Car Collector Corner; Reader needs info on 1998 Z-28 SLP and explaining today’s Specialty Vehicle Engineering

Q: Greg, help! I am the first and only owner of a 1998 Camaro Z28 SS SLP I ordered new from Joe Panian Chevrolet. I’ve attached a copy of the original window sticker and SLP price sticker to this message.  

I’ve been trying to establish a value on this vehicle and can’t really find anything comparable. I believe you have even said there were no Z28 SS SLP’s made in 1998. Here’s the proof. I have all documentation on the car, down to every fill up and oil change. Additional SLP doc, too. The car is in excellent condition, no accidents, primarily highway miles on vacations, garaged every winter, never seen snow, barely seen rain, etc. The odometer is at 100k after 24 years of summer driving. Everything is original.

Can you help me? I want to give my car a fair price, but I don’t want to give it away either. Also, thanks for responding to me via email.  Andrea Stickney, Stockbridge, Michigan.

A: Hi Andrea. I guess I’ll start with your main question, the value of your car. Unfortunately, the value of your 1998 Camaro Z28 SS SLP hasn’t appreciated the way I hoped they would. NADA has your car listed at a high retail of $23,500 in SS form and the Z28 model drops to $17,100. I’d add a few thousand more though being it’s an official SLP enhanced SS, but that doesn’t help much either. These F-Body Camaro and Firebirds just aren’t brining top dollar by any means and offer a great car to get involved in the collector car hobby. Average retail on the Z28 is just $11,400, while the SS is $15,300. 

Now, on to explaining the SLP features of your car. I know this is confusing, but you are right and wrong at the same time! You are correct that you bought your Z28 SS SLP at the Chevy dealer, but not quite right when you say I said there were no Chevy Z28 SS SLPs made in 1998. What I should have explained was that in 1998, and for that matter all the years SLPs were ever built, Chevrolet itself never made even one of them. It was an aftermarket co-op that made all the SLP conversions possible. 

Let me explain what SLP is, right from its beginnings. Its founder is the legendary Tom’s River New Jersey native Ed Hamburger (NHRA champ and initially known for his oil pans), and SLP stands for Street Legal Performance. 

The former SLP homepage explained it perfectly. 

“Established in 1987, founder Ed Hamburger’s SLP has stood for quality performance enhancements for late-model American muscle cars from the beginning, and it continues this commitment today. SLP’s initial claim to fame says it all, it was the first company in the performance aftermarket to develop and manufacture a 50-state emission-legal performance package specifically for V8 Camaros and Firebirds. True to its name (Street Legal Performance), the vision of SLP’s part program is to not just provide performance, but to do so with the best engineering practices and quality possible, far exceeding the industry standards.

Still located in Toms River, N.J., SLP became a leader first in performance cold air intakes and then grew quickly into what is still one of the most respected names in total performance conversions, exhaust systems and cold air intakes for many muscle cars, past and present.

“When SLP received approval from Chevrolet in 1996 to offer the SS base package and other options on the Camaro Z28 model, it marked the re-introduction of the SS nameplate after a 24-year absence. Right from the start, response from the entire Chevy team and its dealers, performance enthusiasts and media has been, and continues to be, overwhelmingly positive,” said Hamburger.

“The 1996 Camaro SS instantly became the new benchmark in affordable F-car high performance. Even though the overall sports car segment experienced double-digit sales declines in each of the past two model years, Camaro SS increased its momentum,” Hamburger added.

One of the most important benefits about these special vehicles is the fact that Chevrolet and Pontiac offered full warranty on the SLP upgrades. SLP has been in the business of Firebird and Camaro conversions dating back to 1991 with the Pontiac Firebird Firehawk and extending right on through GM’s 2002 F-Body final year when they ended its 4th generation run.

An important milestone for SLP was the addition of limited production Specialty Vehicles in 1992, sold exclusively through GM dealers. Ed’s efforts with GM were rewarded with the GM-approved 4th generation RPO (Regular Production Option) Ship-Through Codes for the Camaro SS, RS, Firehawk, WS-6 and Comp-TA Specialty Vehicle programs. Over the next seven years Ed’s Company produced over 55,000 specialty vehicles for GM and its Chevy and Pontiac dealers, from its 140,000 sq. ft. Montreal-based assembly facility. 

In August of 2002, GM ended production of the 4th generation Camaro and Firebird, which also ended production of the Company’s Camaro SS and Firehawk Specialty Vehicle Ship-Through Programs, and the closing of its Montreal facility. However, SVE is alive and well, is still building its fabulous conversions, especially with its latest Yenko/SC (supercharged) Camaros. See specialtyvehileengineering.com for more on current SVE offerings and Ed Hamburger’s impressive business history. SLE is still located at 1501 Industrial Way North, Toms River, N.J. 08755. The phone number is (732) 240-3696.

In summary, other than its official blessing, General Motors (Chevy and Pontiac in this example) had nothing mechanically to do with the SLP upgrades, other than giving full GM warranties to your Z28 SS SLP. In your case, your Z28 went to SLP Engineering in Troy Michigan for the SLP upgrade and then sent back to the dealer for sale. 

Thanks for your letters Andrea, and at this point I’m hoping I haven’t confused you even more! And don’t feel too bad about the F-Body collector car values. I have two of them myself, a ’94 Trans-Am and a ’98 Z28. Let’s hope the values move up in the coming years. 

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated automotive writer. He welcomes reader questions or comments on collector cars, auto nostalgia and motorsports at 303 Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840 or email to greg@gregzyla.com.)