1968 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible (RHD)

Description

Chevrolet's first generation Mustang fighter, the Camaro, was launched as a 1967 model on the F-body platform and proved a worthy rival for the hot selling Ford, capturing a sizeable portion of the youth market in its first year. Offered with a huge variety of drivetrain and trim packages on a platform shared with the Chevy II Nova, the base Camaro was powered a mild six-cylinder developing a scant 140 bhp -to the wild 396-cid V8 with 420 horsepower on tap. The Camaro looked fantastic, with clean styling under the direction of Bill Mitchell, who envisioned a four-seater Corvette, and the coke-bottle lines foreshadowed the Stingray of 1968. Offered in both coupe and convertible form, the first-generation Camaro came with a huge options list allowing the customer to create anything from a luxury cruiser to a drag strip bruiser. For 1968, the Camaro was little changed apart from a revised grille and tail lights, the deletion of the side vent windows plus the addition of the Astro Ventilation system. Under the skin '68 Camaros benefited from staggered shocks and multi-leaf rear suspension on higher spec models, improving both ride and handling. The Rally Sport option was purely cosmetic, consisting of hidden headlamps, revised tail lights and exterior brightwork (including the rocker trim), plus RS badging, whereas the Super Sport package offered both exterior and mechanical upgrades, with a 350-cid V8 as standard (plus the option of a 396-cid big block), non-functional hood scoops, SS stripes and badges. The RS and SS packages could also be combined. For the ultimate high performance derivative, Chevrolet offered the race inspired Z/28, in essence a homologation special built to qualify the Camaro for the hugely popular Trans-Am series. In total some 235,147 Camaros were built in 1968 and these first generation Camaros are a great alternative to the more common Mustangs, with the convertibles a fantastic cruiser for the summer months ahead.