Colors and stripe kits are open call-outs for performance cars. Rosso Corsa Red might be the international racing color of Italy, but tell me you don’t immediately think of a Ferrari. LimeLight green with blackout markings and a cartoon bird holding a helmet? 1970 Plymouth Superbird. A nearly school bus yellow with black stripes the length of the car? I’m guessing a recreation of the “beater Bumblebee” mid-1970s Chevrolet Camaro. Dark blue pearl with bright white stripes? 1997 Dodge Viper GTS. See where I’m going with this? 
So, now imagine this combination: Dover White with nose-to-tail Hugger Orange stripes. How many of you immediately thought of the 1969 RS/SS Camaro Pace Car? It’s hard not to…it’s one of the most visually arresting Camaros ever produced, with it’s white top and orange houndstooth interior. When you’re pacing the Indy 500, your ride needs to be eye candy as well as properly fast. So, fast forward to 1997. The Camaro is about to celebrate the big 3-0 and now is the time to do something exciting before a nose refresh and a new engine take their place under the hood. The paint is now Arctic White, but the orange stripes remain, the houndstooth interior returns, and that could’ve been the end of it. But here’s the thing: before the LS1 came into play, if you wanted a stomper of a fourth-gen F-body, your car had to be worked over by SLP Engineering. And they were tasked with making the 30th Anniversary special editions something proper.
Let’s get the big one out of the way: The LT-1 was replaced with the LT4 small block. Officially, it’s 330 horsepower, which in 1996 was swinging pretty big. Realistically, the chances are good…very good…that SLP was underrating the cars. The engines were blueprinted and the RPM limit was raised from the Corvette Grand Sport. Cars were tested on a chassis dyno, one out of every five engines went onto a Superflow dyno, and every car was road tested for six miles before being shipped off to their new owner. You got the full-kit performance goodies like the pipes, a light driveshaft, Bilstein suspension and a Torsen limited slip out back. The only real options were to upgrade to the Bilstein Level III suspension and to BFGoodrich Comp T/A tires.
It’s been difficult to believe that it’s almost been a quarter century since that monster was unleashed to people who, no doubt, purchased what they expected to be the investment of a lifetime. Finding one up for grabs isn’t easy. But this one is…it still has the Comp T/As in wrapping, ready to go and we doubt it’s odometer has moved more than three barrels. It’s a collector car, built from the start to be one, but…damn, that redline sure sounds tempting, doesn’t it?
Facebook Marketplace link: 1997 Chevrolet Camaro SS 30th Anniversary LT4
Give me the 30th Anniversary Trans Am over this but I have a soft spot for the short lived Gen 2 LT series of engines and I much prefer the front end styling on the preface lift 4th gen F-body to the face lifted variant.