The ZL1/1LE Is the Final Gas-Powered Chevy Camaro EVER!

Well, it’s deja vu with the Camaro cancelled once again, and the last Camaro was built on December 13th, 2023. GM has hinted that the model will be back, but with the EV craze not quite over, there’s a fear that what comes back will be a bastardized, Pet Cemetery version of the car we loved. Chevrolet wouldn’t hook us up with any photos of the final Camaro to be produced, but they did tell us it was a Summit White 2024 ZL1/1LE with a proper six-speed manual transmission! So, it’s nice that Chevrolet ended the run with the fastest, best-handling, and most powerful Camaro ever designed.

The Camaro ZL1, once just an RPO engine code, became an official production model in 2012. Unlike the originals, this one was developed to perform on a road course as well as the dragstrip, but it really shone at the dragstrip. MotorTrend was able to lay down a 3.8-second 0-60 time and a 12.1-second e.t. at 117 mph. Fifth-gen ZL1 production totaled 14,213 from 2012-2015.

The sixth-gen Camaro ZL1 upped the performance and had a significantly greater power-to-weight ratio with 60 more hp in a car that weighed around 200 pounds less than the fifth-gen ZL1. There was also an all-new 10-speed automatic transmission and more driver-control technology as well. Later models of the ZL1 were given the option of a six-speed manual transmission.

A version of the Corvette Z06’s supercharged LT4 engine powered the sixth-gen ZL1 and the later track-centric ZL1/1LE. Due to the taller hood line of the Camaro, Chevrolet was able to move to a taller blower lid with larger intercooler blocks to solve a heat-soak issue endemic to the C7 Z06. Only a handful of production-related differences distinguish it in the Camaro application, and it is rated at an estimated 650 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. Its 1.7-liter Eaton TVS blower is a little smaller than the LSA’s but spins faster—up to 20,000 rpm—to help make power across a broader rpm range. The last Camaro LT4 engine was built in November of 2023.

The ZL1/1LE and ZL1 Camaros saw only minor changes over their runs from 2018 to 2024, and they will go out on top as the most potent Camaros ever built by GM. Certainly a great legacy to the ZL1 badge and Camaros in general. No word where the last Camaro will be going, but our bet would be that it’s held by Chevrolet in their legacy collection, so we hope to see it on display eventually.