22 ❘ August22, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.comT
wenty-fi ve is sort of a magic number in the old
car hobby. It’s the age that some states allow cars
to don collector plates. It’s the age that some car
shows use to determine if a car is welcome on their
show fi elds. Twenty-fi ve is sort of that invisible line where a
car graduates from “used” to “old.”
It’s hard for many of us to digest, but cars from the 1990s
are now achieving collector status, and this year the Class of
1994 joins the club. For a lot of purists, ’94 will never be in the
same conversation as 1957 or 1970 when it comes to iconic
machines, but every year has its high points, and 1994 had its
share.
What follows is a list of 10 cars from 1994 that fi gure to
hold their place as “collector cars” into the future. We pur-
posely avoided including European cars and other foreign ex-
otic/supercars in this list — it goes without saying that almost
every Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bugatti of any vintage is go-
ing to have great appeal to enthusiasts and collectors. We’re
narrowing our list to cars commonly seen on U.S. roads 25
years ago — machines that most of us can identify with.
Of course, there are more than 10 that deserve to be on the
list. But here’s 10 25th birthday machines we like and expect
to be on collectors’ radars for many years to come.1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Chevrolet built a total of 112,539 Camaro coupes and
7,260 Camaro convertibles in 1994, but it is not known how
many cars had the Z28 package. The newly bodied 1994 Ford
Mustang GT and Cobra were natural comparisons for the one-
year-old Camaro Z28, which had little trouble holding its class
crown. Among other things, Car & Driver pointed to the Ca-
maro’s top speed of 156 mph (versus 137 mph for the Mus-
tang) and noted “the Mustang got hammered.”
A new convertible body style returned for 1994. It was the
fi rst factory-built Camaro ragtop since the 1969 model con-
cluded the nameplate’s fi rst generation. The open model listed
for $22,565, compared to $19,235 for the coupe. At fi rst, the
convertible lacked some of the heavy-duty suspension parts
used on the coupe and its top speed was governed at 104 mph.The Camaro’s hot-running LT1 V-8 got sequential port fuel
injection, which was a defi nite improvement over multi-port
fuel injection.
You can fi nd nice examples today with all the right options
and in the right colors for $10,000 or less. If it’s wrong to want
one, then we don’t want to be right.1994 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
Only 448 were built. They carried a 405-hp 350 (5.7-liter)
V-8. They blasted down the quarter-mile in 13 seconds and
topped out at 180 mph. And they cost more than $60,000 —
almost twice as much as the regular Corvette. It all adds up to
a car you want to keep if you can get your hands on one.
The ZR1 again used the LT5 5.7-liter V-8. It was teamed
with a six-speed manual transmission. Arctic White, Admi-
ral Blue, Black, Bright Aqua Metallic, Polo Green Metallic,
Competition Yellow, Copper Metallic, Torch Red, Black Rose
Metallic and Dark Red Metallic were the 1994 colors. Interi-
ors came in beige, black, light beige, light gray, red and white.
There are some around with hardly any miles, and then
there are stories of guys piling up 200,000 miles on their su-
per-hot ’Vettes with nary an issue. Repairs and replacement
parts can be expensive, but how much is too much for a true
American dream machine?1994 Chevrolet Impala SS
The 1994 Chevrolet Impala SS was an odd duck. It’s
a four-door sedan, it’s big and it caters to comfort as much
as performance. However, putting the SS back in context, itClass of
19 9 4
10 keepers that
turned 25 this year
BY BRIAN EARNEST