Ninth vehicle - 1981 Camaro Z28

The replacement for the Triumph was a VERY reliable car, and my first Chevrolet.  It was a 1981 Camaro Z28 with a 350 cubic inch V8, quadrajet 4V carburetor, and dual exhaust.  It had an automatic transmission, my first auto since the old Cougar.

It was really a pretty car, and looked just like this one.  To these older eyes, it looks a bit gaudy, but I really liked that car.  It was quiet, handled really well, and went reasonably fast without a lot of fuss and rattling.

Every GM car had one of these 350 engines under the hood, it seemed like.

The interior was pure 80's.  Nothing very inspiring about it.

When I bought the car, radar detectors were illegal in several states, and I still had a tendency to drive a bit over the speed limit.  I installed an under-hood radar detector and placed the remote up under the dash.  It would always give a little OK beep when I started the car, so I knew it was operating.

I liked this car a lot, until I got in a stoplight drag race with a shipmate back in in 1984.  He was driving a 1969 Mustang with a 302 2V, and I couldn't beat him...  He couldn't beat me either, but that wasn't the point.  I immediately wanted a faster car, and started looking for it.  I just now learned that the claimed output of this engine was only 173 horsepower!  That passed for a top-line performance car in 1980.  Good lord...

It wouldn't be too long before I started missing the old reliable Z28.