How can you add Chevy to the Class of 1986 without mentioning the Camaro Z28 and the IROC-Z? Though still derided by some in the collector car world, these third-generation Camaros have an active and vocal enthusiast base.

Chrysler kept the Z28 as the Camaro's high-performance leader through the low-performance years of the 1970s and early 1980s, right into the third-generation of GM's F-body platform. The 1985 model year proved to be a big one for Camaro enthusiasts, with the introduction of both the IROC-Z - with its ground effects, 16-inch wheels, Delco Bilstein shocks, front and rear anti-roll bars, fog lamps, and hood louvers - and the Tuned Port Injection 5.0L V-8, good for 215-hp, or about 25 more than the carbureted 5.0L H.O. V-8.

For 1986, not much changed on the Z28 or IROC-Z as much of their equipment and styling cues filtered down to the Camaro Sport Coupe, though they both received 145-MPH speedometers late in the model year to replace the much-despised 85-MPH units. The TPI 5.0L V-8, due to a camshaft change, actually lost 25-hp, but gained 10 pound-feet of torque.

As in 1985, manual transmissions were available behind all carbureted engines; the TPI engine could only be paired with the four-speed automatic transmission. Both the Z28 and IROC-Z sold well in 1986: 88,132 and 49,585 respectively, combined outselling the base Camaro by a wide margin.

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