From 1967 to 1968, Chevy’s new Camaro didn’t change much. Sure, they deleted the front vent windows and added side-marker lights for the car’s second model year, but the tidy overall shape remained the same. For ’69, however, the General’s prime ponycar packed on some visual beef. Character lines appeared in the fenders, the taillights got wider; there was a feeling of bigger bigness that Chrysler would adopt with its E-Body Challenger and ‘Cuda in 1970 and Ford would push to a ridiculous extreme in ’71 with the aptly nicknamed “big-body” Mustangs.
We apparently decided that 302 cubic inches and the Z/28 designation simply weren’t enough for such a car, acquired a ’69 Camaro SS with a four-speed Muncie and sent it off to a couple of guys in Pennsylvania named Roger and Mark. They’d seen some success with Camaros in the SCCA’s Trans-Am series and would later go on to help Porsche develop some weird turbocharged thing for the ludicrous Canadian-American Challenge Cup. They fitted Chevy’s upcoming-for-’70 LT-1 350 in the engine bay, re-did the brakes and suspension, and futzed with the exhaust. We called it “Z/29″ and nicknamed it the “Blue Maxi,” which now brings to mind feminine-hygiene-product commercials. Sometimes the future takes you by surprise, kids.
Regardless of our lack of prescience in the naming department, the results were pretty impressive. In fact, although the modern Z/28 will undoubtedly stomp the thing, the Maxi didn’t exactly embarrass itself in the numbers department. 60 in 5.4 seconds. 100 in 12.9. The quarter in 13.7 at 103.68. For reference, the modern track-day-special Zed reaches 60 a second faster, hits 100 in 9.5 and clears the traps at the end of 1320 feet in 12.7 at 116. So yeah, the new car’s faster. By a very comfortable margin. But for its day, the Maxi was quite the eye-opener.
- Instrumented Test: Chevrolet “Blue Maxi” Camaro Z/29
- What I’d Do Differently: Roger Penske
- Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 Research: Photos, Reviews, News, and More
We drove it around for a while, gave it away in a drawing, and went on to obsess over setting transcontinental records in Dodge vans and Ferraris. The Blue Maxi, as Camaros stereotypically do, found its way to New Jersey, where Jerry Schmidt purchased it in 1970. The guy who’d won the car from us was intimidated by the adulterated nature of the car and traded it in for a new ’70 Z/28. Schmidt snatched it up and has hung onto it to this day. Super Chevy recently caught up with him and has the story of the car since it left our hands. Our in-the-day chronicle of the car’s construction is here. Given its provenance, it’s gotta be one of the things we’ve given away over the years that’s appreciated the most. We kinda find ourselves wishing we hadn’t done so. We are, however, glad that Schmidt seems to have given it such a good home.
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