Before the COPO Yenko Camaros, there
was a mighty Camaro built in southern California, in the
city of Los Angeles, at a dealership by the name of DANA
Chevrolet.
High Performance was nothing new to
the individuals operating this dealership. One of the
co-owners was a gentleman by the name of Paul Doski and
the other gentleman was named Peyton Cramer. Peyton 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. Between the two of these
men, only fabulous cars could emerge from the new
performance oriented DANA Chevrolet.
The powerplant of choice was the L72
427/425 HP mill from the Corvette. The engines were
delivered in crates to DANA and then installed into these
legendary Camaros. Doug's headers were standard
equipment. Delivery of one with a tri-power 3X2 setup was
not unusual. Aluminum cylinder heads and even the
Corvette L88 427 was an option!
Naturally, the suspensions were set up
to handle these massive amounts of power.
As proven in these pictures, these 427
DANA Camaros defined the meaning of "Laying
Rubber". 12 second 1/4 mile 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!!
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 the
first 427 Camaro conversion that was ever done.
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!
Dana
Camaro e-mail
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