I had this exact 1980. (MPH tho). Car looked great until you got up close then you could see the shoddy craftsmanship of the era and it was waaay underpowered at 185 hp and.couldn’t hold a candle to cars just 10 yrs older. It was a chick magnet for sure so it wasn’t a total waste.
I had a 1980 Z28 in high school at 16 years old. I had a paper route when I was 10 then I had a job as a dishwasher at 14 saved up all my money paid six grand for the car it was a cream puff. It definitely was a chick magnet. But I used to go home and cry cuz I used to lose every race ever with that motor. It was so embarrassing the first day I got it he can't even do a break stand. Couldn't even lay a pack of rubber it was so embarrassing. Great car but no horsepower
The thing about the 2nd Gen Camaros and Trans Ams is they were underpowered from the factory but with a few simple mods you could unleash its full potential. I had a 78 Trans Am with a 400 that was only about 200 hp stock. The problem with those cars is with all the emissions junk the motor can't breathe properly which is why the power is so low. Headers and a free flowing performance exhaust along with a better intake manifold and some carb tuning fixed all that. Then I put a better cam in it and I was beating new corvettes at the time (early 90s) with it. The potential is there on these cars, you just have to tap into it.
