The Chevrolet Camaro was first released in the North America in 1966. General Motors, Chevrolet’s parent company, wanted to build a car to give much needed competition to the market dominating Ford Mustang. The 1967 Camaro used a body and many main components from the Pontiac Firebird (one more General Motors company), and so the speed and money needed to build the Camaro were massively reduced.
Called an a muscle car, or ‘Pony’ car, a word that referred to compact cars that were both affordable and had a stylish feel about their styling (a style started by the Ford Mustang in 1964), the Camaro joined an ever growing number of vehicles that were struggling for an ever increasing market. American owners loved the performance, the look and the great value of such cars and the ever increasing sales ensured that plenty of car builders made their own versions out as fast as possible.
The 1970’s and 80’s saw the Camaro’s height, when the car was dreamed of by millions of car enthusiasts, not just in North America but throughout the world. The mix of style, power and numerous TV shows romanticizing muscle cars contributed to a strong market, and the desire for buyers to own a Camaro never disappeared.
So far there have been five individual generations of the Camaro have been developed. Generations one to four were developed between 1966 and 2002 (when building of the Camaro ceased), and development of the fifth generation Camaro started again in 2009 and despite opposition to these environmentally unfriendly big engined vehicles from green campaigners, the car has proven to once again be a big success with the North American public.
The Camaro was sometimes available in a hardtop coupe and a soft top convertible, the convertible being extremely popular among buyers from sea bordering areas who enjoyed the idea of driving along the beach side boulevards with the top down, the stereo up and the shades on.
The Camaro has a huge number of enthusiasts with some buyers having owned every generation of the Camaro at some point and even more hanging on to original 1960’s versions and maintaining them in showroom condition.
The Camaro has been a very popular vehicle for improving during the years, with owners spending weeks and months and lots of cash adding high performance additions to improve their car’s style and performance. Camaro’s have also been very successful in motorsport winning many Trans-Am series titles and lots other races and championships through its years. Plenty of racers still use older Camaro’s these days and are still successful, often winning when against much more modern cars.
The Camaro is still going strong today, and with its legendary status, power and great style from the fifth generation version, the car is bound to be around for a long time to come.
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