Was there a "California Special" edition of the 1968 Chevy Camaro?
I own a '68 Rally Sport Chevy Camaro. My mom purchased it used in 1969. She was told
that it was a "California Special" Edition. I've never seen another like it. It has two
fiberglass scoops on the hood which give it its unique look. Originally, it was painted a
rust color with the bumblebee stripe in black extending to the door. It had a black vinyl
top with a light green deluxe interior and hideaway lights. It has a 327 engine and had a
two-speed power glide transmission. I would like to know if there are any others like it
out there.
6 Answers
If it exists it was likely a dealer package that some dealership came up with. "California Specials" were Mustangs.
there are calif specials.even found some ply/chry/dodge specials.never heard of it with camaro....just a name,maybe someone that owned it in calif.. nothing special about the 327/powerqlide.....now heres the thing..i do know about a 1967, 327 /350 hp 3 speed manual that was ordered in california as a one off car...it truly was special........
I once owned a 1969 California special edition . It had a 305 single barrel ,automatic ,blue with black interior . All it had was a few extra emblems and some more Crome trim pieces . I sold it back in 1983 for around $1500.00 . I bought it from a retired school teacher.
Yes sort of.. I owned one. A California bag car as it was called. A 68 rs ss that looked a lot like a hardtop 67 pace car. It had a special 350 ci motor in front of a 4spd muncie. Iirc a unique feature of th motor was a belt driven air pump that injected air into each "tibe" of the cast iron exhaust manifolds. Reasoning id heard was the 396 that should have gone in there coul not pass calli emissions. The hood had the finned closed inserts like a 67? Vs the open style a reg 68 396 would have. I was told they didn't produce enough of them to be classified as a production model. Iirc there was also something 67ish about th tail and back up lights. But this is all from memory as I sold it some 40 years ago
Guru9X31G9 answered 3 years ago
My daughter has a 1968 rs ss "California Special " Camaro. It has a tilt down back seat for surf boards.
Like Bob says, the Mustang CS was a dealer installed option. There was a pretty much identical High Country Special sold in Colorado. Mustang specials were common enough to be well known. Probably a Chevy dealer tried to copy cat the Mustang but only sold a handful which meant they were never recognized like the Mustang CS.
