The Camaro debuted in tardy 1966 and is preferred by classic vehivle collectors.
Highs and Lows
The Camaro's big-block V-8s, including the 454 in 1970, put the car in the forefront of the muscle car wars through 1971. The 1970s oil crises essentially gutted performance beginning in 1973. By 1975, just the 105-horsepower 250 straight-six, and the 145- and 155-horsepower 350 V-8s were left.Although Chevrolet was extreme Ford in producing a provoking sports coupe with lot of power options, the conceptualization of a four-seat intermediate proportions machine was not principally chronicle. Ford and GM's Pontiac division toyed with the approximation in the dilatory 1950s that envisioned four passengers in a automobile styled with a great hood, truncated rear, low profile, bucket seats and a floor shift. However Detroit automakers little took risks until Ford took the plunge to catch the untapped Minor Boomer marketplace. Chevrolet looked no as well than its Manager stylist, Henry Haga, who helped shepherd the diagram of the Corvette, Chevy II and Corvair.
Construction and Design
Haga took a stage from European automotive composition by using unit thing interpretation for structural pressure, nevertheless extremely a front subframe that employed rubber pads, or "biscuits," to cushion the entity against the frame and dispense a quieter and smoother handle. Chevy wanted to deposit costs low, so it ignored designing a 2+2 fastback cognate the Mustang and focused on a coupe and convertible. Chevrolet authority narrowed the names to Panther and Chaparral, and for all intents and purposes, settled on Panther. On the other hand, as the depart date neared, management changed it to Camaro.
Performance Machine
When the Camaro launched in September 1966, Chevy offered many power options and packages. Packages featured the Rally Sport appearance option, and the Super Sport and Z/28 performance packages. Engine selections through 1969 featured the 230 or 250 cubic-inch in-line six-cylinder. The V-8 options were the 302, 327 and 350 small-blocks, and the big-block 396 and 427.
Usual Motors wasn't approximately To admit Ford, which sold 100,000 sporty 1965 Mustangs in its first off six months of activity, to seize the pony machine marketplace without a bout. GM's Chevrolet Division responded with the 1967 Camaro, a coupe that rivaled the Mustang in styling and offered in a superior way performance packages that didn't lack a moment morgage on the abode. Chevy produced the Camaro finished 2002, and then revived in 2010 with styling that echoed the elementary date models.
Origins
Stricter government safety standards required Chevrolet to tinker with the front and rear bumpers to meet 5 mph collision requirements that ruffled the clean lines of the 1970 to 1981 models. The third-generation Camaros were hardly in better shape. Although beautifully designed with sharp lines, sloping nose and deep-set quad headlamps, the 1982 Camaro suffered further humiliation with a base 90-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine or the 2.8-liter V-6. There was an optional 305 V-8, but no 350 until 1987.
Return to Performance
In 1987, the 350 regained some horsepower with a 225 rating. The Super Sport package, which disappeared in 1973, returned in 1996. Some combined Z-28 SS models featured the 330-horsepower Corvette 350 V-8s in 1997. However, by the end of the 1990s, sales sagged and in 2002, production ceased. Chevrolet brought back the retro-styled Camaro in 2010 that captures the essence of the original.
