Chevrolet Camaro: Classic Cars | autozeitung.de

The Camaro began life in 1967 as Chevrolet’s rival to the Ford Mustang. He immediately became an American himself Sports car icon. Classic Car Review.

The Chevrolet Camaro is an American-style Gran Turismo. For its fans it is more than just a car, it embodies a piece of cultural heritage. A Camaro appears in more than 1,000 movies and provides a deep insight into the inner life of young Americans. Examples: Sean Penn drives a Camaro as Jeff Spicoli in the 1982 teen comedy “I Think I’m Standing in the Woods”; Megan Fox appeals to an entire generation of teenage boys with a ’76 and 2009 Camaro in “Transformers.” The Camaro has been showing off its charm for over 50 years: as an attractive two-door sedan and as a powerful V8 muscle car as well as a successful race car. Also interesting: Tips for our products on Amazon

Chevrolet Camaro: Classic Cars

In two years of record-breaking development, General Motors put together its answer to the Ford Mustang. From the beginning, those interested in the Camaro had every possible option. No less than 80 factory and 40 other dealer equipment versions as well as three option packages were available to choose from in the sales catalogues. There were only two body variants: coupe and convertible. On September 12, 1966, General Motors presented the new Camaro to the press for the first time: the SS 350 Cabriolet was launched, similar to our white photo example, which is the ’68 version of the Super Sport 396, as evidenced by the side windows of one piece with the public “Bumblebee” stripes can be seen from the front to the side mask for an additional charge of $14.75.

But apart from minor external features, the previous harvest was similar. Only in the first year of the model there was a variant with a displacement of seven liters. However, the standard SS engine became a 6.5-liter V8 with 325, 350 or 375 SAE HP (239, 257 or 276 kW) and a three-speed manual. The “Super Sport” equipment package included fake air intakes on the front hood, chassis upgrades and a dual-pipe exhaust. All of these were necessary equipment at the traffic light races, when the dice hanging from the interior mirror signaled to the boys and girls in the Mustangs that they were ready to compete. For an extra $100 there were disc brakes on the front wheels.

Camaro: sports car for babies

Like its sister model the Pontiac Firebird, the first generation Camaro is based on General Motors’ F-Body platform, which significantly reduced production costs. The designer’s specifications included the task of designing a four-seater Corvette for America’s baby boomer generation, with an equally long hood and a short rear, but a large trunk. The muscular shape with hip flexing of the first series shows a dynamic performance even at rest. The hidden headlights of the 396 Super Sport give the 2+2-seater a touch of aggressiveness and extreme respectability. A drive through the showrooms of Chevrolet dealers confirmed the decision in favor of the Camaro: almost 220,000 units were sold in the first year – including 602 versions of the Z-28 that became legendary. “Win on Sunday – sell on Monday” was the slogan that all car dealers in America loved at the time.

In the “Trans Am” racing series, which was launched in 1966, almost all sports products from major manufacturers were at the beginning. 1968 and 1969 were dominated by team boss Roger Penske’s “Sunoco” Camaro. With Mark Donohue at the wheel, this Trans Am Camaro dominated the series by choice. Donohue won ten of the 13 championship races in both years and gave Carroll Shelby’s Mustang loudspeaker a sleepless night. What remains of this sport half a century later? Camaro still feels good in the hand – accuracy has never been a big thing for Americans, but horror stories about a rattlesnake running straight and the breaking power of a penguin are greatly exaggerated. Camaro it is at the level of its class as a long-lasting high-powered road cruiser.

Chevrolet Camaro: A car for everyday use

The powerful Chevy accompanies the trip to the countryside with a V8 roar that makes your stomach rumble even at idle speed. Gas explosion, the rabbit runs into the bush, and the Camaro also hits a rock because the old rear axle construction cannot continue. The deep-shell wood steering wheel in front of the large round instruments and the two-tone seats echo the sports boat designs, and the tall overhangs give the Camaro and its passengers a sort of gliding feel. The perfect song for wherever you are is Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing In The Street”: “I got a 69 Chevy with a 396…” Chevrolet shows confidence with its first cut in nearly four years.

The so-called model year “1970 ½” shows the largest sports car with a close body in Europe, which borrows from Ferrari with four taillights and unashamedly imitates the radiator grille of Jaguar XJ boss Bill Mitchell had seen the new XJ at the exhibition of business and future Opel chief designer George Gallion was tasked with giving the new Camaro a new chassis with wider tracks (40 mm front, 12 mm rear). Improved road holding was confirmed by modern test reports “Road & Track” cheered in 1970: “The first major attempt since the ’63 Corvette to build a real American GTE. We have to admit it’s the best American car we’ve tested, and most importantly, the ’70 Camaro. it’s a great car for everyday use.”

Camaro-Slogan: more smiles for every mile

The sports coupé shown here has been in Christian Roth’s garage in Saarland for several years. For him it didn’t just have to be a 70s Camaro for personal reasons: “For American cars of the time, the Camaro has amazing steering and an excellent chassis.” Roth’s Camaro has another special feature: it’s the so-called Biel Chevrolet. To avoid tariffs on American cars, GM did not send finished cars to Switzerland, but dismantled models. These were collected and sold in Biel. To add to the fun, Christian Roth had the experts from Redline Motors in Neustadt an der Weinstraße install the new engine. No expense is spared on repair parts. Between the cylinder banks there is an Edelbrock intake manifold and a Holley four-barrel carburettor – the promised 355 hp (261 kW) is more than true.

How fitting the Camaro’s great advertising slogan was in the muscle car era that is now slowly coming to an end: “More smiles for every mile”. And there’s also a radio-friendly song: “Go Little Camaro Go” by the Ramones But even before fuel prices began to rise around the world, the Camaro was rapidly losing popularity in GM factories. As a result, production dropped sharply, from a record year of 1969 and over 243,085 units to a low of 68,651 units in 1972. Despite the oil crisis and rising gasoline prices, strict environmental and production regulations, high insurance premiums for high performance. cars and, last but not least, the increased demand GM pulled the Camaro for excessive safety Not only that – production rose to over 150,000 units in 1974 and reached a peak in 1979 with 282,571 units.

Camaro in the 70s: performance down, sales up

By early 1974, the Camaro had grown 20 centimeters in length thanks to a new, sloping front and legally required aluminum bumpers. Round taillights were also new from 1974. In 1975, a large rear window, which extended to the sides, fundamentally changed the visual appearance. As sporty as the 1976 yellow model looks, its engine performance is very limited. The V8 produces a maximum of 175 hp (129 kW) from a displacement of 5.7 liters. It wasn’t enough to sweep sports car fans off their feet, but for Americans it was more than enough. If they had to give up power, at least they wanted to be seen as sportsmen.

Like the toothless Corvette of the late 70s, the second generation Camaro was the best seller. Camaro once again captured the spirit of the times and spiced up the regime with an individual dash. It wasn’t until the late 1990s when production numbers dropped below the 50,000 mark that things turned sour: in 2002, GM stopped production of the Camaro. But by 2006, such a large fan base had been created that a rebirth was only a matter of time. This was followed by an appearance in the movie “Transformers” and the launch of a new generation of models in 2009. The youth of America had won one of their fashion icons. But the new success didn’t last forever: 2024 will see the end of the regular Camaro as a combustion engine. If it comes back, it will probably just be electric.