This
"One of a Kind" protoype winged Third Generation Camaro
started its life out as a common 1987 IROC-Z. It served as a
test vehicle for durability testing at the Milford Proving Grounds.
Before the car was retired it was turned over to Chevrolet Design
Studio for use as a "color mule." When
the car arrived at Design Studio, it was in bad shape. Among
the damage: the transmission was in the back seat and the exhaust
was jammed into the hatch area.
A
few people in the Design Studio realized that this might be the perfect
car to "modify" as a prottype vehicle. Their "magic"
caught the attention of Chuck Jordan, Design's Executive VP at the
time. Mr. Jordan started putting his influence into the design.
The rear wing was his design along with the "hood fences"
which looked similar to the Ferrari F-40 he had just purchased. Only
the design of of the ground effects actually made it to final production.
The
car had once been repainted a charcoal-pearl color and Mr. Jordan
liked the car so much, that a new drive-line was installed; the exhaust
was modified several times until Mr. Jordan determined that it was
"just right." Custom 17" wheels were installed
and the car was lowered more than two inches. Mr. Jordan then
had the car painted "Candy Apple-Orange" at Design Studio.
To go along with the new paint job, an Italian Glove Leather
interior was installed to finish it off.
This
was one of the cars that Mr. Jordan drove on a daily basis and it
is one of the few left that survives today. Most were scrapped
after his retirement in 1991 but this one is now owned by GM Design
Studio Historic Collection.