It was such a long time coming and there was so much hype that I thought there was a possibility of the reborn Camaro not being able to live up to 
expectations. Not so. First and foremost it is a killer looking car. Now I will qualify that by saying that like the other pony cars that have be retro-resurrected, there is a certain psychographic that gravitates to this market so when I say this car is beautiful, it’s with that group in mind.
While there’s no doubt that without a GTO, Road
Runner, GTX, Firebird or the classic Hemi Cuda just to name a few of the incredible cars of the past, we’ll never experience the golden era of muscle cars that dominated the scene in the ‘60’s into the early ‘70’s, it’s nice the have the trio we have because I doubt very seriously that we’ll see any more go into production. The great thing about the Camaro is that the final production car is very close to the concept car and that speaks volumes about the commitment of Chevrolet to make this car an instant classic.
I say that because according to Al Oppenheiser, Chief Vehicle Engineer, the
Camaro was one of the most challenging designs their die makers ever had to deal with. Oppenheiser said that it took 10 or 12 tries to get the stamping right on the rear quarter panels because the creasing is so aggressive. Boy did it ever pay off because it’s that aggressiveness that adds to the appeal of the car and puts it in a class by itself.
The 2010 Camaro has elements from the Zeta-I Holden platform but it has a shorter wheel base and is stiffer overall so it justifies the Zeta-II designation. It is bigger than its granddaddy the ’69, it’s bigger than the Mustang but, the Challenger is actually much bigger with the Camaro sitting some 3-inches lower and actually a bit wider than it’s MoPar counterpart. Combine that with 20-inch wheels like my tester had and you have one bad-ass looking muscle car.
expectations. Not so. First and foremost it is a killer looking car. Now I will qualify that by saying that like the other pony cars that have be retro-resurrected, there is a certain psychographic that gravitates to this market so when I say this car is beautiful, it’s with that group in mind.While there’s no doubt that without a GTO, Road
Runner, GTX, Firebird or the classic Hemi Cuda just to name a few of the incredible cars of the past, we’ll never experience the golden era of muscle cars that dominated the scene in the ‘60’s into the early ‘70’s, it’s nice the have the trio we have because I doubt very seriously that we’ll see any more go into production. The great thing about the Camaro is that the final production car is very close to the concept car and that speaks volumes about the commitment of Chevrolet to make this car an instant classic.I say that because according to Al Oppenheiser, Chief Vehicle Engineer, the
Camaro was one of the most challenging designs their die makers ever had to deal with. Oppenheiser said that it took 10 or 12 tries to get the stamping right on the rear quarter panels because the creasing is so aggressive. Boy did it ever pay off because it’s that aggressiveness that adds to the appeal of the car and puts it in a class by itself.The 2010 Camaro has elements from the Zeta-I Holden platform but it has a shorter wheel base and is stiffer overall so it justifies the Zeta-II designation. It is bigger than its granddaddy the ’69, it’s bigger than the Mustang but, the Challenger is actually much bigger with the Camaro sitting some 3-inches lower and actually a bit wider than it’s MoPar counterpart. Combine that with 20-inch wheels like my tester had and you have one bad-ass looking muscle car.
More to come......
