Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Camaro comes from the last year of the model’s chrome bumper era and looks all the better for it. Let’s see what this pampered pony car might just be worth.
In the scandalously Oscar-ignored 1980 film “Shogun Assassin” a lone samurai pushes his toddler son in a baby cart, extracting revenge against the Shogun and his army of assassins. “Shogun Assassin” is an American edit of two earlier Japanese market films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, which were, in turn, based on a long-running series of Manga publications. Every single iteration is gory and great.
The 1988 Suzuki Jimny turbo we looked at last Friday had a lot in common with “Shogun Assassin”: both are Japanese imports, both are centered on a small wagon, and, with its turbo engine, the Jimny packed an unexpected punch. Unfortunately for the Jimny’s seller, the only vengeance to be found was ours. At a $10,000 asking price, that retribution was extracted upon the little Suzuki by way of a sizable 84% ‘No Dice’ loss.
A competitive category
It’s a tough row to hoe for any company when a sought-after category is colloquially named for a competitor’s product. Naturally, that is the cost of coming late to the party. For decades, this was the situation faced by any competitor to Ford’s fabulously popular Mustang, as the corral was dubbed the “pony car category” after Ford’s first salvo.
Into that maelstrom rode the Chevy Camaro two years after the Mustang’s debut and proof that Chevrolet need not be too proud to copy its crosstown rival. By the time the 1970s rolled around, things were different, though. The Camaro and its F-body sister, the Pontiac Firebird, gained a new look, which diverged from the “Is that a Mustang?” school of design, emerging as something far more unique and arguably more handsome. At around the same time, Ford lost the Mustang’s mojo, building a smaller edition of the car that many at the time saw (and most of us consider today) as the worst of the line.
Blame it on the 1970s
This 1977 Chevy Camaro Rally Sport LT is a representative of that second-generation model and, with its wrap-around rear window and chromed bumpers, is one of the best-looking of the breed. Oh, sure—the gold standard of 2nd-Gen Camaros is the earliest editions with the split-bumper fascia and Z/28 badges on its flanks. Those, however, command serious bank.
The Z/28 model would return this model year, but only in the second half. That was enough, though, for 1977 sales to skyrocket over previous years, allowing the Camaro to outsell Ford’s Mustang for the first time ever.
This Rally Sport LT is a lesser model, but still has some pizzazz and looks to be in really nice shape. Under the hood is Chevy’s 305 CID V8 topped with a two-barrel carburetor. In this model year, it made a yawn-inducing 145 horsepower. Keep in mind, however, that the rompin’-stompin’ 350 V8 in the Z/28 only managed a meager 185 horses this model year. In that context (everything was bad back in the 1970s), this car’s output, while low, isn’t all that egregious.
Matched to the 5.0 is a three-speed THM350 automatic with a sporty console shifter. According to the ad, everything on the car works as it should.
Luxury and sport?
Aesthetically, this Camaro has it going on. Painted in a two-tone, black-over-red, the car has a presence lacking in any modern pony car. That cool paint scheme is matched with a set of unique-for-the-era basketweave alloy wheels, upon which the current owner has chosen to fit whitewall tires.
This is a Rally Sport edition, which means it wears the fancy paint, special badging on the fenders and rear end, and a well-integrated spoiler on the deck lid. It also sports the LT package, which means it’s outfitted with all the major options available on a Camaro back in the day. Those include the high-backed bucket seats, power steering, brakes and door locks, and air conditioning. Oddly enough, the luxury package is absent power windows.
The interior on this 85,000-mile example is just as nice as the exterior, and yes, it does feature crotch coolers in the dash, one of the greatest and most dearly missed developments of the 1970s. Add-ons here include an awkward cup holder on the passenger side of the console, and a carpet merkin on the dash. A new owner could easily give both the heave-ho.
Still a classic
This is a true time capsule of a car, and is claimed to have had only two owners its entire life. A clean title is an added incentive, as is a new dual-pipe exhaust that the seller says “sounds great.”
The price tag for this classic, don’t-call-it-a-pony Chevy is $13,500, and it’s now time to do some thinking about whether or not that’s a fair asking price for the car as it’s presented in its ad.
What’s your take on this Camaro and that $13,500 buy-it-now? Is that a deal to get into a classy old car? Or does that price have you thinking you would pass?
You decide!
Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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