Has anyone ever seen an SSA Dart

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Blownfish

Blownfish

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Has anyone ever seen or heard of an SSA Dart?

I've been thinking of all the cars (100's) I've had over the last 28 years, Super Bee's, Chargers, Darts, Dusters, Barracuda's, but lately the one that keeps popping up in my head is a 72 Petty blue Dart that we ended up parting out back in 85-86 because it had quarter and trunk rust.

This car was a factory Petty blue 72 Dart 2dr hardtop with a 318 auto. nothing really special back then but it had SSA emblems on the fenders and deck lid where they would normally have Swinger emblems. I remember it had some other odities in the interior and trim as well. Shortly after we parted it out I had a guy at Monster Mopar tell us that the car was a Mr Norm's Grand Spalding special edition Dodge Dart. I've never confirmed whether it was or not since I wasn't really concerned about it at the time but after seeing the thread on rare A-Body options I've been thinking, what if?
 
Yes...SSA darts are super rare....bout 3 made
 
Interestingly, I just watched a video yesterday about one, also Petty blue. From the narrative of the story it sounded like they were a "dealer special", and not a regular production line option, the video also suggested that there were very few, possibly 6, sold.
 
Well hell, how many 67 "Z/28" cars we crushed by people who didn't know what they had. Wasn't a model at the time, but an "option" pack. Makes a guy cringe just thinking about it.
 
Yes, but weren't the 67,68,69 Z/28 put on the protected species list and aloud to mate to the heart's content, and were there was a few now there are tens of thousands.
Sorry Cuda416 I couldn't help myself I had to do it.
 
19DART66 said:
Yes, but weren't the 67,68,69 Z/28 put on the protected species list and aloud to mate to the heart's content, and were there was a few now there are tens of thousands.
Sorry Cuda416 I couldn't help myself I had to do it.
Click to expand...

Sorry for what? Technically a 67 Z/28 doesn't exist so....

Now, to your "point", yeah, want to find a 68+ Z/28/SS/RS? Just go buy one. They're everywhere. :thumbsup: :rofl:

In 1967, there were 602 Camaros ordered with and "Z28" option code. It's extremely hard to verify them. Rare as hens teeth.
 
A friend back in high school was a GTO fanatic. After high school in the early 70s he sold his pride and joy 67 GTO and all his Pontiac parts to buy this plain jane white 67 Camaro. That's the day I learned what a Z/28 was and if I remember right its only hint to what it was, was the crossed flags emblems on the front fenders that had 302 over it instead of 327 like my brothers 67 RS convertible Camaro at the time. I could be wrong about the emblem, but my fading memory says it was there. He move out of the area for a job a few years latter and I never saw him or the Z/28 again, that was like 45+ years ago.
 
I'm pretty sure the only external clue was the dual stripe. There were never any 302 badges on the 67. The other physical clue was the factory traction bar.

EDIT: Seems late 67 might have had them, early 68 had them. My mistake.
 
I was a kid in the 70s but I remember people were unloading V8 cars for economy models. A 440 Charger could be had cheap in 77 or 78...if the car was 10 years old it was an "old car" isnt like now where they look like a late model for 5 years...people would unload 'em and get a new one every few years. Its as though people didnt take care of them they were true throwaways...it was like a 67 Camaro in 74 was a 7 year old beater...paint didnt last etc.
 
Wasn't the factory traction bar a performance V8 4 spd add on, I say this because my brothers 67 RS conv. 327 4 spd car had that single traction bar too. I forgot about the two black stripes.
 
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19DART66 said:
Wasn't the factory traction bar a performance V8 4 spd add on, I say this because my brothers 67 RS conv. 327 4 spd car had that single traction bar too.
Click to expand...

Well isn't that what the z/28 was?. Stripes, 302 v8, 4 speed, cowl induction (not the hood, the cowl) , etc.
 
Dartswinger70 said:
how about the gauges in the console...?
Click to expand...
From the interweb.. and it also mentions those 302 fender badges. Learning new stuff all the time.


The Z/28 option code was introduced to the Camaro in December 1966 for the 1967 model year. It was the brainchild of Vince Piggins, who conceived offering "virtually race-ready" Camaros for sale from any Chevrolet dealer. This option package was not mentioned in any sales literature, so it was unknown to most buyers. The Z/28 option required power front disc brakes and a close-ratio Muncie 4-speed manual transmission (posi-traction was optional). It featured a 302 cu in (4.9 L) small-block V-8 engine, 3" crankshaft with 4" bore, an aluminum intake manifold, and a 4-barrel vacuum secondary Holley carburetor of 780 cfm. The engine was designed specifically to race in the Trans Am series (which required engines smaller than 305 cu in (5.0 L) and public availability of the car. Advertised power of this engine was listed at 290 hp (216 kW). This is an under-rated figure. Chevrolet wanted to keep the horsepower rating at less than 1 hp per cubic inch, for various reasons (e.g. insurance and racing classes). The factory rating of 290 hp occurred at 5300 rpm, while actual peak for the high-revving 302 was closer to 360 hp (268 kW) (with the single four barrel carb) and 400 hp (298 kW) (with optional dual-four barrel carbs) at 6800-7000 rpm. The Z/28 also came with upgraded suspension, racing stripes on the hood and trunk lid, '302' front fender emblems on the 67 and early 68 cars, and 'Z/28' emblems in late 68 & 69. It was also possible to combine the Z/28 package with the RS package.

Only 602 Z/28s were sold in 1967, along with approximately 100 Indianapolis Pace Car replicas. The 1967 and 1968 Z/28s did not have the cowl induction hood, optional on the 1969 Z/28s. The 1967 Z28 received air from an open element air cleaner or from an optional cowl plenum duct attached to the side of the air cleaner that ran to the firewall and got air from the cowl vents. 15-inch rally wheels were included with Z/28s while all other 1967-9 Camaros had 14-inch wheels.

The origin of the Z/28 nameplate came from the RPO codes - RPO Z28 was the code for the Special Performance Package. RPO Z27 was for the Super Sport package.
 
Yes this one had the 15 inch rally wheels like the Corvettes had, and the disc brakes.
But didn't have the air cleaner vented to the cowl, other than that it looked like a cheap 6 cyl. plain jane white Camaro with the base interior that someone put stripes and rally wheels on. This was around 1972/73 when he bought it and by then the 69 Z/28 was the 8th wonder of the world and the only Z/28 to own. Like you said the 67's only existed to thoughs who new what they were, like Stan from high school.
 
If ya really wanna make em mad mis pronounce the name ,call it a "Camair..." or Camaira..." Camair makes it sound Part Camaro part Corvair LOL! :lol:
 
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