Concerning the Z7d Brickyard 400 Camaro SS convertibles
Because 2002
was the last year of the 4th Gen Camaro, Chevy felt it was
important to do a special Camaro for the 2002 Brickyard 400,
as most Camaro folks know the red and silver 35th
Anniversary Camaro was used at the 2001 Brickyard 400 and
Chevy did not want to do a 'repeat'.
Thus, a limited number of "special" Camaro SS
convertibles were commissioned. The original intent was to
offer the two-tone Ebony/Pewter Leather interior from the
Anniversary car however, it would not have been appropriate
to put the 35th Anniversary Badge on the seats. A two-tone
seat without the badging would have required new part
numbers which was a 'no-no' with engineering, the assembly
plant, and GMSPO. However the 35th Anniversary wheels did
make the cut -- the 17" painted/machine finish aluminum
wheel -- and assigned that content to a new RPO code, "Z7D"
which was then given the name "Brickyard 400 Package."
57 of these cars were built. All but 5 of
them had Automatic transmissions, the other 5 of course had
6-speeds and all the six-speeds were delivered to VIPs.
Chevy had never done a special RPO code prior
to this for the Brickyard 400 thus, these cars are somewhat
unique and because collectors have all it will be hard to do
a 'knockoff' -- the code shows up on the window label and
also in the build manifest sticker on the driver's door. All
but one of the 57 cars were built the same week...the first
car was actually built in April as a "pilot" and was
immediately striped and put on the Camaro Legends Tour.
The cars had the Brickyard 400 decals
installed at Indianapolis (ARELCO -- which is the owner of
National Car Sales and National Car Rental at Indianapolis
is the company that sees that the decals are installed and
that the cars are cleaned and staged throughout the
Brickyard 400
activities.)
The majority of the cars
where used for driver introductions at the Brickyard. Each
car is numbered 2-43 and assigned to each driver by starting
position in the race. Car #1 was a six speed and a
substitute car was used for pole sitter Tony Stewart. My is
car number 19 and 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton was
assigned this car based on him starting 19th. In
2003 I was able to get Ward to sign the car under the hood
when Nascar visited Pocono speedway. The car currently has
just over 2,000 miles. The majority of the mileage comes
from the drive to the Pocono raceway and each year driving to
Camaro Nationals in Carlisle Pa. |