An "ender" to the "the fbody has never had more power than the top vette" question

Sure it was a long time ago, but it HAS happened on numerous occasions.
These are all for Trans Ams vs. Corvettes, but Trans Ams count as Fbodies last time I checked ;)


Year Trans Am top engine Corvette top engine
1972 455 HO (300hp) LS5 (270hp)
1973 SD-455 (290hp) LS4 (275hp)
1974 SD-455 (290hp) LS4 (270hp)
1978 T/A6.6 (220hp) tie L82 (220hp)
1981 4.9Turbo(200hp) L81 (190hp)

You MAY count the TTA from '89, but the Corvette had RPOB2K that year, the twin turbo (380hp I believe). It wasn't built by GM per se, but it did have an RPO, so I'd need a ruling on whether that would count. Same w/ the '87 GNX.

Edit, and from 1967 to 1981, the Fbody ALWAYS had an optional engine that was more powerful than the Base Corvette engine. -cough cough...LS7 Camaro...cough cough-

Good info CLEAN. Its always been kinda dumb to me to say that the top f-car cannot have more hp b/c it will hurt Corvette sales, when most people that buy Corvettes are goin to buy them whether the Vette has more power or not. It's a Corvette. It doesn't matter whether the top "all out" car from the Camaro has more than the base Vette. The Vette is more about standing and status than hp to those guys.

I'd even go so far as to say that the vette has always been the top PERFORMER, regardless of whether it had the most hp or not, just due to it's other inherent qualities.

Good info there, but since we are talking about Camaro VS. Vette, i.e. two Chevy products, I think Chevrolet marketing and branding folks will have much more consternation about HP overlap between their two performance cars.

It was different 40 years ago when the divisions were much more independent and had their own powerplants, etc.

More recently, IIRC, didn't the '96 Camaro SS outpower the 'Vette by 5 hp?

SS at 305, 'Vette at 300 (not counting the Gran Sport)

Good info there, but since we are talking about Camaro VS. Vette, i.e. two Chevy products, I think Chevrolet marketing and branding folks will have much more consternation about HP overlap between their two performance cars.

It was different 40 years ago when the divisions were much more independent and had their own powerplants, etc.
Tis true, but in that "other" thread, it was stated more than once that F-BODYS, have never had more power than the top Corvette, and thats simply not true. Here are a couple of examples, the names have been removed to protect the guilty :)

A full production f body didn't meet the top dog vette of the time (ZR1, Z06, Grand Sport, and whatever others) in the horsepower numbers so leave that for a COPO form and companies like SLP, please.

An f-body coming straight from GM has never met the power level of a top level Corvette.

For many of those years, though I can't say for sure all of them, the Camaro had an optional engine w/ more power than the base Corvette, thats more in line w/ the Camaro LS7 question.

More recently, IIRC, didn't the '96 Camaro SS outpower the 'Vette by 5 hp? SS at 305, 'Vette at 300 (not counting the Gran Sport)

That's true too, forgot about that one. But the 300 hp was only for automatic vettes, all 6 speeds got the LT-4 that year, not just the Grand Sports. Maybe that made a difference, I don't know.

Tis true, but in that "other" thread, it was stated more than once that F-BODYS, have never had more power than the top Corvette, and thats simply not true. Here are a couple of examples, the names have been removed to protect the guilty :)

.

Good point. This should be on mythbusters. I think some folks mistake the recent past for the entirety of history. Its suprising how little perspective some here can have. ;)

The ZL1 was faster than any Corvette in 69, they only made 2 ZL1 Corvette's IIRC. The L98 IROC-Z's and Z28's were close also, the 1LE and B4C cars were extremely close with everything factored in. If only L98 Camaro's got a manual. I'm sure many Corvette guys in GM wouldn't have liked that. The nonsense really has to stop or be minimized already, maybe even more than it was in the 4th Gen.

The ZL1 Camaro was faster than a ZL1 Vette? And I would think an L-88 vette would still take down a ZL1 Camaro that year, only difference was an aluminum block vs iron as I recall, and the Camaro was a good bit heavier than a Vette to start with. That would be something to see!

No reason why the top dog camaro can't have a a "de-tuned" 480 hp LS7. ;)


Good info CLEAN. Its always been kinda dumb to me to say that the top f-car cannot have more hp b/c it will hurt Corvette sales, when most people that buy Corvettes are goin to buy them whether the Vette has more power or not. It's a Corvette. It doesn't matter whether the top "all out" car from the Camaro has more than the base Vette. The Vette is more about standing and status than hp to those guys.

even thought some people do buy the corvette for the same reason they would buy a boxser there are plenty of people that do buy the vettes for the great sport cars they are.

Year Trans Am top engine Corvette top engine
1972 SD-455 (300hp) LS5 (270hp)


I know this is kind of splitting hairs, but the 1972 Trans Am actually used the 455 H.O. (300hp). It was the only available Trans Am engine that year.

Therefore they should make the Firebird and not the Camaro. :)

Top level Camaro/Firebird has out-powered a base-level Corvette in the past, but the top-level Corvette always has top honors.

The 1969 ZL1s were serious machines, and I do believe the Corvette ZL1 was the better performer.

The Corvette hasn't even always been the top GM performer(not talking hp, talking performance, speed)...

Sy/Ty anyone?

Anything is possible, people saying the Camaro can't have more power than a base vette are FOS. H*ll, we don't even know how much hp the base vette will have in '08, '09,or '10.

No matter what, I'm betting on the top Camaro(Z28 :P) to get an s/c V8, be it LS2, L89, LS12(that has a good ring to it ;) )...hah.

I know this is kind of splitting hairs, but the 1972 Trans Am actually used the 455 H.O. (300hp). It was the only available Trans Am engine that year.

Indeed, I knew something didn't look right! Thanks!

I think it would be hard to find the info on the ZL1 Vette since only two were ever made. So no comparo between the two ZL1s. Both cars however were just incredible for the time they came out and would still kick so much a** at the tracks.

The ZL1 Camaro was faster than a ZL1 Vette? And I would think an L-88 vette would still take down a ZL1 Camaro that year, only difference was an aluminum block vs iron as I recall, and the Camaro was a good bit heavier than a Vette to start with. That would be something to see!

There were only 2 of them, you can really count that as production as the Camaro got 69 of them. The L88 would not take out a ZL1, the engines were not the same. The ZL1 was a race engine that made peak power like the 302 at 7,000RPM. (which made way more HP than it was rated at) The fastest Camaros and Corvettes ever tested were ZL1's, both capable of high 10's with slicks, the Corvette a little faster, which was said to be capable of near 200MPH stock and over that with the right gears, no L88 was gonna do that! (Their top speed was about 50MPH slower LOL)

What was actually different in the ZL1 and L88 motors, besides obviously one being aluminum and one being iron?

The ZL1 block was like an aluminum L88 but better. It had thicker walls, higher domed pistons, more compression, better heads, different cam made to rev, etc. It was improved all around and was most definetly not rated correctly. Neither was the L88 but they didn't do what ZL1's could, close but not quite.

200 mph huh? :D

http://www.modernracer.com/classics/chevroletcorvettezl1.html

http://www.autofacts.ca/classics/FAPC/ZL1Corvette.htm

Since emissions were required, when has a camaro had more more horse power than the base vette.

Maybe the market has changed enough in the camaro's absense for GM to justify making a GT500 competitor. I hope that's the case but I'm not holding my breath.

Oh, to answer my question - only two years come to mind, both times camaro had the exact same engine it was rated the same or 5hp higher (thx SLP).