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2012 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

The Chevrolet Camaro was first released in the North America in 1966. General Motors, Chevrolet’s parent company, were forced to produce a car to provide essential competition to the market dominating Ford Mustang. The 1967 Camaro used a frame and many major components with the Pontiac Firebird (one more General Motors off-shoot), and so the production time and finances needed to make the car were massively reduced.

Called a a muscle car, or ‘Pony’ car, a name which back then referred to compact cars that were within reach financially and had a stylish feel about their styling (a style started by the Ford Mustang in 1964), the car joined an ever growing number of cars that were pushing for an ever ballooning market. North American owners loved the engine, the styling and the price of such cars and the ever increasing sales ensured that plenty of car builders built their own versions out as fast as possible.

The 1970’s and 80’s were the Camaro’s best days, when the Camaro was dreamed of by millions of car enthusiasts, not just in the USA but across the world. The mix of looks, speed and popular TV shows using muscle cars contributed to a massive market, and the desire for people to own a Camaro never disappeared.

There were five distinct generations of the car have been produced. Generations one to four were produced between 1966 and 2002 (when development of the Camaro ceased), and development of the fifth generation Camaro started once more in 2009 and even with opposition to these environmentally unfriendly muscle cars from green campaigners, the car has proven to once again be a big success with the American public.

The Camaro was at times available in a hardtop coupe and a convertible, the convertible being hugely popular with owners from coastal areas who enjoyed the thought of driving along the beach side streets with the top down, the music up and the baseball caps on. A number of Camaro’s have been seen on screen, most recently a Camaro was the base car for the Bumblebee character from the 2007 movie Transformers, being both a 1976 second generation model, and later a fifth generation variation. The Camaro has a massive group of fans with many buyers owing every variation of the car at one time or another and even more holding on to original 1960’s models and maintaining them in pristine condition.

The Camaro was always a very popular car for modification during the cars lifetime, with many owners spending weeks and months and money adding high performance additions to improve their car’s style and power. The car’s have been very strong in motorsport winning many Trans-Am series titles and any number of other races and titles through its years. Plenty of motor racing enthusiasts still use older Camaro’s today and are still successful, winning when against much more modern race cars.

The Camaro is still going strong today, and with its legendary status, power and eye catching style from the fifth incarnation, it’s bound to be around for a long time to come.

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