For the 1968 sales year, GM did very little alterations to the currently-existing Camaro; the body was identical to the '67, except that for its second year of production, Chevy deleted from the Camaro the corner vent windows, and side markers were added in compliance with the federal safety regulations of the time. Another cosmetic change for the '68 Camaro was the switch from round to rectangular parking lights on the grille, but otherwise, '67-8 ponies are often hard to decipher at first glance.
The true hallmark, however, of the 1968 Camaro lies in the introduction of the 350bhp version of the 396; when it came to road racing, the 302-powered Z28 was the king of the Camaros from '67-'69, but the SS396 was the one RPO option that could have easily turned the mild-mannered Camaro into a tire-shredding, street-and-strip warrior.
Likewise, the pony car showdown lived as much in the Mopar world as it did in the GM market, though Dodge was the last of the "Big 3" to join the pony car movement with the Challenger. Introduced as a variant of the 'Cuda platform, Dodge's Challenger had a 2-inch longer wheelbase than the Plymouth, mostly for the purpose of increasing interior space. Like Chevy's Camaro, the Dodge Challenger was a pony car that offered everything from a straight-6 to a 426 Hemi, which meant that Dodge's options spectrum was one that was broad, and for consumers, the Challenger--like the Camaro--could be ordered as an everyday user or a race track bruiser, or else something in-between.
But for the Mopar world there is offered a challenge: manning-up to the legend of the 396. In this clip, the '68 Camaro SS not only smokes the 440-powered Challenger, it damn-near obliterates it. Now, for anyone who wants to be a "bench racer," a word of warning from the GM junkies: the video does show a Camaro spankin' a Challenger. No wonder at all, especially in this context, that Chevy so strongly represents what we love about America, especially when what we love has defeated the “other side” once more!
