Model year · Second Generation
1975 Camaro
Catalytic converters arrive; the Z28 is gone
Unleaded fuel and catalytic converters become mandatory — and the high-compression Z28 can't survive them.
1975 was the model year catalytic converters and unleaded fuel became near-universal across the US fleet, Camaro included. The high-compression, solid-lifter LT-1 formula that defined the Z28 was incompatible with the new mandate, so Chevrolet dropped the Z28 for 1975 and 1976.
The same season, the IROC all-star series switched from Porsche 911 RSRs to identically prepped Camaros (IROC II) because they were cheaper to run — beginning the racing lineage that would later lend its name to the 1985 IROC-Z.
Identification
- First Camaro model year built around a standard catalytic converter and unleaded-only fuel