Sleeper Six

Chevy’s “new experimental Turbo Camaro” mounted a Schwitzer turbocharger to the intake manifold of the Camaro’s inline-six engine.

- Drew Hardin

There’s no question the 1970s were dark times for performance cars. It was as if a light switch had been thrown after 1971. Engine compression ratios dropped, and with them output levels, all to rein in emissions and insurance costs while boosting fuel economy. It didn’t help that automakers’ power ratings changed from gross to net horsepower in 1973, making even unchanged engines seem wimpy by comparison to the previous year’s version.

It may have looked like Detroit caved to these drastic changes, but the performance-minded never stopped searching for ways to keep the fun in cars. Hot Rod magazine associate editor C.J. Baker dug up one such experiment and wrote about this “Sleeper Six” Camaro in the magazine’s June 1972 issue.