How to identify a 35th Anniversary Camaro.

I was asked by a friend the other day, how to identify a true Limited Edition Camaro SS; so I thought I would do a brief tutorial on how to identify one.

So you are not a Scott Settlemire clone, you love the 35th Anniversary Camaro Limited Edition car, but you do not know if the car you are looking at is the real thing, or a cleverly built fake.

The cars that were designated to be built into Anniversary, LE cars were built all in the same manner; meaning, unlike 1997 Anniversary cars, where interior options, wheels and body trim level were a factor, the 2002 model was available in only one iteration, (the SS).

The visible cues are easy to distinguish, as the 2002 Limited Edition Camaro was available in Bright Rally Red only with silver checkered flag stripes. The car was available in T-Top and convertible model only. The most notorious visible attribute and tell tale are the machine finished ten-spoke SS wheels, which were exclusive to the Limited Edition model, and the Z7D Pace Cars.

The interior of the LE was unique in that it too was available in only one iteration, and that was ebony with pewter inserts, with the 35th Anniversary logo embroidered into the headrests.

Now to get to basics, any and all of what I just wrote can be added and or changed to make the car look authentic, however the VIN Number does not lie neither does the RPO code list found on the driver side door jamb. The SS, as you have already been informed is identified by the code, “WU8†which is also present on the Anniversary model, in addition the code, “Z4C†which is the code that designates an Anniversary Special, or Limited Edition model. There was no exception to the rule of “Z4C†and was the constant for the LE cars identification.

General Motors identified the Limited Edition cars at the St. Teresa plant in the same manor; however, many cars were designated to have second sticker content and came equipped with identification decals from SLP on both drivers and passenger side doors. The second sticker from SLP does not contain any information to distinguish a production SS from an LE; rather only lists the vehicles add on equipment only.

The Limited Edition was available as a Base Alterations package, meaning the car came equipped with only the appearance package and nothing more; or could be loaded with nearly every option available from SLP.

If you ever come across a car that is represented as a 35th LE, and the car does not have the “Z4C†alpha numeric code, you can bet your bottom dollar that the car is a fake!

 

How about the stripes Rick? Is there something we should look at with those?

 

nice to know. i still need to get a better look at the supposedly real one back home. the guy said its a z4c, but its nbm with chrome zr1's. he said it was one of only like 57 "color test" cars built by slp. he insists its a real Z4C too. it has the 35th stripes, and complete interior down to the floor mats and plaques.

 

Yes! There were a lot of details i wanted to put in this thread, but at 200 in the morning, my brain gets a little fuzzy LOL!

The Stripes that were found on the Limited Edition SS are made of a very high grade low porosity vinyl that is very shiny, when compared to ones found at say Phoenix Graphix. Allow me to illustrate. The first pic is of a Limited Edition car; notice how shiny she stripes are, they almost look like paint.

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Now look at the next pic, these are Phoenix Graphix stripes and are the best on the market, as they are built on OEM tooling, however are not the same texture or grade of vinyl as the originals. Note how grainy the texture is, and the appearance has a low sheen when compared to the former picture.

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Lastly, all of the stripes installed on the LE cars were done by the staff at SLP, and were applied with exact dimensions; meaning , you could take 10 LE cars, and put them next to each other, and the stripes would land in the same position each time.

 

You friend is not being truthful with you. I have confirmed this with evrey source I know including Scott Settlemire, and I can say with 100% accuracy that there were no other colors selected for the Z4C program other than Bright Ralley Red.

Test cars were never sold, as they never had a recorded VIN, and any and all test cars are sent to the shredder when the R&D is complete. One thing you want to pay special attention for, is lets say that you do find a car that is say, Onyx, or NBM, and it has the code Z4C in the door, how will you know the car is a fake? You want to look at the color code at the bottom, chances are the color code will read WA-U-8774 for BRR, which means someone might have taken a decal from a true LE/SS and put it on another car to pass off as the real thing. That is why you always want to check the VIN in the dash, and verify it against the door decal, and the pink slip, to make sure the car is not a clone.

 

Get me the last 8 digits of the VIN number of this supposed NBM Z4C......

 

Scott, am I on the money with this identification guide?

I know another key piece of information I left out was, all Anniversary model LE cars for 2002 had anodized black front calipers, and not the natural aluminum cast units found on the remainder of the F-Bodies.

 

I want to share a little piece of information with you all, as you all know, I have posted in this thread, that there was only one color for the Limited Edition SS for 2002. However, there was one black test car, and it was believed to be dismantled; however, it was not. The car was sold at the GM auction, and it has a rare set of test LE stripes that are green. The only stripes left on the car are the decklid and spoiler stripes, the hood and facia stripes are gone.

 

Pics? I think the next anniversary Camaro should be in black, even if it is the most popular color on the fifth gens now.

 

i would like to see pics of that car.

 

I do not have pics of the car, and if I am not mistaken, Mr. F-Bod father may know the whereabouts of said vehicle.

 

Hi i'm new on here, and looking at buying a 2002 ss aniversary on ebay uk, this is the vin # 2G1FP22G222139732 any help would be very much appreciated ! Mikey

 

Can't tell you anything based on the vin Mikey. All the vin tells me is that the car is a V8.

Is there any way you can post a pic of the door sticker with All the alpha numerical RPO codes? That will tell us what you have.

The only way to tell if it is as SS from the vin number is to call the dealer and ask for the price of the hood or the spoiler based on that vin. If they reply with an astronomical price for either the hood or the spoiler, it's probably an SS. Another tell tale is looking at the tire size sticker. Should read 275/40-17.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your response, I have asked the guy selling the car to send me pictures of the door sticker, still waiting to hear back from him !
I think I will take it that its a clone if he does'nt send the pics, and look elsewhere, trouble is, there are'nt too many Camaro's in the UK for sale, let alone SS annivesary models !

 

If it is a LE, it has to have the RPO code Z4C. There is no exception. If it is missing code, you can bet it's a fake. Good luck.

 

Nope. No plate under the hood. Nothing more than the RPO codes on the door sticker indicating an Anniversary Edition.

Same with a production SS.

 

Some people have opted to purchase the limited time offer SLP SS head plate exclusively made for the LS1 engine that has the build number on it. And some, like me have an aftermarket custom one made that has the above information with the LE build number.

My wife's car has the SLP made head plate, and mine has an aftermarket.

There have been some good clone cars out there that have real SLP parts and the correct Avery stripes that look very legit but they are missing the Z4C code. And they are crafty in how they advertise the car. "2002 Camaro SS with Anniversary package"