The Dana Camaro
The Muscle Car craze took off in the 1960’s. General Motors was pumping out some incredibly powerful rides and pushing the limits of power. For some though, that wasn’t enough. They wanted a Super Muscle Car so to speak – something more powerful than the factory ever offered.
This is where the likes of Baldwin Motion, Yenko, and Nickey Chevrolet came into play. They would use RPO codes and special order vehicles or parts to come up with engine combinations the factory never offered. Or, they would swap the engines themselves once they reached their dealership. There’s another dealership that made quite an iconic Super Muscle Car that’s not very well known, the Dana Chevrolet Camaro.
What Is A Dana Chevrolet Camaro?
“No matter how many ‘hot’ cars you’ve driven, the first time you really uncork a Dana Camaro you’re bound to be awe-stricken if not outright panicked at the sheer magnitude of the forces unleashed. At about T plus 1/2 second you begin to wonder if maybe you hadn’t ought to have done it, a feeling which persists until you either chicken out and get off it or shift into third gear.” – John Ehtridge from Motor Trend in 1967.
There was lots of options with a Dana Chevrolet Camaro, but what it really boiled down to was a 427 cubic-inch big-block under the hood. This L72 produced 425 horsepower, or you could opt for a triple-carbureted L71 option that bumped it up to 435 horsepower.
Options included “6-inch-wide steel wheels, special springs and shocks, emblems, the SS trim package, 4-speed, nylon red-stripe tires and a heavy-duty radiator.” For suspension they offered a Stage I, Stage II, and Stage III version. The latter one cost $2,000 and was intended for racing and used a rubberized fuel cell.
Testing The 427 Dana Camaro
The lack of tire technology in 1967 was the biggest limiting factor for these Camaro’s. With the stock Goodyear F70-14 tires, testing resulted in a 14.2-second e.t. at 105 MPH. They also switched to Goodyear slicks and were able to get down to 13.3 seconds at 107 MPH. This is lightning fast for 1967.
While the 427 already came with headers, the rest of the exhaust was a bit restrictive. Uncorking the exhausted allowed the car to dip down to 12.75 seconds at 110 MPH. The top speed was 135 MPH which they reached with ease.
The Ground-Up Dana Camaro
Ken Santoro, founder and owner of Ground-Up/SS396.com wanted his own Dana Camaro. “I read a very interesting article about Dana Chevrolet a while ago and knew at some point I would want to build a tribute car to this legendary race brand,” Ken told us.
To start his tribute Dana Camaro, Ken picked up probably the cleanest 1968 Camaro in the USA. The car was a one-owner California built and driven car. Every single body panel on it was rust free and didn’t need to be replaced – they even still have all the factory build date codes stamped into them.
Minus some cleaning and detailing, the Deluxe-style interior is all original as well. The only thing Ken chose to replace was the front door panels, as the previous owners cut the originals for 6″ speakers. Everything else stayed just as it rolled off the factory assembly line.
“While the car did have what appeared to be a cheap repaint at some point in it’s life, we retained, restored, and reused all the factory molding and stainless on the entire car. Even the vinyl top is original to the car,” Ken stated.
Restoring The Dana Camaro
“My vision was always to build a tribute to the Dana Chevrolet Racing Team Car,” Ken told us. This started with a complete frame-off rotisserie restoration by Ground-Up. The white paint went away, and a beautiful Chevrolet Rally Green color was sprayed.
The most important part is the engine under the hood. That’s what really makes them special anyways. For that Ken decided to go above and beyond the 427 and utilize a special engine that he had tucked away for a special project.
That engine is an LS7 that’s the successor to the legendary LS6 that came in the 1970 Chevelle Super Sport’s. This LS7 would have came in a 1971 Corvette and a few did sneak through before the government crack downs started.
Backing the big-block is a Muncie close-ratio transmission, just like a true Dana Camaro had. Behind that is a Moser rearend, but done in a factory 12-bolt style for stock appearance but something that can handle the LS7.
Now Ken is cruising his Dana Chevrolet Camaro tribute and smiling the whole time. If you need parts for your Camaro, or classic GM car, hop on SS396.com or give our friendly techs a call at (203) 235-1200!
