Farewell 5th gen Chevrolet Camaro
We say goodbye to what has been the best iteration of the legendary pony car so far
By Shahzad Sheikh
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At the recent Dubai Motor Show, we got our first look at the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro which will go on sale here next year. So in the meantime we thought we’d do a send-off for the fifth generation Camaro which has been with us for five years now.
Click play below to watch our tribute video
But before we talk about this car, I want to go back to the genesis of the marque. The original Ford Mustang went on sale in early 1964, and began to scoop up sportscar sales in America. Obviously General Motors had to respond.
Just a year later there were rumours that Chevrolet was working on a rival to the Mustang with the code name Panther.
So in the summer of 1966, journalists were sent an invite to an important SEPAW meeting by Chevy. What the hell was that? The next day they were told that SEPAW stood for the Society for the Eradication of Panthers from the Automotive World – and journalists were asked to come and ‘help scratch a cat’.
The press conference was broadcast live in 14 cities via telephones – the first time that had been done. And it turned out that Chevrolet would announce a brand new sports car model and give it a new name – and it was no longer to be called the Panther.
In fact they came up with a completely new name, and it was to be Camaro (starting with C as at the time many Chevrolets did, such as the Chevelle, Corvair and of course Corvette).
The name was meant to suggest a combination of comradeship with desire to ‘go’ – go fast of course. Hence Camaro! When journalists asked – what is a Camaro, product managers told them it was a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs!
The all-new car debuted later that year and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now fast-forward to 2009 and Chevrolet introduces an all-new Camaro, after a 7-year gap, that is heavily inspired by that original 1967 model year car.
Here’s the interesting thing, this may be an all-American sports car, but it was developed in Australia based on the Holden GM Zeta Platform that underpinned the likes of Lumina SS, and designed by South Korean-born Sangyup Lee. All of which is wonderful because it demonstrates how far GM has come as a global company.
And of course it greatly benefitted from this approach. It was, and remains, a beautiful car, combining traditional long-bonnet and short rear deck muscle car looks with smooth modern curvature and aerodynamics. Like its biggest Pony car adversary (yes even today that enduring rivalry continues), it was – and is – retro done right!
There’s a masculinity here, a macho aggression, but also suave confidence, and certainly a movie car presence, which was confirmed of course by its starring role in the Transformers movies – there was even a Transformers special edition. In 2010 the Camaro also won the title of World Car Design of the Year at the World Car of the Year awards!
The later facelift to the front and rear – as seen on this car in the pictures, just added to the sleekness of the Camaro, giving it a sharper-edged look at the front, and cleaner aesthetics at the back.
The more astute of you may have noticed that this is a convertible – this was more than a chop-the-roof-off job. They actually reshaped the rear fenders to give it that sleek and flat look. It actually looks fantastic with the roof down.
This is an RS fitted with a 3.6-litre V6 which originally came with about 310bhp but on later models like this received 323bhp. Obviously the muscle car enthusiasts would opt for the V8 in SS guise, and interestingly it was introduced with 400bhp, but you could have 26 extra horsepower if you were man enough to go for the manual!
Of course my personal favourite was always the mighty ZL1 edition introduced in 2012 with 580bhp from its supercharged 6.2-litre engine – making it the powerful Camaro ever! Massive power, huge fun to drive!
It’s been a great run for the fifth generation Camaro, don’t take my word for it, their average annual sales have been over 85,000 a year and over most of its life, this Camaro has consistently been the best selling sports car in America.
But of course it’s now time to say farewell to this edition of the muscle car and look forward to the all new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro.
Based on the Cadillac ATS architecture, it’s smaller and lighter, but has somehow managed to retain the silhouette and style that we’ve become used to with this car, whilst making it even more contemporary.
The new car has got more tech, better interiors, and will still come with a V8 shoehorned into the front, now with 455bhp, whilst the V6 also gets upped to 335bhp and there’s a new 2.0-litre Turbo offering 275bhp. There will be a ZL1 getting the 640bhp unit out of the Cadillac CTS-V. And naturally there will be a convertible version.
Can’t wait to give those cars a go!
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Super Video Shahzad. I am also waiting for 2016 Cammaro and then will change the 2014.