Stolen, Recovered, Abandoned: 1984 Camaro Z28 Comes Back to Life After Years in a Barn

1984 is a nightmarish vision of an absolutist, meaninglessly bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality in one of George Orwell's best-sellers. It is also a fabulous year in the Chevrolet calendar, as the Camaro hit its third-highest sales numbers in the nameplate's history. With 261,591 units sold, the famous pony car moniker is closely trailing the all-time best 1979 (282,582 cars) and runner-up 1978 (272,631).

In a plot twist well worthy of the dystopian novel by Eric Arthur Blair (best known by his pen name George Orwell), the Camaro recorded a best-selling year for its most famous version, the Z28 performance car. It was the only time in its production when the fabled performance emblem peaked above 100k units in a single model year. However, in 1984, the Z28 – like any other car from the era – was a desolate remnant of what it started out as in ’67.

When the first-ever Chevrolet Camaro came out in 1967, it was a late General Motors response to the Mustang’s tremendous success. To compensate somewhat for their poor reaction time, GM brass hats allowed a high-performance pony to be sold to the general public right off the showroom floor. Its RPO code was Z28, and that’s how the legendary moniker was born (except it was written ‘Z/28’ ). Only 602 first-year Chevrolet Camaro Z/28s were sold.

By 1984, that number had climbed to 100,899 cars, but there were several critical differences. In 1967, the Z/28 was a high-performance machine topping a range of already exhilarating pony car variants. Seventeen years later, in the aftermath of the dreaded Malaise, the Z28 (this time without the slash) was the least boring of its family.

The 305-cube V8 produced 150 hp and 240 lb-ft (152 PS, 325 Nm) in its regular 8.6:1 compression guise. The High Output version of the five-liter eight-cylinder from 1984 added 40 extra hp and zero more torque, courtesy of a slightly less mushy 9.5:1 compression ratio. The induction system consisted of an old-fashioned four-barrel carburetor. Still, the Camaros of that year could be had with a fuel-injected setup.

The downside of it was that it was mounted on the Iron Duke, the four-cylinder motor that measured less than half the size of the V8 (151 cubic inches / 2.47 liters on the inline-four versus 305 CI / 4.98 on the big one). The 305-cubic-inch motor was standard on the Z28 (but was offered as an extra-cost option for the Berlinetta and the Sport Coupe). As for the HO version, that was strictly Z28 territory, and the example featured in the video below seems to be from that line. I say ‘seems’ because the script on the air cleaner lid is covered in dust and not easily legible.

The car belongs to a Pennsylvania man who bought his Camaro as his first car in high school (1988). He used it to go to school and work until it got stolen (the car, not the work). With no transportation option, the young man bought another vehicle. Later, a fortunate twist of fate saw his beloved Z28 rescued from Pittsburgh and returned to his possession. The owner doesn’t say how long it was between the theft and the recovery, but he didn’t have much need for the car once he got it back.

Around ten years ago, he parked it in a barn and left it there, taking his father’s good advice to ‘Never get rid of your toys.’  However, keeping and using them are two different aspects of ownership; the car collected dust and served as rodent housing since 2014. Luckily, the barn in Pennsylvania was close enough to Cleveland, Ohio, and the merry detailing trio from WD Detailing picked up the Z28 and gave it a thorough spa treatment.

The odometer is partially covered, so I can’t say what it reads accurately, but it's over 90,000 miles (144,840 km). This car features the optional four-speed automatic gearbox instead of the standard five-speed manual transmission. The rear axle was a limited-slip  3.73, and the whole setup was good enough to push the Z28 to sixty miles per hour (from a standstill) in 7.2 seconds. Precisely eight seconds later, a flat-out high-performance Camaro would cross the quarter-mile mark.

As for top speed – it was as irrelevant as the dual imperial/metric gauges on the dashboard. The speed limit regulations from the seventies were long gone by 1984, but the instrumentation still read 85 mph and 140 kph as top speeds. The speed clock had two dials with one needle showing miles and kilometers per hour. Another gauge displayed the fuel level – in gallons and ‘litres’ – and there was no tach for the 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z28.

This car featured in the video below is not among those survivors that sat their entire lives – like the 1978 Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car Edition the WD Detailing boys found a few weeks ago – so its engine is still alive. The carburetor will need a rebuild, though, and the exhaust should be replaced or put back in place before this ‘Rowdy’ machine hits the road again.

I must add a personal note to this story. I’m on the same page with some viewers: Why in the name of all that’s four-stroke holy (Holley?) would any car owner leave 35-year-old chocolate bar wrappings under the driver’s seat?