Revealed with much pomp in June 2023, the Garage 56 Edition is the rarest Camaro of them all for the sixth generation's final model year. A meager 56 units were produced for the US market, including the car featured in the dyno testing video below.
Pictured on Hennessey Performance Engineering's Dynojet automotive dynamometer, the supercharged V8-engined coupe makes 579.09 horsepower and 597.78 pound-feet (810.48 Nm) at the wheels. GM says the ZL1-specific LT4 small block develops 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet (881 Nm) at the crankshaft. Otherwise put, we're dealing with drivetrain losses of 10.9 percent for horsepower and just over 8.0 percent for torque.
Although said numbers are pretty impressive for a car with the curb weight of the Camaro, bear in mind that General Motors dropped the ball early in the sixth generation's life cycle. The largest US automaker of them stopped pouring resources into the Camaro after introducing the 10-speed automatic as the replacement for the old 8-speed transmission back in 2016 for model year 2017.
It's rather curious how Camaro chief engineer Al Oppenheiser wasn't allowed to take the sixth generation further, and it's even more curious how Al was reassigned to the AV/EV organization in January 2019. The biggest problem, however, was GM's reluctance to take on the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat.
Both of them pack in excess of 700 ponies at the crank, and both of them are stupidly fast at the drag strip. Faster than the Camaro, that is, although the aftermarket can make the Gen 6 incredibly fast as well. Take, for instance, HPE's upgrade packages.
Photo: Chevrolet
The list kicks off with the so-called HPE850, which – as implied – improves the LT4 from the standard 650/650 to 850 horsepower and a massive 860 pound-feet (1,166 Nm) of torque. To put those numbers into perspective, bear in mind that GM's most powerful internal combustion-engined production vehicle is the C7-generation Corvette ZR1 with its 755-horsepower LT5 engine. Speaking of which, the LT5 is the only fifth-gen small block to combine direct injection and port fuel injection.
The C8-gen Corvette ZR1 is due for the 2025 model year with 800-plus horsepower from a twin-turbo V8 with a flat-plane crankshaft. Turning our attention back to the Camaro and the most famous automotive tuner from Texas, the list continues with the Demon-challenging Exorcist. It's rated at 1,000 ponies and a staggering 966 pound-feet (1,310 Nm). For reference, the Duramax V8 turbo diesel in the Silverado HD offers 975 pound-feet (1,322 Nm).
John Hennessey's company further sweetens the deal with the Exorcist Final Edition, which is limited to 57 units. Why 57? Because it commemorates 57 years (make that 58 years in 2024) since the original 'Maro rolled out for '67 in response to the Mustang's commercial success.
GM finished Gen 6 production in December 2023, the final car being a 1LE-equipped ZL1 with a stick shift rather than the quicker-shifting automatic transmission. Going forward, the Camaro nameplate will return for a yet-to-be-detailed vehicle, most likely an electric one. The jury is out whether the Gen 7 will be an electric sedan or an electric crossover. Whatever the future may hold, there's no denying the newcomer will be based on the BEV3 architecture of the Cadillac Lyriq.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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