The Chevy Camaro bowed on September 26th, 1966, for the 1967 model year. The Camaro was Chevy’s answer to the overwhelming success of the Ford Mustang. There were numerous differences between the two pony cars. The Camaro was more streamlined than the Mustang. The Camaro had a partial frame in front as opposed to the Mustang’s full unibody design, with the idea the partial frame would help isolate and reduce noise while offering improved ride quality. The rear was a unibody design, to save space and production expense.
The new Chevy Camaro was chosen to pace the 51st annual Indianapolis 500 in 1967. Chevrolet specially prepared four Camaros to handle track duties, and 100 replica pace cars to be used by race officials and VIPs for the month prior to the race. The Camaro Pace Cars were Ermine White with Bright Blue interiors, white soft tops, in RS/SS trim, with “Chevrolet Camaro Official Pace Car 51st Annual Indianapolis 500 Mile Race – May 30, 1967” decals on the doors. The Pace Car nose featured a blue stripe and pin stripe as part of the SS package.
Our feature 1967 Chevy Camaro RS/SS Pace Car is finished in standard Ermine White with blue RS/SS stripes and trim, Indy 500 Pace Car decals on the doors, and Medium Blue convertible top over a Bright Blue vinyl interior. It is powered by the numbers-matching L35 396 cubic inch Big Block producing 325 horsepower. The monster mill is backed by an M40 Turbo Hydramatic three-speed automatic transmission. The Camaro Pace Car is equipped with power steering, power brakes, and an aftermarket AM/FM/cassette radio. The whole affair rolls on redline radial rubber with N96 magnesium five-spoke wheel covers. In the engine bay, the 396 is dressed with a chrome air cleaner cover and chrome valve covers. Included in the sale is an NCRS Shipping Report.
This Chevy Camaro RS/SS Pace Car will cross the auction block at the Mecum Auctions Harrisburg, PA sale taking place July 26th through the 29th.
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Comments
Old school. I always liked the 67 Camaro the best. Great looking car
Love it!
So, is it one of the actual pace cars, one of the 100 track cars, or a clone? It’s a beautiful car even with the wrong top.
Agree, but I like the blue top better than the original white.
I see the footnote now that it is one of the 100. Should have included that important fact in the article.
If I remember right AJ Foyt won the 1967 Indy 500 and the winning driver got the pace car. He told them he didn’t want the car. It was at Mecum Indy few years ago. Big mistake on AJ’s part. Not sure what it went for.
Always liked those wheel covers. I don’t think they were very popular ’cause I don’t remember many Chevys having them? Maybe some Impalas? Favorite Pace Car. Would like to see new Camaro with this color combo.
Working at the Van Nuys, Los Angeles Assembly Plant back in 1967 and owning an SS 396 Camaro (coupe) myself and having it built for myself back in the day, I can speak on authority when I say “the speedo and gas gauge are incorrect, they are from a 1968 Camaro, the ’67’s were black faced not silver, same for the center IP wood trim, the correct color is black, wood alpaca’ didn’t come out till out till 1968…the center console gauges are also incorrect and not a ’67 factory correct option plus the color of the spark plug wires is incorrect too, supposed to be factory black, not blue also the center horn button is incorrect too, should be chrome with black SS lettered center”. Not to keep pointing things out but…the brake master cylinder’s were not (painted at all) black nor was the power brake booster either! Although the non factory radio was pointed out, again these original Delco AM and FM radios are still available and would finish off that center IP perfectly! This may all seem petty but I’ve restored a few of these first year model Camaro’s as a hobby, won awards for my restorations and to some, this is no big deal, but seriously…all of the correct materials are still available in repro and if you’re going to make everything appear close to a proper 1967 Camaro SS 396 Indy Pace Car Specs, at least do it right because I’m sure the owner will be asking a lot of money for this car and the new owner should be getting the most correctly restored 1967 Camaro as possible for his or her money, if they actually care, if not, oh well it’s their choice.
I cringe when I see small but important things not done correctly, and to me I believe there is no good reason for things to be this way, someone dropped the ball here and of course the blue convertible soft top color is not authentic either as I never saw any color “cloth top” come off of our assembly line (not sure about the Norwood assembly plant, but I have to bet they followed the same build specs that we had to follow) but white with this color combination back in 1967.
Maybe the people that restored this very popular car line were not paying attention or maybe someone actually wanted it done this way (oh god I hope that isn’t the case here) but this car deserves to “done right” if it is a true “Indy Pace Car” specked first year Camaro SS (I wonder if the rear vertical tail light panel was correctly painted in a Satin Black finish as all Big Block’s only were painted?) but I won’t keep being “petty” (to some, to others that live and breath these early first generation Camaro’s they’ll hopefully agree with me) cause “the devil’s in the details” when restoring any car to a high level as this particular car has been restored, so taking the time to “do it right” isn’t that hard nowadays when most all parts are now made available through various organizations. A beautiful Pace Car for sure and so close to being accurate, but the obviously incorrect parts, to me really stand out and were it my car, it would be “done correctly with pride”…and while I’m at it, one other small but important detail that needs to be corrected…I’m not sure how they got the glove box door to stay partially open like that, unless it wasn’t properly adjusted, once you opened or glove box door by pressing the button, the door was designed to fully open by dropping down to it’s correctly adjusted stops. I guess I should stop now, it’s just after doing so many of these and actually having a hand in the original early Camaro factory build procedures and having to work with the specs for these early model “F” cars (Firebirds too) you just naturally assess what is correct and incorrect and try to follow the specs which usually can end up with you having an even better finished product. Okay, ’nuff said.