• ads or marketing materials for Hendrick Motorsports Camaros (SS... LT4 SS... V6...)
• magazine articles about any of the '97 Hendrick Camaros
• documentation/paperwork (that you don't already see examples of on this page) such as copies of the ordering paperwork (I want to know if these could be ordered without stripes... so far everything suggests that you could NOT order one without stripes.)
• written proof or any sort of documentation that Hendrick had a total of 100 Camaros built. I have not seen documentation that shows exactly 30 V6 Hendrick cars were built.
• photos of a HMS SS with silver hardtop roof and black stripes (that isn't the '96 prototype). There were only 7 hardtop cars, and I don't know if any of them had the D82 monochromatic roof paint option.

What makes these special?

Visually, the stripes are distinct, as this was the only way to order a silver '97 SS with black stripes without buying aftermarket stripes and putting them on yourself. It's slightly possible that these could be ordered without stripes, but I haven't found enough proof to convince myself yet (see bottom of page for more discussion about this). (It appears that Graphic Express sells these same stripe decals in 2022 if you need replacements, but you're the guinea pig if you decide to order them. I don't know if they are 100% accurate.) The wheels are also distinct, because they are Firehawk wheels with a Chevy bow-tie on the center cap. I can't recall those center caps appearing on any other Camaros other than the Hendrick cars. [Let me know if I'm wrong.] The cars have several Hendrick Motorsports logos on them... from emblems on the exterior, to a second set of floor mats with embroidered logos. And finally, all HMS SSes have SLP's Dual/Dual exhaust system, so they technically have a performance upgrade any other '97 SS would not necessarily have.

The package was primarily an appearance package, and while not impossible to replicate... it'd actually be pretty difficult to fake one.

The Prototype

VIN: 2G1FP22P5T2133036

The prototype was actually a 1996 Z28 that SLP upfitted for media/PR needs. According to a letter from Mark Church (SLP's Sales Manager in 1997), it was upfitted with SS content in Troy, MI (at SLP's marketing and testing facility at 1465 Axtell Rd, Troy, MI 48084) instead of in Canada where all production SSes were transformed from Z28s to SSes. During this period of time, SLP was in discussion with Rick Hendrick to develop specialty vehicles to market and sell through the Hendrick dealerships having a motorsports theme. This Camaro was used to develop the theme for the Hendrick dealerships utilizing black 30th Anniversary style stripes and other cosmetic options.

This particular car spent several weeks on display in the Hendrick Motorsports museum outside of Charlotte, NC prior to being sold to Jacky Jones Pontiac (4226 Hwy. 64, Murphy, NC 28906).

It was not a production SS.

I only know a few pieces of the puzzle with this car. I know that the car was appraised by Floyd Garrett's Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville, TN on August 27,1997. Robert Gunter was either the owner in November 1997, someone interested in buying the car who backed out, or someone who worked at Jacky Jones Pontiac. I don't have a clue who he is, but he is the person Mark Church, SLP Sales Manager, wrote to on November 13, 1997 (see letter below). Douglas Ferdarko, the second owner who lived in Sumter, SC at the time, purchased the car from a man in Atlanta, GA in ~1997 with approximately 14,000 miles on the car. He replaced the SLP Dual/Dual exhaust with SLP Loudmouth. Doug was in the Air Force and moved to California in 2002, and he sold the car with possibly 33,000 miles on it to someone in San Jose, CA, so he could buy an '87 Buick Grand National. Dustin Stednitz owned it in February 2011 in Las Vegas, NV when he contacted me about the car. He bought it from a co-worker who was not a "car guy," and supposedly this co-worker's brother is who bought the car from Doug. He had found Doug online, and contacted him about offering the car to him, if he wanted to buy it back. But Doug declined because the car had been wrecked and the wheels and stripes weren't the same anymore; it didn't look like it did when he owned it. Dustin then put the car on ebay in March 2011, and I assume it sold. I haven't seen it since then to my knowledge.

The car was no longer in original condition by the time Dustin purchased it. It had black wheels on it and was the daily driver for at least one of the previous owners. The car had been involved in a minor accident when the 3rd or 4th owner owned it. The stripes were repainted (instead of replaced with black 30th Anniversary SS stripes for some reason) with black metallic paint and the stripe design was not accurate. You'll notice that the 3rd or 4th owner made a lot of changes. Side markers are clear, front blinkers are clear, front bumper has been repainted, the red bowtie on grill is missing, no black accents were repainted on the front bumper, the wheels were changed, and it's missing the SS emblems on the sides and rear. The car still had the Hurst shifter. It had 94,000 miles on it in 2011 when the photos below were taken.

More photos can be found here on the SLP Camaro SS Registry website.

Vintage pictures of the '96 Prototype

I was able to locate and get in contact with Doug, the 2nd owner, and he was really helpful with information and history for this page. Incredibly, he was able to provide me digital photos of his old film photos from ~1998-2000 of the car. He believes the photos that include car #54 are from April of 2000. It's a real shame that the 3rd or 4th owner didn't return the car to its original appearance after the accident they had.

Vintage Photos

These are old pictures of Hendrick cars. I don't know the source of these photos, but they were taken at SLP's Charlotte location. In my opinion... there are several non-HMS SSes in these photos, because some of these SSes have ZR1 wheels (like regular SSes had) instead of Firehawk wheels. Sebring Silver Metallic was NOT exclusive to the HMS cars, so these cars with the wrong wheels might be regular SSes. You'll also notice there are V6 Camaros with their own unique stripe design as well. I can't say whether all of these cars are completed or not; several may have still needed additional content added to them (like stripes) when these photos were taken.

Standard Content

The MSRP for the Hendrick Motorsports Camaro SS Special Edition was $6,478.00 (regardless of whether it was a hardtop, T-top, or convertible).

• 305 hp, 5.7L LT1 engine

• Composite SS hood

• Forced air induction

• SS rear deck lid spoiler

• BFGoodrich Comp T/A 275/40 ZR17 tires (245/50 ZR16 on the convertibles)

• 17x9 5 spoke Firehawk-style chrome wheels (16x8 5 spoke Firehawk-style chrome wheels on convertibles)

• Level 1 SS upgraded suspension components on coupes (both hardtops and t-tops), but the convertibles retained the stock Z28 suspension

• SLP Dual/Dual exhaust system (normally a $499 option on other SSes)

• Quaker State Synquest synthetic oil

• SS graphics replaced the Z28 graphics

• Two Camaro SS key fobs and a Camaro SS dash nameplate

• SS owners manual supplement

• Hendrick Limited Edition car cover with locking cable and totebag (a SLP car cover was normally a $159 option)

• Hendrick Limited Edition badging on car, as well as key fobs

• Hendrick Limited Edition floor mats (SLP floor mats were normally a $99 option)

• Black stripes on the hood and deck lid*

• Sebring Silver Metallic exterior paint

*= There's been claims over the years that some of these cars may have never had stripes installed. I discussed this at the bottom of the page.

Optional Equipment

• Hurst Six-Speed Manual Shifter - $349.00

• Level II Bilstein Sport Suspension Package - $999.00 (convertibles weren't allowed to have this)

• Torsen Torque Sensing Limited Slip Differential with AAM Aluminum Rear Axle Cover - $999.00 (includes mandatory Performance Lubricants Package)

• Oil Cooler - $299.00

Either "Comp T/A 17" R1 Competition Series Tires with Second Set of SS Wheels - $1,899.00" was not an allowed option for the HMS cars, or nobody ordered that option on one.

Production Number Overview

I have not seen this number on any official document, but it's been claimed a total of 100 Hendrick Camaros were made: 61 SSes, 9 LT4 SSes, and 30 V6 cars. Doug Ferdarko (2nd owner of the '96 prototype supported this claim).

A total of 61 Sebring Silver SSes were built and all were 1997 models. All of these 61 cars were silver. This number has been verified by SLP.

A total of 9 30th Anniversary Arctic White with Hugger Orange striped Camaro SSes with LT4 engines exist. This number has been verified by SLP. These cars were among the 30th Anniversary SSes with LT4s that SLP built and are part of the production numbers for those cars. Xsta Z 28 is the expert on these LT4 cars and posted more info here. Additional info here. I'll make a page about these eventually.

There were (supposedly 30) HMS 3.8L V6 cars, and they could be had in various colors including red, black, and silver. Black cars had white stripes instead of black. Evident in photos... these cars also sported Firehawk wheels, but I would assume they were all the 16x8 variation. These cars had unique stripes I haven't seen elsewhere.

The photos above are of SLP's official production records for the Hendrick SSes.
Don't bother squinting at these numbers, I already did that and reproduced them below.

Production Number Specifics

SLP option breakdown

• 6 had the Torsen limited slip differential (all 6 were manual T-top coupes)

• 45 had the Hurst shifter (4 manual hardtop coupes, 39 manual T-top coupes, 2 convertibles)

• 9 had the optional Level 2 suspension (all 9 were manual T-top coupes)

• 34 had the oil cooler (1 automatic hardtop, 2 manual hardtops, 4 automatic T-tops, 25 manual T-tops, 1 automatic convertible, 1 manual convertible)

Body style and transmission breakdown

• There were 7 hardtop coupes. 3 had automatics, 4 had manuals.

• There were 51 T-top coupes. 12 had automatics, 39 had manuals.

• There were 3 convertibles. 1 had automatics, 2 had manuals.

Overall, there were 16 automatics and 45 manuals.

Hendrick Dealership Additions

According to the owner of #54 (who unfortunately totaled his car in 2003)... Supposedly 4 of the cars had side stripes like his, and they were dealer installed, not SLP installed. This information was based on his memory, not documentation. Naturally, his SLP build sheet doesn't mention this stripe, because it was not installed by SLP.

Feature: one of the three convertibles

This particular car was owned by John Reidy, who contacted me September 3, 2005 about his car. His car was one of the two manual convertibles. It was completely stock other than the shift knob (it was originally equipped with a Hurst knob). He sold the car in 2010. Its VIN was 2G1FP32P1V2152997 and it was SS #2851. It arrived at SLP 5/22/97 and was finished and shipped out on 5/26/97.

According to a VIN decoder, it had 1AZ (which means it was a Sold Order (ordered by a customer) and not ordered as dealer stock). The rest of the codes are pretty typical without any surprises. It did feature both R7T and WU8 (normally just 1 or the other was necessary for a '97 SS, but some cars featured both). It also had VK3, so it had a front license plate bracket (that normally would have been placed in the trunk for the dealership to install during make-ready).

From what John was able to dig up, this car was originally delivered to City Chevrolet in Charlotte, NC and ended up at the Cary Auto Mall in Cary, NC as a new car. Although the RPO codes don't support the unusual history of this car's ownership, John heard it began its life as a "corporate vehicle" at this dealership and was eventually sold to its first owner on July 15, 1998 with 6,525 miles. According to John, its "corporate vehicle" registration has two different rumors surrounding it. The first rumor is that the car sat in the service department under a car cover waiting for Rick Hendrick to pick it up, and he never did. The second rumor is that the General Manager at the Cary Auto Mall used it as his demo. John wasn't able to find this general manager to confirm or deny this, as the GM had changed jobs since then. Even though the RPO codes don't support either of these stories*, they don't deny it either. The RPO codes just support that it was ordered by a customer and it was considered a sold vehicle, intended for the specific buyer who wanted it ordered.

*= An example of an RPO code that might imply an unusual owner history might be R7G (North American Operations Company Vehicle Evaluation Program, meaning that the car was driven by a GM employee for a time period before it was sold. It's a code that appears on some/all of the Brickyard 400 festival cars and probably others).

The convertible below (#15) is not the same car as John Reidy's. I saved these pics of #15 on May 4, 2008, and to my knowledge, John owned his convertible from 2005-2010, and this isn't it. #15 had a manual transmission and the optional Hurst shifter. The owner of #15 Photoshopped out the VIN for some reason on the build sheet when selling the car in 2008.

Was it possible to order a Hendrick SS without stripes?

I'm skeptical, but I've seen at least 3 separate Hendrick Motorsports SSes without stripes in the past few years. Dallas Cancade owns one, and he said the previous owner told him the car was 1 of 6 ordered without stripes. If any paperwork ever surfaces, I will gladly update this page, but I'm hesitant to list information that isn't supported (so far) by any old paperwork. As it stands right now, there's no documentation whatsoever that supports that these cars could be ordered without stripes. If you have proof to the contrary, email me it.

Why am I skeptical? For several reasons.

1. Vinyl stripes degrade over time, particularly in the sun. These cars are 24 years old at the time I'm writing this, and unless the car was garaged its entire life, the stripes are likely looking pretty worn out by now on all of them.

2. People lie to sell a car. I have read classified ads for '97 30th Anniversary Camaro Z28s and SSes (the white with orange stripe ones) that have flat out lied that the car was ordered without stripes. There was not a single production '97 30th Anniversary Edition Z28 or SS that did not come with the hugger orange stripes. Not a single one. If the seller didn't make up the lie, the previous seller they bought from did.

3. People believe and spread inaccurate guesses, which turn into rumors, and if sites like mine don't exist, they turn into inaccurate facts. People operate off their memory, and memories aren't without errors. I read inaccurate production number claims all the time.

4. People are cheap. Many people skip painting the black accents on their front bumpers when they get in a minor accident and have to replace the bumper. "You're going to charge me HOW MUCH to spray a little black paint?! And my insurance isn't going to cover it?!" Some people (like those 30th Anni Edition owners who lied) would rather pull the old, worn out vinyl stripes off the car than have to locate an old set that was never installed or a reproduction set for ~$200. There are so many inaccurate stripe designs out there, that it would be difficult to find a reproduction set that matches 100% without a lot of research. (If you know what company made the 30th Anniversary stripes and similar, be sure to email me. Also email me if you know of a company that makes the most faithful reproduction stripes, and I'll add that info to this page. I have found that Graphic Express seems to offer the exact pattern, but without someone ordering it and installing it, I don't know for sure).

Dallas contacted David Hamburger (of SLP) and Dave did reply with "Some were ordered with stripe delete, not sure how many. I turned over all of my Hendrick build information last year to Rick's assistant at the Hendrick Museum so that they could finalize whatever they were doing as part of the Museum." This is a good source of info, but even Dave isn't immune to 24 years of time going by. All of the lies I have read in classified ads of '97 30th Anniversary Editions that were missing their stripes make me really hard to convince.

With that all said... Dallas Cancade's car has only 49,000 miles on it and it looks like it has been garaged most of its life. It doesn't appear to have ghost stripes in the paint from the car having stripes for ~10 years and then having them pulled off. I believe the other two cars without stripes I've seen were rather high mileage, and the pictures weren't good enough to tell if there were ghost stripes on the paint. Below are some photos of Dallas' car.

I'll update if I ever learn more about whether ordering one of these without stripes was possible.