I was watching the tube the other night and they had a show on about the ground up resurection of a 69 Camaro Z28. The car was a non-rolling shell and all they managed to save was the floor pan, rockers, one rear quarter panel, the roof, and the VIN. The guy was a professional restorer and he did a very thorough job on what turned out to be a beautiful dark blue car with white racing stripes. He located an original DZ block in Florida that had the correct date stamping and had it rebuilt to factory specs by a reputable machine shop. He dumped $8K into the rebuild and, when completed, the engine developed 404fwhp on an engine dyno. They were all really happy! They then decided they had to take it to the local drag strip to demonstrate that it was a true "muscle car". The restorer ran it on its first pass with an e.t. of 16.00 and a trap speed of 87 mph (my old 97 Camaro V6 ran exactily those numbers). They were all still happy!!! Finally, they decided it would be great for the viewers if they recreated a vintage drag race. They rolled out a 69 Mustang Mach1 with a 351W engine. Also a nicely restored car. The restorer had one of his mechanics, who is a seasoned drag racer, drive the car for this run. The Mach1 ate the Z28 alive. Had him by somewhere between 5 and 7 car lengths at the end and was opening the gap all the way down the strip. These guys were still happy. They said it had substantiated the car's racing credentials. I'm thinking that 404fwhp is going to deliver something a lot better than 16.00 and getting your a$$ kicked by a small block Mach1. What did I miss here? I know the Z28 was a TransAm racer and was set up for open track and not drag racing, but.....? I've had several Camaros, Mustangs and Corvettes and, with the exception of the little 97 210hp V6, would have never been satisfied with that performance. BTW, the car sold at auction for well over $60K. I wonder if they included the time slips?

 

I didn't see that show, but yeah, they did fall a little short on the numbers. Back in 69, the factory Z/28 did the quarter in 14.8 seconds, 101 mph. But you hit part of the nail on the head, the (higher revving, with less low end torque) 302 was built to perform on the road course, not the strip.

 

they probably were not revving the snot of it because thats where all the power in a 302 is and they have also a great record on the drag strip. in 68 the z28 won the super stock championship with dave strickler and his old reliable camaro z28

 

I saw this too. It was a really nice car. The guy smoked the tires half way down the track. I don't think that the stock replica tires were helping at all. lol