Check this out:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/funonwheels/12/12/chevy_cool/index.html

Cool article, hope it is true; GM could start with making Camaros and Firebirds and El Caminos again....IMHO.

I just heard this morning that the new Camaro is in the design stages. Designers are working within a retro style to compete with the Mustang and Dodge Charger.

I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to see a retro 1933 coupe.

I vote for a retro Chevrolet manufactured in Detroit and assembled in Buffalo.

welcome to the 2007 camaro gents

[img]http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/3475140958426816.JPG?0.30358613745374063[/img]

It is all right, but still seems like it is missing something to me. The boys in Dearborn hit a grandslam with the Mustang. The problem with these retro designs is that once the design is three years old it is over (T-bird)and there is nowhere to go with it. Who ever wanted one already had bought one and used ones start hitting the used car lots for half of the price of the new one sitting inside. I hope they do make it and start reviving some of the heritage. It just seems like they drop the ball on these projects, I can see it now a six cylinder front wheel drive. The GTO was supposed to have the same impact as the Mustang, but to me it looks like any other Asian made car, and it sure does not look like a GTO, where the Mustang always looked like a Mustang
John

couldnt agree more that the GTO was a dissappointment. it looks like any other economous anonybox. i never thought of the evolution part of the retro style though. where DO you go after this retro theme? maby chevy will create a repro of the second gen camaro or WAIT hold the press. maby FURD will create the mustang II 2! oh, and if gm decides on a front wheel drive platform there will be an absolute mutiny among bowtie loyalists. the 91-94 chevy caprice/impala is the last of the rear wheel drive chevrolets and its time for RWD to make a comeback

Great find Carl. It doesn 't look too bad. However, I can't believe it won't be a FWD, 6 cylinder car. Too bad 'they' don't do some research before they start/finish these projects.

Re RWD, please don't forget the 95 and 96 Carpices and Impalas. I'd hate to open my garage one of these days and find out you had somehow changed my 96 SS.

While we're at it, I suppose 'we' should mention the SSR's. Pretty limited production and all but nonetheless they are V-8, RWD. And then there's the Corvettes also.....

Bill.

If you were stood down a side street & 20 cars of the same ilk drove past at speed on the main highway....Could you really turn to your pal & say
"WOW did you see that Chevy?"
Looks to me, more copy than retro.

If you stood down the same side street & 20 "People carriers" went by you may not say "WOW" but you would notice the Chrysler PT from the rest. It's more retro than copy.
It's not for me but 10 outa 10 to the Chrysler styling boys & girls.

The best loved car designs are truly works of art designed by creative talent and not by marketing teams and focus groups. It seems that many of todays cars lack the elements of style and design balance that combine use with beauty. Many modern auto designers create product wrapping and seem more like technicians than artists. Maybe the truly talented no longer know how to compete in the market place of ideas. When corporate leaders fail to keep once great companies moving ahead, the buying public gets Chevy Cobalts and Aussie coupes on steriods as GTOs. GM sure needs to find it's place in the automotive world, because the Chinese can build more cheaply what GM is throwing at us now.

I think I like the last design pic the best. A little of both 67 and 69, but they should get rid of the grille bar. Been there, did that.
Slim down the "A" pillars and go with RWD and a V8.
Thanks VWguy for the pics. Nice find!

John348 I hear ya. I think what Chevy needs to do is not that far from Mustang did way back then. (and dodge is doing now) That is to stay with the basic design and platform and improve it. Wheather the platform is Euro or Asian, (wish it was All American, but this is a world economy like it or not) I have allways felt Americans know style even if we tend to invent it. Just witness all the ugly Asian styling that sell like hotcakes. That may be our calling in the future. A lot of those foriegn designs are rip offs of past American metal. Most auto makers are after the American market, and I think our domestic designers are finally listening to us motor heads.

Sorry for being all over the place with my last post.

One point I wanted to make was that American design was way ahead of the rest of the auto industry for a very long time.

Unfortunatly we did not concentrate on chassis and engine improvements to match our body designs.

The Asians copied our body designs but re-invented the chassis and engine. They came out with it just in time for the gas crisis in the late 70's. Later, once they had us hooked on the workmanship, economy, and price they improved the product to a point were we could not compete.

Europe and Asia still hold the American auto history in very high regards and will no doubt do anything to sell as many cars as they can to America.

With the twenty and thirty something kids in the American design studios, I think we can again be the envy of the automotive industry. Those kids grew up at the end of the muscle car era and their bosses (and parents) drove those very cars. We all still long for their return.

I feel that American auto design will become the envy of the world once again. We just need to keep improving the product, and come out with more exciting vehicles. It's a world market now and conplacency does not sell cars anymore.

There will allways be a market for the grocery getters (Cobolt) and we all know that trucks will sell. Those should have been Detroit's bread and butter up to now. We lost it big time to the imports. We also lost the kid's cars to the imports because of lack of interest by American designers. Hopefully, with Dodge, Mustang, and now Camaro the kids will again be driving, and racing American.

they made them clear till 96? learn sumtin new every day. i love my caprice. power, comfort, and a damn good lookin car if i do say so myself

haad a chance to run a new corvette ZO6 on a weekend autocross series. car had nine miles on it and factory(street tires). UNBELIEVABLE performance. blew away the 200K + Porsches. Vipers not even on same playing field as the ZO6. 66K for the vette, vipers near 80K, porsches as mentioned previously. an engineering marvel--too bad the boys in bowling green didn't give it a C-1 body. if they had, this ole cheapskate might pony up for one of them. Am gonna try for a totaled ZO6 and use its drivetrain to build a lightweight autox-er for 2007 season.How about a Cheetah kit car body on the C-6 505 HP chassis?Mike

you my friend are in insane :eek: that would be one HELL of a ride. my cousin built one and going down the track the body flew off, still a fun ride though

web page here are some better pics of the new camaro I am REALLY diggin the way that blue SS looks

vwguy,

thanks for the link...

the concepts look pretty good...hope they keep the same lines in the final design...it'd be nice to see the camaro in production again...gm (and the general's fans like us) could use some good news for a change...


epi

Even if poorly written, that site has interesting info about the possible new Camaro. Thanks for posting it VWguy.

Bill.

Thanks VWguy, interesting site and article.

Now doubt the pics you first posted were a very cool design. I got a little worried when I saw the others on your latest posting. It looks like, and I hope, that some of those designs are old and the text suggesting that GTO and Camaro share the same platform is disturbing. The story says Lutz hates the retro-look but wants to use the Camaro name in favor of Chevelle. It also say GTO and Camaro will be very un-alike. I can't help but think the new Camaro will be more of a replacement for the Monte Carlo.

It's not a bad looking Camaro but if Chevy does what they did with their retro looking pickup (I'm having a senior moment and can't think of what they call it) and price it so high the average joe can't buy it, it'll go nowhere in a hurry. Because of competition from cheap Chinese labor the average manufacturing wage in the states is falling so who can afford 50K for a car? The industry is having to finance cars for 6 years to sell the look alike econo boxes they sell now. The race to the bottom is well under way.

The pickup is the SSR.

I just heard today that Chevrolet out sold F0RD for the first time in 19 years in 2005. They may not be doing enough right but at least they are doing something right. Kinda reminds me of the story of the two guys being chased by the Lion. The important point was not if they could outrun the Lion but if they could outrun the other guy. Of course given enough time the Lion will eat both of them.

Hey Chip,
Don't forget that Furd's best seller Taurus has been a lame duck this year and it's replacement is just hitting the streets.
Chevy better keep moving foward and out pace the competition.

I can't remember the name on that new f@#d but I remember reading that the car is made in Mexico. It's another one that the big 3 is trying to confuse the American public into thinking that they are buying American. Those dollars are lining the pockets of the ceo's and the rest are heading South of the border. The GTO is made in Austrailia, and I'm sure there are others being brought into the USA under the assumtion that they are American because of the name on the car. Either way you look at it, the ceo's are getting rich and the jobs are leaving our country. To me these cars are no different than one that has a Japanese or German logo on it. Buy American means to purchase one made here by American workers. People working hard and paying taxes. Lose the jobs and lose the taxes as well. It's spirialing downward and I'm afraid it's on a collision course. I hope it's not to late to wake up the nation into whats happening. I don't care what gets imported, but that doesn't mean we have to buy it. We've already lost the electronics industry but that doesn't mean we have to lose the auto industry. Thanks for listening, get the word out, "Wake up America and buy AMERICAN"

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bagsinky:
Buy American means to purchase one made here by American workers.

That's just it Bags. Most of those out of town logos are made right here in America. American workers right? Only most of the profits end up out of town!

Hopefully we are getting back our design status, and in the future we will re-open American plants building American logos.

It's nice to dream, but let's face facts. I'm a union member and it's difficult to say this, but until the UAW comes down to earth and the CEO's bonus' come down to earth, it will never happen.

Maybe we ought to think more like those out of town companies and offer the American worker a deceint days wage, health benefits, and job security. Make profit sharing part of the wage, and put the CEO's down on the floor as parts runners. (ha, ha)

Re-open some of those defunct plants in the poor areas and build new ones were people need jobs.

Saw a report this morning. For 2005, Chevy sales down 2.6%, Buick and Pontiac down 6-7%. Saturn down 1%, GMC, Caddy, and Hummer the only makes that increased in sales for GM in 2005.

Maybe I just don't understand the whole 'retro' thing. When we were kids and young adults we couldn't wait to see the new cars each year. There was always something worth oohing and ahhing over; new styles, new engines, new ideas. The retro Mustangs, 'Cudas, Camaros all just seemed so warmed over like yesterday's dried out tuna casserole. Is this the best the guys from Detroit can come up with? Put a set of fat tires on an old pony car? Add a set of fender flairs and spoilers on a 30 year old design? Hell, car guys have been doing that for about 100 years!
Mind you, I don't know what the answer is; if I did I'd be in some design studio. But I gotta believe the answer lies somewhere in science and technology to make the cars better, safer, more economical, sexier and still be a blast to drive, not retreading some old design whose time has passed.
Coach

Right on Coach! This retro stuff is just a smoke screen for the lack of up to date technology from US makers. For the last 30 years, they have lagged behind in engines, transmissions, mileage, and suspension. And, they have fought the safety subject over and over with terms like the "safety nazies" and other spin. Get on with it - produce a great family sedan that is economical, reliable, price competetive to the foreign makes..... And Congress has played along with the loophole system on fuel mileage, classifying passenger vehicles as trucks, and promoting tax breaks for the largest passenger trucks...Sad,sad state of affairs.........

GM unleashed its camaro concept retro car at the Detroit auto show today. havn't seen it yet but 400 hp.will see it on the 11 o'clock news.I hope they didn't screw this up like almost everything else they've touched. JMHO. Cheers!!!

The trouble with retro cars is that the people who like them can't afford them and the people who can afford them don't want them.

GM and '**** are in a position now that they can't build image cars that won't produce cash. The new cars/trucks must make money or they are history.

I just visited a site (Edmund's) that is covering the Detroit Auto Show.

They have a feature article and video on the new Camaro concept car. My first impression was of dissapointment. The last four guys might be OK with it.

To me it looks too angular and has very little look of the first or second generation cars. A few little reminders are there, but that's it.

The technology is there with an eight cylinders and diminished cylinder use for mileage. 20 something tires and all.

The concept car is just that, but the street version will probably be close. I think I liked the size and designs posted by VWguy better.

I think PDX Joe is right on with his comments about retro cars and concept cars.

On the other hand I personally like the concept cars as a 'niche' in the whole line situation. For me the problem with the 'retro' (concept) cars that GM has brought to market is they just don't fill the bill for me. The possible exception is the SSR. I still really do like that vehicle. It's just so freaking impractical for me. Especially considering I'd like something with seating for four, even if the 'other two' that make up the four are 'little people.' Which, of course, they'd have to be in order to fit in the back of a Camaro-type car.

Bill.

Found this while I checked this mornings news.

BBC News:- US car makers

Have a look at the new impala. I know it as the VX Commodore here in Aus. You get 3 engine options that arent available in Aus,we get the 3.8 V6 or 5.7 V8 and you get 3.5 and 3.9 V6 and 5.3 V8.
Interior is different apart from having the steering wheel on the wrong side.
1 of the pontiac 2 door cars is known here as the monaro but you got bigger engine.
Tony