I drove a 4th gen for the better part of a decade, and I used back pillow the whole time. I do have a bad back. I also use the same type of round pillow in my GTO. I was told that the Pontiac seat are much better than the camaro seat but with an all-original car I am guessing a swap would not work. Tilting the seat back to put less weight on the disks as you bounce around may help. The really nice part of a more modern dynamic suspension is they can make it stiff in the corners and smooth over bumps and of course any seat with adjustable lumbar support is a plus. The big thing is you need to do is to maintain lordosis to help the tendons stress and disk pressure. Google it. It is possible you already had a strained muscle and the new seat position just aggravated it.

When I say I have a bad back that may be an understatement I crushed 3 disks while unloading a crate motor from the back of a pickup and it ended my career as an auto tech so I feel poorly designed seats more than most people. Before that I would take a racing seat with a 1/2" on padding and almost no adjustment all day long.

 

Some beauty pics from my drive:








On that back road, I did some acceleration tests, but again forgot to bring my ODBII tool so I could get actual 0-60 times. I drove it another 20 miles or so any my back doesn't seem to be hurting any more (so far). I don't normally have back problems. I'm a big (fat) guy at 320 lb and 5' 11".

I haven't looked up all of the RPO codes, but the SS and SLP ones are there for sure! The only other item of interest, I think, is the performance axle which I think most SSs had.

I have tried signing up at the SVE website to get info on the car and so far it has not sent me the confirmation and login email (since yesterday afternoon).

I absolutely need to decide today if it is this car hurting my back, or something else. I do like the car and it is fun to drive. I can live with the roof as the car looks so great from even just a step away! It is for sure an uncommon car on the road today. Yesterday I got a thumbs up from one of our local police officers while driving home.

I did adjust the seat back to a more upright position and it felt better that way yesterday. If I decide that I can't drive this without causing pain, I'll most likely need to trade for something else the dealer and their sisters have. The only things I see in inventory right now are two Challengers. A 2010 R/T with 75k miles and a 2009 SRT8 with 60k miles. The R/T is priced similarly to the Camaro and is a black automatic. Don't know the asking price on the SRT8 and it is an orange manual. I'm going to talk the dealer today. They still owe me half a tank of gas and my temp registration (they didn't put it in the car).

Rob

 

Have you checked with your insurance on the estimated value? You want to be sure they are covering the full collector value. I am not sure how that compares to NADA.. It is just worth it to be sure. Never know when a Semi Truck tire and rim will go flying off and send you into the air then into wall separating the Highway. The truck just keeps going an leave you with the aftermath. I know that is oddly specific If you interested go to my "2000 Z28 Build upgrade thread" in my Sig and look up post 18.

 

Just noticed the dealer is one out of Tacoma,you live here in Washington I assume?
I'm in the SW Washington hills about an hour from Portland,OR.

 

Oh and the car is nicely optioned from what I see, it has the 10 spoke chrome wheels the SS grille and the CME (center mount exhaust).
Those were all options from SLP not standard on an SS.

 

Looks like you have a rare hardtop too,most were t-tops or ragtops,mine is also a hartop and I've yet to see another one like it on the road.