Retro, but not retro enough
Peiper and I must be having some kind of trans-Atlantic synergy. He puts up a post on old planes and cars, just as I’m finishing off an eye candy post on the new Chevrolet Camaro. Buy one now, just in case GM goes out of business halfway through the model year. You’ll probably never see vehicles made like this again.
I remember going to the dealership with my folks when I was a little kid. Another one of our VW Beetles had given up the ghost and it was time for a new car. When we visited the Chevy agency down in Park Ridge NJ, I gravitated to the 1967 Camaro RS like iron filings to a magnet. As a 7 year old, the only practical aspects I could see was that the car was not very large, it had a much roomier back seat than the VW, and it had an actual trunk in the back, where the trunk belonged, unlike the Beetle’s oddball front storage area that was hidden back behind the spare tire and under the bendy, comma shaped hood. “What’s a 350 Daddy?” But I was in love with the look. I might have been in 2nd grade, but I knew automotive art when I saw it.
Alas, it was not to be. In an era when gas cost 18¢ per gallon, and maybe 22¢ for 105 octane premium, my father was obsessed with fuel efficiency. So what we wound up with was a robin’s egg blue VW Fastback. With it’s ultra-potent 1600cc carbureted engine that made perhaps 62hp. But hey, that was Raw Power compared to the Beetle.
This was actually an amazing car. It had a trunk in the front, a huge trunk in the rear, it sat 4 people in comfort with reasonable leg room, it handled well, and could cruise the highways at 75mph, which the smaller engined VWs were hard pressed to do. Plus the back windows were made of flexible glass that could be opened by bending them outwards with a little chrome lever. There was room enough inside for 2 adults, 2 growing boys, a 20lb dog with flatulence, a Coleman cooler, and a picnic basket. And even packed to the gills with camping stuff, including a huge cartop carrier holding a 110lb tent, with an 18 foot Grumman canoe on top of that, it could still drive from downstate NY to the coast of Maine and only need to stop for gas once. And it did that year after year after year. VW, and my dad, were 40 years ahead of their time with this car; just compare the look of the thing to the Passat that VW sells today. They don’t quite look like clones, but you can certainly see the family resemblance. Just add another set of doors and push the Porsche 911 style front fenders down into the body panels.
But I digress. I was just doing a bit of rationalizing to placate a childhood disappointment. I thought it utterly sucked that we bought yet another Volkswagen. Everyone was driving cars 9 feet wide and 30 feet long. What the hell were we doing driving this Matchbox™? [Heck, in those pre-PC days, complete strangers would actually question your patriotism to your face for driving an import.]
So Chevy continued to make the lovely Camaro for many years. The first body style only lasted until 1970, but it was always a razor sharp design.
Then Chevy came out with the new design, which was fat and bloated by comparison. I won’t post pics. That shape lasted about a decade, until we got the 80s Wedge version in 1982. Somewhere around 1993 a 4th generation appeared, but to me it looked like a slightly melted 80s Wedge. And at some point in the 90s sales faltered, and by 2002 Camaros were no more. Chevy made billions of these cars in the 80s and 90s it seemed. If you were a young guy, you drove a Camaro. Pretty much Period. Although some guys had Mustangs. But the pointy little things were everywhere, until the market was beyond saturated. And now most of them have rotted away, and most of us have forgotten what a trampy-chick-car the V6 Camaros of that era were. So now, since everything old is new again, Chevy is bringing the old car back to life, by kind of going back to their roots and giving us a 21st century futuristic take on the original 1960s look. But with all the modern goodies, including a place to plug in your iPod. Oh, and more horsepower than could be had back then, plus it corners, stops, rides nice, runs without problems, and even gets decent gas mileage. All of which makes for an amazing car ... but to me it looks like a plastic pretender. Maybe they should go back to enamel paint and chrome edge strips? The new Camaro just doesn’t seem retro enough. And even the V6 version has plenty of get-up-and-go, whether you’re a trampy chick or not.
NextAutos.com takes a look and a test drive, and comes away with a rather positive impression.
Memories are a funny thing. They color life’s past, tending to make the good better or the bad even worse. Memories certainly affect what we believe regarding cars, too. Those of us who grew up with pony and muscle cars likely recall their explosive thrust and intoxicating exhaust note. These reminiscences cloud the truths of weak brakes, wallowing suspensions, and recirculating-ball steering gears better suited to trucks than performance cars.
The new Camaro makes peace with our memories. The newest member of the pony car clan is what we hoped the old cars were, but weren’t.
As for pony power? No worries. Chevy has you covered with either the spirited V6 with it’s 304hp or the fire breathing V8s - your choice of either 400hp or 426hp, depending on whether you choose the automatic or manual transmission [the baddest engine comes with the manual, just like it did back in the 60s]
Drivers who know what a third pedal is will vastly prefer the V-6/ six-speed manual combo. It begs to be driven like a Nissan 370Z or an Infiniti G37 Coupe. The V-6 revs willingly to its 6400 rpm horsepower peak and doesn’t redline until seven grand. The lightweight engine helps the car feel smaller than it is. The shift linkage moves directly through its gates with throws that are short enough. The linkage isn’t perfect because it lacks that mechanical magic some gearboxes possess, but it works well enough. According to Chevy, the V-6/manual Camaro will bump into its electronic speed limiter at 155 mph.
The V-8 Attitude
Be warned, torque is an addictive drug, so use with caution. Under its influence you’ll be drawn to deserted cul de sacs to perform ruckus doughnuts that produce so much tire smoke that squirrels will be smoked out from surrounding trees. We know. It happened to us, and we were plenty thankful for the 6.2-liter V-8’s soft rev limiter. The engine is so powerful that once the tires break loose, the tach swings toward the red faster than you can say, “We need to leave now.”
...
Full-on accelerations runs recall fond memories of Camaros past when big-block power rocketed the primitive cars forward. While the sounds may be similar, the LS3 roars mightily but comes across more refined than anything you could have driven back in the day.
This sounds like a great car. So if you can afford to buy a car just for the fun of it, this sounds like a great choice. Just keep a 1967 VW Fastback out in the barn for when it snows or rains, or when you need to be practical and fuel efficient.
I had a ‘71 Camaro. I had my buddy do a custom metal flake paint job with front air dam and rear spoiler. Coolest car I ever owed.
Posted by sig94
04/09/2009 at 04:39 PM
There were some nice 70s Camaros around. But there were an awful lot that came with a white vinyl roof, a straight 6, and a 2 speed automatic too. And that’s not even mentioning the ... um ... excessive over-exuberance of the flaming chicken stickers on the Trans-Am, the “high performance” version of the Camaro’s first cousin the Pontiac Firebird.
By 1979 the pony was dead. Base engine was a 90hp 250ci 6 (4 liters), and the big bad Z28 engine was a 175hp 350 (5.7 liter). Why even bother?
It took until the 1985 IROC-Z until you could get an engine with 200hp or more. And that one only came with the automatic transmission.
Posted by Drew458
04/09/2009 at 09:21 PM
The 396 was a fun engine. Also had a ‘71 Chevy with a 402 that was a cruising vehicle.
I wish I still had the ‘63 Pontiac Gran Prix that we had when I was a kid. It had a 389 (Dad said it was the small engine...he wanted the 427!) but had an automatic transmission. The Turbo 400 wasn’t out yet and the tranny in that car just couldn’t handle the engine. He broke it once. Dad sold the car before I turned 15 because he didn’t want a teenage boy driving it. Dangit!
Posted by John C 04/10/2009 at 12:47 AM
Oh darn are you guys bringing back some memories I’d forgotten.
I remember a gold colored chevy that pinned your back to the seat on take off.
BUT ...
You guys are too young to remember the 1955 Pontiac. AHHHHHH WeeeeeeeeeeeeeJust sneeze or blow at the accelerator and there she goes. Look, up in sky ... ha.
I had a slight accident once in once of those beauties. Inside a garage. Brand new.
I had a job a job as a parking jockey among other things, at a Pontiac dealership in home town. I musta been 18. So anyway I had to move a customers car from one bay to the parking area. Damn thing got away from me. Really. I wasn’t gonna race the damn thing inside the garage. So I carefully backed out, turned the wheel and when straight hit the gas. No, I didn’t floor but ok I couldn’t wait to get it outside. Never made it. Touched the gas and ended up in another bay where I’d rammed the thing into some equipment. A few dents but not a crash or anything huge. Broken headlight and lost job though. But I sure did like that car.Posted by peiper
04/10/2009 at 04:10 AM
If I had the money these things are gonna cost, I’d own one. Or a Challenger. Or a ‘Cuda. or one of these new ‘Stangs. I have such fond memories of a ‘68 Torino with a Boss 302, or the ‘64 F85 Rocket 330. And then there was the ‘72 Torino, 429 Super Cobra Ram. Or my old ‘55 Chrysler Imperial with the big Hemi up front and about 100 gallons of “cargo” in the trunk. Sigh. The pure soul of a tuned V8 singing its song balls out between Jacksonville and New Bern…
Posted by cmblake6 04/10/2009 at 04:12 AM
I was ‘taught’ to drive (while taking standard lessons from the local ‘driving’ school) on a Camaro Z28 with a power clutch. It was brand new, not mine - boyfriend’s and scared the holy heck out of me - but the only clutch since then to give me headaches at all is the VW -down and back reverse - never ever could manage it well.
But you bring back memories - while your parents were out buying VWs mine were into Nash Ramblers - ah yes, the seats could go all the way down so you could sleep in the things - mind you this is from people who could (and did a couple of time) rent an entire floor of a hotel for a night! Then for some damn reason, my mom fell in love with Buicks and that is all we saw except for the one ‘company’ car my dad brought home, a Thunderbird.
I remember my brother’s ‘58 Chevy the thing was built like a tank and the doors were nigh on impossible for a tiny girl like me to manage and with fondness I remember the Triumph 7 that the two sisters shared during their college years - loved that little car. The younger one kept it going until the mechanic laughed and told her it was so rusted out, that if they did the work needed on the engine, the car would just collapse in a puddle of rust dust.
I was done right - first boyfriend was a car guy and so I enjoy the abilities of a well made car and despise the plastic crap with an engine being pushed today.
I saw an MG Midget in the Target parking lot last month - I stopped dead and oh, so slowly walked around the entire car - such a work of beauty. I think my daughter was stunned at my response, did not talk, just drank in the beauty of a well built machine. My bestest friend had an MGB - I loved driving the car even if her hubby was such a dork about their cars (he drove a Chevy wagon of some sort that was diesel - and use to chant for about 10 minutes before anyone left - diesel, don’t forget to put diesel in it - karma got him, he killed the MGB by - yepper you guessed it, putting diesel in it!) - I loved tooling around Lawton OK in that little gem.
That is my kind of dream car - one of the little ‘chick’ cars of foreign origins - of course I’d have to get off my lazy a** to get a job to afford one!
Posted by wardmama4 04/10/2009 at 08:44 AM
Wardmama, you should try out a couple of the new two seaters. The Honda has plenty of zip and handling, the Mazda Miata is just too cute for words and there are bolt on supercharger kits for it that gives it enough power to be impressive. The Z cars from BMW are potent but not everyone likes the look, and you have to be reasonably tall to drive one. My wife was so in love with the Z3 she went to the dealership with cash in hand, but at 5 foot nothing she simply could not work the pedals and gearshift and still see over the dashboard at the same time.
These days all cars have hydraulic clutches with their manual transmissions. What a joy. Now, if they’d all just install adjustable pedals, seats with height adjustable lumbar support, and telescoping steering wheels, then atypically sized people could enjoy driving them too.