By 1974 the party was over. Unless you knew your way around an option sheet at Pontiac or were willing to look at an AMC Matador coupe, the fun had been killed, by insurance companies, the EPA, and the government. The most radical names of the Supercar scene had walked away just a couple of years prior, and 1974 would signal the death of several nameplates: Barracuda, Javelin, Challenger, and GTO all would take a hike, and it was by sheer luck that the Chevrolet Camaro didn’t go with them. The exciting “Super Hugger” look that had debuted in 1970 went over well, but the second generation car had been fraught with problems as far as production went. Two strikes in the early 70s left GM scrapping cars that couldn’t meet 1973 bumper regulations and had executives contemplating the Camaro’s discontinuation. The model ended up getting a well-deserved reprieve, but it came at the cost of detuned engines, a 1974 facelift that brought out the big bumpers, and in keeping with the softening 1970s, the Type LT package.

Car and Track was notorious for pushing their test cars to the limits, and host Bud Lindemann couldn’t even hide the disappointment in his voice over this particular Camaro’s performance. It wasn’t a 1974 Z28, but honestly, that wouldn’t have been much of an improvement. The 1974 Camaro had been struck hard by the Malaise Era, and it would be some time before the name returned to the performance level it used to own.