The Birth of The Chevrolet Camaro | The Bad Blonde Cars

How did the beloved Chevrolet Camaro come to be? The birth of the Chevrolet Camaro had a lot to do with the birth of the Ford Mustang. The Mustang came out in 1964.5, the newly driving age boomers are geared to purchase, and Chevy sure as heck isn’t going to miss out on that market for long. It is absolutely necessary for us to discuss the crazy antics of the Chevy press team during the launch of the Camaro. They started hyping up the code named panther project in 1965. Before the Camaro was the Camaro, it was the Panther.. In June of 1966 around 200 automotive journalist received a bizarre telegram stating "...please save noon of June 28 for important SEPAW meeting. Hope you can be on hand to help scratch a cat. Details will follow...(signed) John L. Cutter – Chevrolet public relations – SEPAW secretary." Now some of you might pondering, what in the Bojangles is SEPAW? The journalists were too and could nothing on it.. Til the next day when each of them received a telegram from GM stating “Society for the Eradication of Panthers from the Automotive World will hold first and last meeting on June 28...(signed) John L. Cutter – Chevrolet public relations SEPAW secretary." Alright now finally this enigma of a press conference rolls around in it is a live 14 city teleconference.. Which was pretty cutting edge technology for the time. Let’s get to the juice of the conference, general manager Pete Estes starts off the new conference with stating that all press conference attendees were charter members of SEPAW, Society for the Eradication of Panthers from the Automotive World… and that this was its first and last meeting. After that Estes announced that Chevy would be debuting a new car line… the Camaro.. At this point let’s talk about the origins of the Camaro, clearly there was a ‘C’ pattern going Corvair, Corvette, Chevelle. Estes quoted regarding the name He claimed the name, "suggests the comradeship of good friends as a personal car should be to its owner" and that "to us, the name means just what we think the car will do... go." Side note, it has been said that Chevy/GM execs found the word ‘Camaro’ in a French book but really the closest word in French is camarade which the english’s comrade is derived from.. So it feels like the execs just sort of made their own word up. When the press asked what exactly is a Camaro? Chevy replied that is was a “small vicious animal that eats Mustangs” Then in September of 1966 the Camaro hit dealerships for the 1967 model year. First Generation 1967-1969: GM F-body platform with either base inline 6 or V8 options.. If one wanted high performance, they could choose from the Super Sport, Rally Sport, or Z/28.. The z/28 package was not put in and of the first gen sales literature so it was kind of like a secret menu option. Just like the Mustang borrowed off the Ford Falcon, the Camaro borrowed off the Chevy Nova. Second Generation 1970-1981: with a heavy restyle Chevy introduced the second generation just a few years later. Still based on the F-body platform, the Camaro grew longer, lower, and wider with the 2nd gen style but notably no convertible option which was a sign of the times. With the 2nd gen, engine options included a V6, Straight 6, and V8.. GM called this gen more of a “driver’s car” than the first gen.. Third Generation 1982-1992: These were the first generation to offer fuel injection turbo hydramatic 700R4 4speed automatic transmisions and 5 speed manual. The 3rd Camaros were nearly 500lbs lighter than the previous generation. We would see a return of the convertible camaro in 1987. Fourth generation 1993-2002: Debuting on an updated F-body platform, anti lock brakes were standard, with options of V6 or V8. During the fourth generation you would see a drop in sales and dwindling sports car market with that in 2002 Chevy decided to discontinue production. Fifth generation 2010-2015: Camaro was back with a complete redesign and new platform. Along a handful of other car manufacturers you say a retro nod in styling. That same year of debut, the Camaro was named World Car Design of the Year at the World Car of the year Awards. A year after Chevy would start rolling out the 2011 Camaro Convertibles. Interesting fact, Due to the 2011 Fukushima earthquake, certain pigments were not available to make certain colors. Sixth generation 2016-Present: The 6th gen has over 70% of purely unique to it’s self architectural components that are not shared with any other GM vehicle.