The Chevrolet Camaro comes and goes, but hot rodding is forever. Edelbrock CEO Don Barry has made a living massaging American pony and muscle cars, and in this installment of "Jay Leno's Garage," he brings a couple of the company's development cars in for a little show and tell.
The first is a classic 1967 SS which has quite the extensive history. It was first delivered to Motor Trend for testing and evaluation in stock configuration before it was shipped off to Hot Rod Magazine where it was the first example of a red first-generation Camaro ever to appear in in the magazine. At Hot Rod, it became the testbed for products from several iconic speed shop staples, including Hurst, Lakewood, Hedman and Edelbrock.
Edelbrock founder Vic Edelbrock purchased the '67 from former editor Jim MacFarland in 1997 and has owned it since. In 2013, Edelbrock brought it to the Hot Rod Homecoming event, which was the magazine's 65th anniversary celebration (and the 75th anniversary of Edelbrock).
Leno praises the '67's simplicity and honesty, admiring its clean, relatively empty engine bay, but also acknowledges the superior power and efficiency of its modern counterpart. The breathed-on 383 sounds fantastic on the road, and Leno clearly enjoys his time behind the wheel.
That modern counterpart is Edelbrock's fifth-generation Camaro testbed, which Barry brought along to show off another fun piece of equipment: a new supercharger. The housing is cast in Edelbrock's San Jacinto, California, foundry and the machine work is done at its facility in Torrance. The entire system is engineered and assembled in the United States.
