Nice Driver: 1976 Chevrolet Camaro
It is refreshing to sometimes come across a clean driver priced in a range that most of us could afford. This 1976 Chevrolet Camaro is located in Los Gatos, California. It is listed here on Craigslist for $10,500. The ad states the odometer reads 53,000 miles and that it has rolled over once. Frankly, the car looks like it could be a much lower mile car. The Camaro is painted in a deep maroon with a red cloth interior. It has been listed for about 3 days. We appreciate Rocco B. for sending this nice looking Camaro to our attention.
This interior looks original with sun faded carpet. There doesn’t appear to be any tears or rips in the seats and the door panels look good. One thing about the GM F body is that the dashes crack over time when exposed to a lot of sun. This dash and interior appears to be very nice. I am not an expert in Camaros but I assume the lower dash and console are supposed to be black when the rest of the interior is red. The car is equipped with an automatic transmission that is said to have been recently rebuilt. Other options are limited. There are no pictures of the engine compartment but it looks like the car has air conditioning. An aftermarket radio is installed in the dash.
A unique feature of this Camaro is the half vinyl top. The best that Chevrolet had to offer buyers in terms of power was a smog era 350 cubic inch V8 engine. With a 4 barrel carburetor, the small block was rated at 165 horsepower. The lack of performance didn’t seem to deter Chevrolet enthusiasts as 182,959 Camaros were built in 1976. Most of these Camaros (approximately 160,000) were ordered with a manual transmission.
This Camaro looks sharp from any angle. Chevrolet kept producing Camaros with big chrome bumpers until 1977. The car rides on Chevrolet Rally Wheels and aftermarket white letter tires. The seller states that the paint looks good except for some cracking on the hood and close to the rear window. If you are looking for a clean driver, this might be the Camaro for you.
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Comments
Better check again Bruce, most 1976 Camaros came with an automatic transmission.
Maybe what he meant to say is that most buyers in 1976 WISHED they ordered the manual transmission. Lol
This is one nice Camaro its different from the typical Z28s ( which I like too) but its nice to see a more regular Camaro too.
Yeah
Nice car. But…. That interior color is awful.
I don’t remember seeing this color combination, although l’m pretty sure red interior is,oem.,as well as factory mags.,although paint looks really good as,almost to good to ,factory oem.,hmmmm, maybe this was special order or something, nice car,but l can’t afford it anyway.
Good catch. I meant 160,000 Camaros were automatics. Thanks for the correction
Not a bad looking car, if local to the South Bay it’s likely rust free, or nearly so (rear window and front fenders behind the tires are places most likely to rust). Camaro dash pads warped, Firebird pads cracked.
This car has potential, not many post-74 F-body’s survived due to California’s smog testing protocols and the availability of inexpensive 60’s to early-70’s muscle cars through late-80’s.
Steve R
I believe that car would have the 305 in it, not the 350.
you could get the 350 LM in a standard 76 Camaro, same engine as in my Mom’s 76 Malibu
Well, now I’m partial to this one. I bought my first car for 500.00 in 1982. It was a somewhat beat up basic 1976 Camaro with 91k miles. No options at all. But the place I bought it from was a body shop my dad did business with. I made 50/month payments from my odd jobs.
The day I was able to pick it up, the shop had given it a custom two tone cream and metallic brown paint job with pin stripes, a pseudo hood scoop and rear spoiler.
It was the hottest car (looking) at my high school. But sadly I was an idiot. Banged it up a few times and asked it for too much. It ended up that the driver side rear frame was badly rusted and a lot of $$ to fix. So I sold it.
If this was anywhere close to me I’d probably buy it just for the nostalgia.
When I look at this car all I can think about is air shocks, Cherry Bombs, Cragars, Pro Trac 50s and mullets.
Ha!
Nice car and kind of like the loud interior lay-out, but that was 70’s. I wonder if the finish is that good when it isn’t wet?
74-77 Camaros had extruded aluminum bumpers, no chrome.
Extruded is a great adjective for these bumpers, sort of like a morning extrusion.
This one reminds me of a co-worker back then had an ’80 Camaro in this same color scheme – that maroon is such a nice color and very rarely seen.
About the only option he had were T-Roofs, the rest was a basic Camaro.
It inspired me to order my first new car – an ’81 Camaro.