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Chevrolet General Manager
E.M. "Pete" Estes setting off the Camaro
explosion, September 21, 1966. |
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| 1963 airbrush rendering for
Project XP-836, which became the Camaro. |
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June 1962 clay model of the XP-836. |
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| When Ford introduced the Mustang in 1964 there was
no immediate reaction from General Motors, but by
August of '64, just four months after the Mustang's
introduction, GM realized the appeal of a four seat
sports car. Ironically, the Mustang was created in
response to the Chevrolet Corvair Monza! |
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GM had actually begun preliminary
work on such a car as early as 1958, according
to Pontiac Designer Bob Porter. "I remember
a four-passenger, sporty type car of the general
size and weight class of the Mustang being worked
on in an advanced studio. In the early '60s,
similar cars were developed from time to time.
Everyone wanted to do one, but at the time there
was really no corporate interest." |
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| When the Mustang sold 100,000 units in the first
six months, and almost half a million the first year,
GM took an interest. The responsibility for GM's Mustang
fighter was given to the GM Design Center's Chevrolet
Studio under the direction of Henry C. Haga. Interior
design was directed by George Angersbach, who had
been heavily involved in the design of the Corvette,
Corvair, and the Chevy II, which became the Nova in
1969. It has long been a misconception that the '67
Camaro was designed from Chevy II components when
actually it was the other way around. The Chevy II
was to be all new for '68, and it shared many parts
with the '67 Camaro, but this did lead to compromises
in the design, most notably the cowl height and hood
length. |
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| One unique feature was the decision to use a front
subframe isolated with rubber 'biscuits" in combination
with the unit body construction of the rest of the
car, a technique that had been used on several Europeancars,
including many Mercedes-Benz models. This combined
the best of both worlds-a larger interior and more
luggage space than was possible with a traditional
frame and at the same time a quieter, smoother ride
than a full uni-body car delivered. |
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The designers did mock-ups of
many different models, including a two-seat
roadster, a fastback, and a station wagon. GM
was trying to keep the cost as low as possible,
however, to compete with the Mustang, and decided
tostick with just two models, a coupe and a
convertible. |
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| The Camaro was to be offered with
a wide variety of powerplants, ranging from
a 230 cubic inch six cylinder to a 327 V8. In
addition, a new engine displacement was created
just for the Camaro, a 350 cubic inch V8 rated
at 295 horsepower. |
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| This pre-release car bears
"Chaparral" name. |
The name "Chaparral"
appears near the headlights. |
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| As the launch date neared, the car still had no
name. It had been called various names by GM, including
Nova, Panther, Chaparral, and Wildcat. Chevy also
considered using the letters "GM" in the
name, and came up with G-Mini, which evolved into
GeMini, and finally Gemini. General Motors Headquarters
killed that name, because they didn't want the letters
"GM" used in case the car was a failure. |
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| Finally, the car was introduced to the press as
the Camaro, considered to be a good name because nobody
knew what it meant. Chevrolet produced an old French
dictionary showing that the word meant "friend"
or "companion", but Ford found an alternate
meaning in an old Spanish dictionary-"a small,
shrimp-like creature."The automotive press had
a good laugh over that, and an even bigger one when
one journalist found yet another meaning-"loose
bowels." It didn't take long for the laughter
to stop after the introduction of the stunning 1967
Camaro! |
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| * Further reading can be found at Cruising
Chevrolet's History |
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