Chevrolet Camaro History
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The Chevrolet Camaro has a long-running love affair with musclecar fans, nearly as long as that of its rival ponycar.
Introduced in 1967 as a response to the stunning success of the Ford Mustang, the Camaro has had its ups and downs in more than 40 years on the car scene. Paired until recently with a companion Pontiac Firebird, the Camaro has been offered in five different generations as a two-door sports coupe, with V-6 or V-8 power and rear-wheel drive. Special editions have included the Camaro RS, Camaro SS and Camaro IROC-Z, and convertible and T-top body styles. Until 2002, GM had built the Camaro in each model year for 35 consecutive years, but GM decided to kill the musclecar in 2002, ending production of the composite-bodied Camaro in Canada.
The nameplate stayed dormant until the 2010 model year, when GM introduced the current Chevy Camaro--still true to the two-door musclecar format, with V-6 and V-8 engines mated to manual or automatic transmissions, and power routed to the rear wheels. The new car is built on what was intended as a global platform that would spawn new Buick and Cadillac rear-drive sedans. To date, it has only shared its running gear with the now-canceled Pontiac G8 sedan. It is assembled at GM's Oshawa, Canada, assembly plant.
The 2010-2012 Camaro's looks are an homage to the Sixties classics. Cues from past models include the vestigial vents ahead of the rear wheels and the hooded headlights, and inside the new Camaro, squared-off gauges and a dished steering wheel are drawn to remind drivers of the 1967 original.
The Camaro owes some of its performance to the Chevy Corvette. Base editions for 2012 get a 323-hp 3.6-liter V-6 used in other GM cars, coupled to six-speed manual or automatic gearboxes. The Camaro SS borrows the 'Vette's V-8 and scales it down to two versions, a 400-hp 6.2-liter V-8 with a six-speed automatic, and a 426-hp version of the engine teamed to a six-speed manual. Convertible versions are available for both the SS and the V-6 models. New for 2012 is the ZL1, a 580-horsepower supercharged beast that rides on magnetic dampers and bears an even fiercer look than the SS. The 2012 Camaro ZL1 isn't yet on sale, but it is expected to arrive early in 2012.
Older Camaros have been derided for clunky handling from live-axle rear ends; today's Camaro rides on an independent rear suspension and simply drives better, smoother, and with less twitchiness than ever before.
