I'm not buying it either. Technology wise there's no comparison here in the early 80s, an aluminum block SOHC, FI'd, well balanced car vs. an iron block, pushrod, carb'd, KITT wanna be.
These generation Camaros had very weak frames. I helped a kid in 1999 redo the front brakes on his '89 and we got the calipers, rotors, etc. off. The car was on jack stands all torn apart and then we couldn't get the hood open! The frame had flexed so much that the hood wouldn't we release. We tried everything then wound up putting the rotors and wheels back on to set it on the ground and "pop" it released.
That being said the big 3 american engineers have upped their game quite a bit in recent years. I love seeing this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqkyWhVBSKU