The Complete Book of Camaro - Every Model Since 1967 (1st edition)

Author: David Newhardt, ISBN: 9780760339619

Introduction

The times they were a-changin'. A new generation, born in the immediate postwar years, was now entering society with money in their pockets and firm ideas about what they wanted and what they didn't want. And one of the things they didn't want was a car that looked like what Mom and Dad drove. To these baby boomers, their parents had driven bulbous, hulking machines that looked old the day they were built. Station wagons, boring sedans . . . no, the boomers wanted excitement on wheels, a mechanical partner that was young looking, fleet-footed, and inexpensive.

Ford Motor Company read the tea leaves well and gambled on a new vehicle built on the bones of a sturdy economy car. Ford felt that the new Mustang was a secretary's cars and didn't have illusions that it would set the motoring world on fire. But that's exactly what the "pony car" did. Dearborn was overwhelmed by the public's reaction to this simple and cheap 2 + 2 equipped with either a six-cylinder or a small-block V-8.

On the other side of town, General Motors watched the Mustang phenomenon unfold with disbelief. The senior GM executives had been assured that mighty General Motors had the sporty, affordable market covered, especially in regards to Chevrolet. "We'll fight the new Mustang with our established Corvair!" Unfortunately for GM, a lawyer named Ralph Nader had just released a book damning the Corvair for egregious safety omissions and General Motors for allowing such a dangerous vehicle to be built in the first place. While early Corvairs had some issues, they weren't the death-mobiles that Nader painted them out to be. For the 1965 model year, a restyled and re-engineered Corvair hit the streets only a few months after the Mustang debuted. But the damage was done; Corvair sales were a mere fraction of Mustang production totals. It was clear to even the most thick-headed GM executive that the rear-engine, air-cooled Corvair was not going to put a dent in Mustang sales. Something else was needed, and quickly.

It's said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and General Motors wasn't above stealing a page from another's playbook if it meant that it could "borrow" the concept to create a similar vehicle to the Mustang. And that's exactly what GM did. By using the Nova economy car as the basis for a long-hood/short-deck sporty car, GM could price it competitively to the Mustang. A vehicle's chassis/platform is traditionally the most expensive and time-consuming part to develop, and by utilizing the Nova's capable if boring underpinnings, Chevrolet could field a competitor to the dreaded Mustang in a decent amount of time. And that's exactly what it did.

The response was heartening to Chevrolet, who knew that there was a body of buyers who wouldn't get caught dead in a Ford, but who were also frustrated that GM in general, and Chevrolet in particular. These folks flocked to Chevrolet dealerships, and soon a genuine battle for a narrow slice of the market was in full fight. The contest would last for decades, with the lead swinging in both directions. As the twenty-first century got rolling, the plug was pulled on the Camaro, but soon cooler heads prevailed, and within a few years showrooms were once again stocked with new Camaros. The struggle for this slice of the sales pie continues to this day, with the consumer being the lucky recipient of Chevrolet's efforts. What will the Camaro of the future look like? One thing is for sure, it will cause hearts, young and old, to skip when one rolls by. While the youth of the 1960s wanted a fun car to show off in, today all ages want to show off in a Camaro.