Although the performance flame was almost dead by 1980, there was just enough of a flicker that you could see by. Vehicles like the Dodge L’il Red Express, which found a loophole that allowed it to rock a warmed up small block and the gearheads at Pontiac kept things going for the manufacturers, but if you wanted really hot stuff, you had to get in the know with tuners. The second-getneration GM F-car had plenty of tuners messing with it to see if they could eke out more power from the weak-kneed small blocks…Yenko, Mecham and others made their efforts, but then there was the Hugger Camaro.
The what? The Hugger Camaro was a strange thing…a serial run of 90 1980 Chevrolet Camaro Z28s, mostly finished in Red Orange (a color that Special Vehicle Development’s Bill Mitchell specifically requested), built as a kind of homologation deal so that racer Tom Nehl could take one and run the IMSA Twenty-Four Hour Pepsi Challenge at Daytona with it. It was mostly a handling and appearance package for the street cars, with #28 set aside to be the race car. Aside from the special stripes, serial number and Minilite wheels, there were windshield clips, rear window bars, hood pins, an SVD front spoiler with fog lights, SVD rear sway bar, Koni shocks, and a Racemark steering wheel.
This particular car comes out of the Rick Hendrick collection and appears to have been kept in a sealed container until three minutes before the pictures were taken. Immaculate doesn’t begin to describe it. If a rare, kind of cool late 1970s Camaro is up your alley, look no further!
Note it looks similar spoiler to the 1980 Yenko Turbo Z
https://rkdealeraccelerate.s3.amazonaws.com/images/2/5/4/0/2540/169450_bd5f04f3db_low_res.jpg
Also note it was a Norwood Ohio built car. Not a Van-Nyes/LA car.
A bunch of companies in the 70’s threw the early 2000s did conversions. Some better known then others, some bought up by competition. From wagons to odd ball convertibles in the years GM didn’t offer to guys like Macho T/A’s. Special cars were made. a lot didn’t survive, some have no value, yet a example like this or the M80 Malibu will surface and make us want it.