Dana 427 Camaro

Before the Yenko Camaro and the COPO Camaro, there were many 427 Camaros built in Los Angeles California, at a dealership by the name of DANA Chevrolet.

Hot Rodding and modifications to new cars had been flourishing in Southern California for decades now. The area was saturated with automotive talent. So it was only natural for the first big block Chevy swap into a Camaro to happen here in the hot rodding mecca of the universe.

High Performance was nothing new to the individuals operating Dana Chevrolet. The owners were gentlemen by the names of Paul Doski and Peyton Cramer. Peyton Cramer was a former Shelby American employee in charge of finances. The chief engineer was a local west coast SCCA hero by the name of Dick Guldstrand. With this combination, only fabulous cars could emerge from the new performance oriented DANA Chevrolet.

The Factory engines were swapped out in favor of the extremely impressive powerplant of the L72 Corvette 427 big block Chevy rat motor. It was rated at 425 HP with the stock exhaust manifolds!
The engines were delivered in crates to DANA, and then installed into these legendary Camaros. This engine would respond beautifully to a free breathing exhaust, so Doug's Headers were standard equipment.
Delivery of one with a Corvette tri-power 3X2 setup was not unusual. Aluminum cylinder heads and even the Corvette L88 427 with it's 12 1/2:1 compression ratio was an option!

As you can see in the photo above, the 780 CFM Holley carb used vacuum secondaries eventhough it was a dual feed 4 barrel carb. The vacuum advance is still intact providing a smooth, effortless rush of raw power when the gas pedal is placed to the floor! The sweet sound of solid lifters and the roar of that Holley carb sucking in air through the cowl induction at the rear of the hood scoop could only be soothing to the ear of the high performance minded owner behind the wheel.

Remember, the factory did not offer a cowl induction hood for the Camaro until the 1968 model year. This Dana Camaro was using a rear induction system with a glassed in wire mesh, in late 1966/early 1967!!
It may not have had the factory style foam or rubber, but it still worked at speed! The 427 Dana Camaro was built to compete against the Shelby GT500 Mustang.

Dick Guldstrand was very familiar with the 427 big block Chevy motor and the L-88 427 as well. He previously raced the first L-88 Corvette at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona for Roger Penske. During the time that these photos were taken, a 1967 factory L-88 Corvette was being prepared
back at DANA Chevrolet to enter the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans. He co-drove with Don Yenko and Bob Bondurant at that legendary race. So setting up a street driven solid lifter 427 or even the mighty L-88 427, was a piece of cake for Dick Guldstrand.

Dick Guldstrand was known as a chassis tuner. He was able to extract superb handling characteristics from early Corvettes. Dick applied this same knowledge to the Camaro. Naturally, the suspensions were set up to handle these massive amounts of power. The Dana Camaros could not only go fast in a straight line, but they could also corner with the best of what was on the street back in 1967 and 1968.

As proven in these pictures, these 427 DANA Camaros defined the meaning of "Laying Rubber". 12 second 1/4 mile elapsed times were common with the standard 3.55 rear end ratio. 11 second time slips were more the norm with 4.11 or 4.56 street/strip gears with slicks!!

When geared properly, top speed could surpass 160 MPH.

These 427 DANA Camros set the stage for other dealerships and eventually the factory to produce other 427 powered Camaros. As a historical note, these Camaros were built months before any other Chevy dealership produced their own.

The Dana Camaro was truly the first 427 Camaro conversion that was ever performed, anywhere.

If you own one of these Camaros or if a family member has one tucked away in their garage, please e-mail us so we can add the car to our Dana Camaro registry. We have been keeping a registry of these 427 Camaros since 1992 and we welcome any new additions. Our list continues to grow!

Please e-mail us at brunoscorvettes at yahoo dot com

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