In middle of the century-long battle for sales dominance between Ford and Chevrolet, GM’s everyman division responded to the runaway success of the Mustang with its own sporty model, the Camaro. The general public was rewarded with decades of a back-and-forth battle between the two the industry titans, with occasional appearances from Mopar, as well.
As our own Jeff Koch pointed out on the 50th anniversary of the debut of the Camaro, “There are times when it can be advantageous to arrive a little late.” With the 1967 launch of the Camaro, Chevrolet ushered in its pony car with the focus on performance from the get-go. Engine options that first year ranged from a modest straight-six to a plethora of V8 engines, including the performance-oriented 302 in the Z/28; a couple of 327s; the very first appearance of the 350 in the Camaro SS; and finally a trio of 396 options for fans of big-block power and torque.
For the three years of the first-generation Camaro, sales were steady, ranging from 220,906 to 243,085. However, over that three-year span, Mustang outsold the Camaro, 1,089,349 to 699,138, or 56 percent more units moved overall. In the past few years at Hemmings Auctions, we’ve seen a similar skew toward Ford’s option, with 49 percent more 1967-’69 Mustangs sold in comparison to first-gen Camaros. With more focus on performance models and fewer cars to go around, expect to pay a premium when choosing a Camaro over a Mustang. It should be noted that any premium is a generalization that certainly does not apply to each and every example of each model.
Looking at first-gen Camaros sold via the Hemmings Marketplace, along with other published auction results, can prove a bit difficult to discern market direction given the propensity for people to modify their cars. Slightly more than two-thirds of the first-gen Camaros sold here in the past four years were modified examples. In fact, the first one we sold was Mark Stielow’s groundbreaking 1969 “Tri-Tip,” the car credited with inventing the Pro Touring genre. We see full-tilt restomods, big-block transplants, LS swaps, and other types of personalization twice as much as we see original-spec cars. Prices for modified vehicles are all over the map, and one or two six-figure restomods can drastically skew the average market rate.
With that in mind, we have two sets of numbers to share in order to tell the whole story. The first set shows the average of all Camaros sold on our marketplace. Taken as a whole, average Camaro prices have fallen. But as noted above, these figures are heavily affected by the sale of modified vehicles, which can vary rather widely from car to car. We have seen modified Camaros sell for prices that ranged from the low $20,000s to over $100,000.
When looking at unmodified cars, which includes cars with vinyl tops, automatics and workaday two-barrel 327s along with authentically restored Z/28s, we see a different picture. Prices for these original-spec examples gained significant ground between 2020 and 2022, even as the volume of such cars in the Hemmings Marketplace increases every year. For 2023, we have seen a leveling off of the value of the first-gen Chevrolet pony car.
Another bit of data we look closely at is the performance of the vehicles sold at Hemmings Auctions against their reserve prices. At Hemmings Auctions, sellers and Hemmings must come to agreement on a reserve before a vehicle can be listed. For both the overall market as well as original-spec cars, we saw that indicator rise steadily from 2020 to 2022, but then level off in 2023. This leveling off of prices with a higher volume of vehicles listed tells the same story we have seen of the broader market all year.
Given the increased volume of cars listed and sold in 2023, we like how the market for first-gen, original-specification Camaros looks right now. When it comes to modified cars, we need to emphasize the reality that the higher-quality vehicles with the best presentation and representation will do the strongest aet auction. A cohesive build with known quality parts, proven performance and excellent cosmetics will always perform better than one of lesser quality.
Other important factors to consider when valuing a first-gen F-body Chevrolet are the specific engine under the hood (V8 or straight-six, small-block or big-block, original or replacement, high-performance or standard, LS swap), the type of transmission (three-speed, automatic, four-speed or newer option), and the inclusion of such options as the Rally Sport appearance package. All can have a measurable impact on the price realized at sale time.
Auction Highlight: 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
In September of 2020, Hemmings Auctions sold this award-winning Ash Gold 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 for $52,500. The car was, by all accounts, a real-deal Z/28, featuring the proper 302, solid-lifter V8, Muncie four-speed and a Positraction rear end. Almost exactly three years later, that winning bidder listed the car with Hemmings, successfully finding a new buyer whose winning bid totaled $63,000, including the buyer’s fee, a solid 20 percent gain in value over three years. The car appeared to be exceptionally clean, including the undercarriage and chassis, which combined with the desirable Z/28 spec to draw strong bidding out of the gate, with the reserve price cleared with a full eight days left in the auction.
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