high-performance rigs from the golden era. Well, as it turns out, not so many customers ordered a 1969 Z/28 in this hue.
There’s no specific figure from the factory on how many were painted black, but records indicate that 0.6% of the total Camaro production in 1969 left the assembly line in this color. Since Chevy built 20,302 Z/28s that year, we can estimate a black Z/28 output of around 122 cars. I know it’s not a super accurate figure, but trust me, you won’t see too many black Z/28s out there. They’re mostly red, blue, green, and yellow.
And if we are to believe Camaro expert Jerry MacNeish, only a few of them soldiered on to rev their engines into 2023. His database includes only 12 cars. They’re probably more out there, but perfectly restored examples like the one you see here are hard to find.
Showcased by MS Classic Cars, this Z/28 was restored to original specifications, including the white-striped back paint and the all-black interior. And it’s loaded with options such as power disc brakes, a four-speed manual transmission, a cushion grip steering wheel, a tachometer, and an AM pushbutton radio.
Not all components are factory-original or numbers-matching, but the engine is. The first-generation Camaro Z/28 rolled off the assembly line with an exclusive 302-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) V8 with a four-barrel carburetor. It was rated 290 horsepower and 290 pound-feet (393 Nm) of torque.
The Camaro looks spotless from every angle, and both the interior and the engine bay are squeaky clean. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that the restoration took a whopping 11 years. So, how much is a Z/28 like this worth nowadays? Well, this one doesn’t come with a price estimate (it’s going under the hammer in January 2024), but 1969 Z/28s in this condition can fetch more than $250,000.