The Z/28 defines The True essence of The firsT-generaTion camaro. WiTh his pen and from behind The lens, ediTor RichaRd TRuesdell aTTempTs To capTure iTs hearT and soul WiTh a liTTle help from couRTney day, Who adds some period flavor To WhaT mighT have been jusT anoTher phoTo shooT.

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In issue one of Chevy Enthusiast, we covered much of the ground that led to the development of the Z/28, so there’s no reason to repeat it here. (All back issues of Chevy Enthusiast are available at www.chevyenthusiast.com.) After all, the story of the Z/28 has been told so often, we wanted a fresh approach for the one you see here.

Actually, we originally planned to use a different Z/28 for this issue, a unique 1967 red Z/28 that features a bench seat documented on the car’s build sheet. And while we love showcasing such cars, a combination of circumstances

changed our decision. It was decided that the car you see here, originally shot for Musclecar Enthusiast, would swap places with the bench-seat car. That car currently appears in the June issue of our sister publication, also available online at www.musclecarenthusiast.com.

After the decision was made to swap Camaros between the two publications, we thought long and hard about finding a unique way to present the car properly on these pages. As we had previously shot this Z/28 in the studio back in December, we wanted to take advantage of the images already

The firsT-generaTion Camaro is, for many, one of The Top-five posTwar Chevy iCons. and The halo Car among The 1967 To 1969

Camaros musT be The Z/28, builT To CompeTe in The sCCa’s popular Trans-am raCing

series ThaT piTTed ameriCan CompaCTs and pony Cars againsT one anoTher, powered

by five-liTer pushrod v-8s.

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in the can, augmenting them with new photos that would properly showcase the car.

First, we dove into the archives with a bit of help from two of our columnists: Jim Bernardin (“Chevys in Print”) and Joe Babiasz (“From the Archives”). We looked back at first-gen brochures and period advertising images and decided to add that element to the photos. In reviewing Chevy and Camaro ads from the era, three ads clearly stood out. The first, a generic Chevy ad that proclaimed: “Even the ashtray rides smoother in a Chevrolet.” The second, for the 1969 Camaro SS, appeared to run in buff books like Motor Trend and Car and Driver – in black and white – and is quite well known. It makes the rhetorical point: “Ask the kid who owns one.”

And lastly, there’s the 1969 ad that proclaims the Z/28 is the “Closest thing to a Corvette yet.” These three ads, taken in total, serve as the inspiration for the presentation here of Bill Sefton’s 1967 Z/28, one of the 604 Z/28’s produced in its inaugural year of production.

Bill Sefton is a car aficionado of the first order, a man whose

collection spans the era of classic American muscle that most of us hold dear. But this is to pigeonhole him, as Sefton is also one of the driving forces behind Modern Muscle, which recently merged with Mr. Norm’s Garage. The company not only produces a number of updated vintage musclecars with modern mechanicals, but is also involved in taking today’s breed of modern musclecars and injecting the DNA of their predecessors into unique interpretations of how the legendary muscle cars would have evolved over the past 45 years. (Look for their take on the contemporary Camaro in a future issue of Chevy Enthusiast.)

With the overall theme set for this feature, we set out to find a young lady with the “look” and spirit necessary for our own modern interpretations of these classic Chevy ads. In speaking with Courtney Day, we knew we had found our girl. The match went far beyond her having already appeared on the cover of several automotive publications – including, of all places, Import Tuner. She knew the vintage, period-correct look we wanted, even though she was born 20 years after

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the introduction of the 1967 Z/28.Our instructions to her were

simple enough: Find some outfits that would capture the spirit of the mid-sixties, as Beatlemania drew to a close and the flower power era began. To say she succeeded would be an understatement, wouldn’t you agree? (Since some of us at Chevy Enthusiast ARE old enough to remember that time, Courtney located outfits at vintage clothing stores in San Diego and used her camera phone to get our opinions. Isn’t technology great when it works?)

We must admit to an Austin Powers moment during the shoot. Looking through the viewfinder, we couldn’t help but think how well Courtney worked with Bill’s Z/28. It was like being transported back in time – say, to a studio in the Detroit area, circa 1967, possibly with representatives of Campbell-Ewald, Chevy’s ad agency at the time, looking over our shoulders. At the time, of course, Warren O. Winstanley, not Austin Powers, was credited with many of GM’s greatest

advertising images of this era.Each time the strobes fired,

then recycled, it was almost as if we were listening to the cylinders fire on the Z/28’s high-revving 302ci V-8. With each wardrobe change, and as we stretched the envelope a bit, it was clear that both photographer and model were enjoying the experience. (For more images from the shoot, visit the Chevy Enthusiast website at URL TO COME. If you’re interested in the evolution of automotive advertising photography, we can suggest two books, The Car and the Camera by the Detroit Institute of the Arts and Boulevard Photographic, the Art of Automobile Advertising by Jim Williams.)

What might not be apparent from the photographs, which were composed to show off the Camaro’s lines to best effect, is the care that can be taken to eliminate unwanted reflections when you’re shooting within the confines of the studio. In this case, we used a large overhead strobe, augmented by an additional, smaller strobe, used primarily to

highlight dark areas, like the front grille or, in some cases, Courtney herself.

Adding a model to the mix inevi-tably complicates a photo shoot. In this case, the challenge was getting her properly positioned so the car didn’t overpower her. Alternatively, if she moved too far forward, she would dominate the car. It’s not easy to maintain such a tenuous balance. Even though we’re able to review the shots immediately on a laptop – similar to how photographers of the sixties used 60-second Polariods. You use the tools available at your disposal: instant reviewing plus Photoshop – instead of physically retouching the final photographs, as was done back in the day.

In 1967, Camaro Z/28s were built in both Norwood, Oh io , and Los Angeles, California. And having already compared the images of the bench-seat car, which was manu-

We must admit to an austin PoWers moment during the shoot. Looking through the

vieWfinder, We couLdn’t heLP but think hoW WeLL courtney Worked With biLL’s Z/28.

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factured in Norwood, with this car, Camaro enthusiast Larry Weiner, who works closely with Bill Sefton, was able to point out and document the following differences on each award-winning restoration. (The notes here reference Bill Sefton’s

Los Angeles-built Z/28.)• Chrome scalp moldings on drip

rails•Chrome trim on wheel openings• Rubber-faced bumper guards, rear

only• Stainless pedal trim• Chrome trim above side glass at

headliner• Limited-slip sticker inside trunk lid• Houndstooth rubber trunk mat• 302ci 290hp emblem on air-filter

housing• Air-conditioning maintenance

emblem on air-filter housing• Front-mount antenna staff• Conventional rear seat (the bench

seat car has the rear fold-down option)

• Inside of spare wheel painted silver

Rather than try to list the absolute references on the first-gen Camaro Z/28 here, we’d like to point out several excellent places to turn. In print, the sources for all the numbers include The Camaro White Book by Mike Antonick, The Big Book of Camaro Data 1967-1973 by John R. Hooper and The Catalog of Camaro ID Numbers 1967-93 by the editors of Cars & Parts.

When it comes to photo books, you have several great titles to choose from that include coffee-table-style editions like Camaro Forty Years by Darwin Holmstrom. And, as for books that delve deep into the minutia that helps document these cars – especially when you need to make sure you’re buying an original Z/28 and not a clone – I suggest two essential volumes: Camaro Z/28 and Performance Specials by Jason Scott and David Newhardt and Camaro Exposed 1967-1969 by Paul Zazarine.

As for online resources, the first places to turn are the forums of www.yenko.net and www.camaroz28.com. From there, you’re likely to encounter not only experts on early Camaros, but enthusiastic owners as well, most of whom you’ll find willing to share their knowledge with you.

Together with Dave Lindsley’s 1969 Z/28 featured in the first issue of Chevy Enthusiast, we now have the bookends to the story of the first-gen Z/28. Now all that remains is to find the middle child and get it into the studio to complete the set. Any ’68 Z/28 Camaro owner out there game for the challenge? ■

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