By David Freiburger
Photography: Wes Allison
Not everyone gets thrown the keys to a $95,000 car and told to burn the meats to the core, but I was glad to play catch and deliver some smoke.
With the key stabbed into the column, the mill cranked just a bit longer than a typical late-model as a committee of sensors confabbed to decide how to light this rumpity beast. Once firing on all eight, there was a vigorous chop through the chambered exhaust, and the corresponding lack of tip-in was made public by the clatter of a stall after not enough rpm to go with the clutch engagement. My bad. But then a First gear brraap! pinned my head to the houndstooth. Wes Allison's Canon 1Ds hung from the end of a bouncy tripod we'd suction-cupped to the fresh paint job, making it over $100Gs in other guys' stuff at my disposal, and with 600 hp under toe. I pumped the brakes and held 'em, then stabbed the Barker Button (so named in tribute to the burnout antics of Dennis Barker at Berger Chevrolet), brought 'er up to 3,000, and fed the pound-feet to helpless Goodyears. At $350-something each, I left about a hundred bucks in rubber on the road by the time we were done. Yeah.
It felt like 1969, when a COPO 9560 Camaro with an all-aluminum 427 stickered in the then-ludicrous $7,000-plus zone. In reality, it was a time warp to modern-musclecar land in an '02 Camaro ZL1 Supercar. There was a 427ci mill, but no Rat motor. There was a stick with six speeds instead of four, 4.56s in place of 4.10s, injection where a carb used to live, and rubber anywhere you might have found chrome in 1969. There was Hugger Orange, houndstooth, loudness, and horsepower. Clouds of smoke and grins all around. It was as a modern Camaro should be, but wasn't until GMMG had something to do with it.
The original ZL1 Camaro was brainstormed by Chevy dealer Fred Gibbs and made into sheetmetal reality 69 times thanks to a sign-off by Chevrolet's Vince Piggins. Legend and exaggerated power claims followed the aluminum-block- powered F-bodies through the years, and the ZL1 name has subsequently been tacked to several modernized versions including Chevy's own 572ci black car that's long been in the Jon Moss Toy Box. Even so, when Chevrolet wrote off the F platform and let the Camaro's 35th anniversary dwindle to a sticker-and-gewgaw package, Matt Murphy and his team at GMMG in Marietta, Georgia, saw the opportunity to step up both the visual package and the power. The company has made such specialty Camaros as the Intimidator SS, the HOT ROD Magazine Camaros, and the Berger SS. The top of the line is the ZL1 Supercar edition upgraded with the Phase III, 427ci, C5R race engine built in Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s shop.
Jim Parks knows the program well, having purchased both the prototype Berger SS and the 100th and final Berger SS, a Hugger Orange 435hp convertible, both through madman Barker at Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For what will likely be his final brand-new Camaro, Jim spec'd the Phase III. His car rolled from the St. Therese plant as an Onyx Black Special Service Coupe--as in cop car, not a Z28--with a Hurst-shifted six-speed, leather, tunes, a defogger, and a block heater. Sticker: $25,680. Next came the ZL1 Supercar package, including an LS6 engine with an air tube, ported manifolds, and underdrive pulleys; ZO6 wheels and brakes; Eibach springs, "1LE" control arms and Panhard bar, and Penske shocks; and a bunch of serial-numbered badges and dress-up items. Also on the ZL1 ticket were options like the Hugger Orange paint and houndstooth seat covers, plus a $4,000 credit for the take-off parts. Good thing, since we're now at $65,870.
But Jim went all the way, coughing an additional $23,995 for the 600hp, 575-lb-ft Phase III 427 race engine, 17/8-inch headers, and electric exhaust cutout (big fun). There's also the Fikse wheel upgrade, the Barker Button, and a six-point rollcage to bring the grand total to $95,255. We're guessing there was no zero-percent financing.
You may ask if any Camaro is worth, say, two Porsche Boxters. It may not be to you, but we're glad it was to someone--and this is number 18 out of 69, so Jim's not alone. In an exclusive group, but not the sole member. Of those '02 ZL1 owners, at least 31 others know the style, the power, and the glory of the Phase III grunt. Besides, don't you wish you'd spent that $7,000 on a ZL1 35 years ago?
- Hot Rod
Quick Inspection
Jim Parks
Deforest, WI
'02 Chevy Camaro, GMMG ZL1 Supercar
ENGINE
Type: Gen III small-block, Phase III with GM C5R Race Case
Displacement: 427ci/7.0L
Oiling: Stock
Crankshaft: Callies forged 4340, 4.00-inch stroke, ATI damper
Connecting Rods: Callies billet 4340, 6.125-inch, ARP fasteners
Pistons: JE custom forgings
Cylinder Heads: GMMG Phase III CNC-ported LS6, 2.055/1.600 valves, titanium retainers, Cometic composite head gaskets
Camshaft: Exclusive GMMG Phase III custom hydraulic roller
Induction: Weiand aluminum LS1 intake modified by Wilson Manifolds, high-flow MAF housing, carbon-fiber airbox lid
Ignition: Stock LS6
Exhaust: 17/8-inch-tube GMMG headers, 3-inch Y-pipe, 4-inch collector, electric cutout with dash switch, GMMC chambered after-cat exhaust
DRIVETRAIN
Transmission: Stock Camaro six-speed, Hurst shifter, white Hurst shifter
ball Rearend: Stock with 4.56:1 gears
CHASSIS
Front Suspension: Eibach 1.5-inch lowering springs, Penske PS-7540SA Series double-adjustable shocks, GMMG swaybar, GMMG upper and lower control arms
Rear Suspension: Eibach 1.5-inch lowering springs, Penske PS-7540SA Series double-adjustable shocks, GMMG swaybar, GMMG lower control arms and Panhard bar
Steering: Stock
Brakes: Corvette ZO6 front and rear calipers with ZO6 pads and slotted rotors
WHEELS & TIRES
Wheels: Fikse FM/5, 18x9.5
Tires: Goodyear Eagle F-1, 275/40ZR18
BODY & PAINT
Body: GM SS hood and deck spoiler, charcoal metallic grille with '69-style Bow Tie emblem, GMMG numbered doorjamb plate
Paint: Hugger Orange repaint; hood, roof, and decklid stripe; black painted rear panel with stainless Camaro letters; GMMG and "by Berger" emblems; "In Memory of Fred Gibb and Vince Piggins" deck lettering; HOT ROD Camaro hockey-stick stripe with 427 lettering
INTERIOR
GMMG houndstooth-and-leather seat covers, GMMG six-point rollbar, silver gauge faces with ZL1 Supercar logo, cloisonne dash plaque, ZL1 car numbers on front window and rearview mirror
Original Article
