Rick Hendrick, owner of four NASCAR teams under Hendrick Motorsports, picked up the first Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in person at GM’s Oshawa Assembly Plant yesterday as production of the 580-hp, 556 lb-ft of torque American sports car kicked off.

Hendrick is clearly a die-hard Camaro enthusiast, having purchased the first 2010 Camaro Coupe, the first 2011 Camaro Convertible and now the first Camaro ZL1 available for public sale all through Barrett-Jackson auctions. Even better, all three of his purchases had all proceeds benefiting local charities.

The first ZL1 to ever leave the production line features a black exterior with the optional Exposed Carbon Fiber Weaved Hood Insert and power Sunroof. The interior was packed with black leather with suede microfiber inserts on the seat and dash and also on the steering wheel and shift knob.

“Through a disciplined approach and a relentless focus on execution, the Oshawa team has worked efficiently to ensure a successful, high-quality launch of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1,” stated Dan Hermer, plant manager at the Oshawa Assembly Plant.

The Chevy Camaro ZL1 starts at $58,000.

GALLERY: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? This custom classic Chevy Camaro combines vintage good looks with cutting-edge technology, allowing it to accelerate, turn and stop better than the majority of cars on the road today.

This frame-up built Camaro Pro Touring features an LS3 V8 powerplant under the hood and could be yours for the price of $129,900. It only sports 409-miles on the odometer, and its House of Kolor Galaxy Gray exterior is subtle yet classy.

The car originated from Pennsylvania, but was shipped over to The Installation Center out in Cleveland, Georgia where it began its impressive rebuild process. The majority of panels were replaced with high-quality restoration pieces before the vehicle made its way to Classic Cars Southeast in Lebanon, Tennessee where the body was fine-tuned to showroom fit and finish. The Galaxy Gray was then meticulously sprayed onto the vehicle while a set of House of Kolor Laser Red stripes contrasts the otherwise subtle exterior.

Under the hood however is a pristine 480-hp GM Performance Parts LS376/480 Hot Cam V8 powerplant. Cooling on the V8 has been upgraded with a Griffin polished aluminum radiator, an electric fan and fresh new hoses. Ceramic long-tube headers and a true  dual stainless steel exhaust system expels out all the fumes.

The suspension on this retro resale has been overhauled with products from Hotchkis, Chris Alston’s Chassisworks, and Varishock while the brakes are courtesy of G-street. On each of the four corners are 17-inch Foose Nitrous Chrome Legend wheels sporting Fuzion ZR1 rubber. The interior is traditional ’68 Camaro but has received some custom accents from M&M Hot Rod Interiors and Marquez Design. There is even some good ‘ol Kenwood speakers with Alpine amplifiers to give the Camaro a more sonorous cabin when you’re not enjoying the tone of the exhaust.

GALLERY: 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible

[Source: RK Motors]

GM has announced “Chevy Happy Grad” as the winner of their Route 66 Super Bowl Ad contest, created by 26-year old Zach Borst of Long Island. The winning ad will be aired during Super Bowl XLVI and had already received over 32-million views between December 22 and January 14.

The best part about this ad is how easy it is to relate to it, considering we’ve all probably received gifts we never wanted, or mistakenly thought a certain gift was ours. The ad was filmed on location out in Long Island near Borst’s home and beat out 400 submitted scripts and 198 films from 32 different countries.

“We asked filmmakers to depict life’s journey and how Chevrolet is there along the way,” said General Motors Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick. “When I saw Zach’s spot, I had to laugh, because the situation is something many families can relate to – expectation and reality. ‘Happy Grad’ clearly shows the passion that Chevrolet elicits.”

Borst has been producing films since his childhood and has founded Goat Farm Films, his own production company based out of New York.

Check out the winning ad after the break.

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Sure, it was pretty comical to watch Adolf Hitler get upset over the announcement of Shelby’s GT500 trumping Chevy‘s Camaro ZL1 on paper, but now things have gotten pretty serious with Camaro Chief Engineer Al Oppenheiser predicting that the ZL1 will be quicker to 60-mph than the GT500 and even calls out the GT500′s Nurburgring time.

“We’ve done simulations. We predict that the ZL1 will be quicker to 60 than the [2013] GT500… We ran the Nürburgring and released a time. Ford took the GT500, too, and never released a time. I guess you can draw your own conclusions,” Oppenheiser said openly at an Arizona drive event for the Camaro ZL1.

Now on paper and for those that believe numbers never lie, the Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 with 650-hp and 600 lb-ft of torque in a 3,850-lb body should easily outpace the Camaro ZL1′s 580-hp and 556 lb-ft of torque in a heavier 4,120-lb body. But Oppenheiser has no doubt that the ZL1 would be quicker around Nurburgring than the GT500.

It’s a bold claim surely, but it could be warranted given that the GT500 still features a solid rear-axle while the ZL1 sports all-independent suspension with third-generation Magnetic Ride shocks and a high-tech traction control system borrowed from the Corvette ZR1.

Hopefully it’ll get settled one day, ZL1 versus GT500 on a real track with the same driver. Until then, it’ll remain a war of the words.

GALLERY: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

[Source: Autoblog]

YACO Racing’s collaboration with Sareni United and Reiter Engineering has come to fruition. We kept our eyes on Sareni United after we previously saw a preview of their new Chevy Camaro GT3 race car, and it appears that the final product is ready for public consumption.

Sareni United, founded and owned by Hans Reiter of Reiter Engineering, got the inspiration for a GT3 Camaro race car when he went to America in 2010. Armed with a team of a dozen people, the new car was developed within one year and the FIA approved the start of the homologation in October of 2010.

Powered by a 7.9L V8 with a newly developed Holinger gear box, with 650-hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. Prototype testing was promising, with the Camaro running similar lap times as Lamborghini‘s Gallardo but the team continued to fine tune the vehicle.

YACO will be campaigning a pair of these race cars at the ADAC GT Masters races and may compete in the GT3 European Championship.

Pricing isn’t cheap, with the Camaro priced at over $250,000 (€195,000) based on today’s conversion rates.

GALLERY: Sareni United Camaro GT

[Source: Sareni United via AutoBlog]

Kelley Blue Book has announced the winners of their 2012 Best Resale Value Awards with Toyota being the best resale value brand and their luxury counterpart, Lexus, topping best resale value luxury brand.

Coming out on top of the list of this year’s top 10 best resale value vehicles however is (In order from first to last): Audi‘s Q7, Chevy‘s Camaro, Honda‘s CR-V, Hyundai‘s Tucson, Infiniti‘s FX, Jeep‘s Wrangler, Lexus’s RX, Nissan‘s Frontier, Toyota’s FJ Cruiser and their Tacoma.

Resale value is always important to those spenders hoping to get the best bang for their buck for their vehicle down the road. But oftentimes these are just estimates and market changes should be taken into consideration as that can impact resale value of vehicles.

[Source: Kelley Blue Book]

It’s always interesting to see German tuners wrenching away on American muscle, as is the case with these two Chevy Camaros. YACO Racing out in Germany and Fastforward Motorsport in Belgium are separately working on different Camaros for GT3 racing and both teams are producing some impressive results.

YACO Racing has partnered up with SaReni United and Reiter Engineering on a pair of V8-powered Camaro GT3 race cars and are planning to campaign them in the German ADAC GT Master Series and GT3 European Championship. The car has been spotted doing some pre-season testing out in Italy at the Adria Circuit and will have its racing debut next year.

Fastforward Motorsport’s Camaro takes a more subtle approach but definitely looks just as race-ready as YACO Racing’s GT3 Camaro. It recently was testing out at Circuit Zolder and sounds incredible in the video.

Check out a video of Fastforward Motorsport’s Camaro GT3 below

GALLERY: YACO Racing / Fastforward Motorsport Chevy Camaro GT3s

[Source: Jon Sibal]

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Chevy gave everyone a pleasant surprise at the 2011 SEMA Show, unveiling a new-generation Camaro COPO Concept, ready to take on the NHRA Eliminator drag racing class. The engineers involved with the COPO Concept project took their new baby out to Bradenton Motorsports Park out near Tampa, Florida for some test runs and it’s looking very promising.

Unfortunately no actual times were mentioned in the video as the Camaro did some shakedown runs down the quarter mile. But the behind the scenes look throughout the video shows off what the team is working on as they’ll surely make the Camaro a competitive 9-second drag car. It’s worth mentioning that the team is testing multiple different engine setups in order to find what’s best.

Check out the video of the Camaro COPO Concept after the break.

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Hertz has expanded its Prestige and Adrenaline Collections, now offering the Cadillac CTS, Chevy Camaro SS Convertible and Corvette Convertible for rental in 2012.

In their desire to offer their customers a greater variety of exciting cars that they can rent, Hertz’s Adrenaline Collection will now feature the 6.2L V8 powered Camaro SS and Corvette convertibles. The Camaro SS comes packing 400-hp and a six-speed automatic transmission while the Vette has 430-hp and a six-speed manual. The Adrenaline Collection is available in California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, New York and New Jersey.

The Prestige Collection now adds Cadillac’s CTS to its lineup, featuring a 3.6L V6 with 318-hp, NeverLost GPS, satellite radio and Bluetooth capability. Hertz’s Prestige Collection is available in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Today is the 112th playing of the infamous Army-Navy Game, and this year Chevrolet will be doing something even more special than normal for America’s Game.

In addition to hosting several military families and Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans members at the game, they will also be paying tribute to wounded servicemen and women and the team with a 30-second commercial.

But to one-up last year’s donation of a Silverado HD pickup to the Achilles team, this year Chevy will be auctioning off a custom Military Tribute Camaro at a Barrett-Jackson auction in January with the proceeds going towards the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans.

The Military Tribute Camaro represents all five branches of America’s armed forces: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard. It will be auctioned off at the January 17th-22nd Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Designed by award-winning artist Mickey Harris, the Camaro features extremely detailed airbrushing and clearly an American-influenced military theme.

GALLERY: Military Tribute Chevrolet Camaro