Meet the Fleet – Muscle Cars: ’70 Camaro Z-28 RS

• BODY: Johnny Lightning
• WHEELS & TIRES: Vincent (both versions)

Truth be told, this is not one of the better bodies in my collection. Although I’m not a huge Camaro fan overall, the 1970-73 model is by far my favorite Camaro; the real cars were poorly made and stuffed with the low-grade safety-padded vinyl that characterized the era, but the overall design of the car was a bulls-eye, especially the Z-28 version with the split front bumper. This JL rendition didn’t really capture that; the proportions aren’t right and the front end details are vague. This is a surprise, since I’ve been very impressed with the quality of most of the other JL T-Jet bodies. Due to the body’s small size and restrictive measurements. it took a lot to get it to fit the Ultra-G chassis, and the body is shimmed at the front and the rear. That’s where the negatives end, though, because the car is extremely fast and a good all-around performer; it’s a consistent winner. And also on the bright side, the color combination is a knock-out: the light yellow with black stripes is always a great look.

A while ago I acquired a second one in a lot with another body (my blue Corvette Grand Sport, which was what I was really buying), and although I didn’t need it, it was in great condition; this one was silver with the Chevrolet “100^th Anniversary” logo on it, which I thought was a nice touch, so I fitted with a discarded chassis just to make it operable, only to find that, as with the scrap-built white Cheetah I profiled a couple of weeks ago, I had an unbelievable performer on my hands! This chassis was a toad with the other body that used to ride on it, but once I mounted this JL Camaro on it, it woke up and start running like a greyhound! Obviously the advantage to their small size is that they don’t weigh much! Beyond that, maybe there’s just something ethereally fast about these Johnny Lightning Camaros!