OUTLAW SMOKEY YUNICK CHEVY CAMARO THAT SILENCED GM

Описание: Smokey Yunick’s secret 454 Camaro, they’re usually referring to claims that in 1970–71 Chevrolet quietly built at least one LS6 454‑powered second‑gen Camaro specifically for Smokey to test and develop, outside normal production options. The idea is that this car was effectively a factory “engineering mule” or special project, not a regular COPO or RPO package you could order from a dealer.

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The car was supposedly assembled on the normal line but tagged or documented as an engineering build.

It was sent directly to Smokey for high‑performance and race‑development work, then later disappeared into private hands or was broken up for parts.

Chevrolet may have gone much further with big‑block second‑gen Camaro performance than the official option sheets reflected.
Internal engineering and racing programs were testing combinations (like LS6 454 in a 1970 F‑body) that enthusiasts long assumed never made it past the drawing board.
Some of these cars and parts may have been quietly funneled to Smokey, who was known for pushing and bending rules, then later sold or scrapped with almost no paper trail.

How much of it is proven vs. legend ?

As far as publicly available information goes:
There is strong anecdotal evidence from racers, authors, and former insiders that Chevrolet built various engineering‑special Camaros (including big‑block and experimental engines) and that Smokey got his hands on some of them.
Hard documentation that a specific, production‑line‑built “1970 454 Smokey Yunick Camaro” existed as an official package is thin to nonexistent. Most of what’s known comes from:
Personal recollections (Smokey’s own stories, people who dealt with his shop).

Fragmentary engineering paperwork and option references.
Surviving parts and cars that match those stories but don’t have complete factory documentation.

Because of that, you’ll see the 454 Camaro story framed as:

“The factory built a secret LS6 454 Camaro for Smokey” (strong claim), versus

“Chevy used Smokey to test big‑block F‑body hardware in at least one one‑off car, but the paperwork trail is fuzzy” (more cautious claim).

correction below from Jean claude votta
Camaro VIN 0001 is not the Camaro that participated in Watkins T/A. The Camaro T/A was an experimental GM car, built before series production. VIN 0001, with a 427 engine, was the first Camaro built after the experimental phase. GM gave two Camaros to Smokey, and VIN 0001 was used for NASCAR homologation. The Camaro T/A had a 302 engine for T/A racing. The greatest knowledge about these cars comes from David Tom.


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resurching has conflated two separate 1970 Camaros owned by Smokey Yunick into one car. The shadow gray VIN #0001 1970 Camaro was a hand built pilot car and engineering prototype/mule, which at some point, became equipped with an LS6 for engineering purposes and was later sent to Smokey for him to help homologate some race options to FIA (JL8 four wheel disc brake option, tall rear spoiler option, and underhood ram air cold airbox) but it was never turned into a race car and never raced on a track. The other 1970 Camaro owned by Smokey was originally painted in his black and gold paint scheme and Smokey built it for SCCA Trans Am racing which was limited to 305 cubic inches and that is the way Smokey raced it, with a 305 cid small block engine in late '70 and 1971. There are numerous pictures of this Camaro with Smokey's small block engine in it in books. Later on, this car was painted orange and raced at Watkins Glen by Swede Savage.

The shadow gray VIN 00001 Camaro was sold to a private buyer in Smokey's famous auction in 1988. It was disassembled because Smokey had plans to turn it into a race car but gave up on it. It has since been restored and used to make the show car rounds. Chevrolet had planned to offer the LS6 454 in the Camaro and the LS7 454 in the Corvette as RPO's in 1970, but John DeLorean became the Chevrolet General Manager in late summer/early fall of 1969 and killed them pretty much immediately.

Because S/N 0001 Camaro was a pre-production engineering mule assembled in Nov. 1969, it cannot be titled. When it was made, it was not made to 1970 EPA emissions and safety standards and is therefore not certified for resale. The car was supposed to have been destroyed by GM after testing, but instead Chevy removed the VIN tag and Fisher body trim tag from the car and sent it to Smokey to run tests on racing parts Chevy wanted to have homologated with FIA for their race cars


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