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2010
Chevrolet Camaro - Chevy Muscle Cars
By TONY
SWAN
So here it is, the third and final
entry in the 21st-century pony-car-revival derby. Get your bets down
early because we don’t expect to see any more resurrections of famous
makes from the galloping go-go Sixties—Barracuda, Firebird, Javelin, et
al.—and even gloomier, we think it likely that, given fuel prices and
other concerns, this revival is likely to lack the fervor and duration
of the original movement.
The first production version of the new Camaro we’ve seen and touched
is this yellow car displayed in our gallery. “Touched” includes sitting
in, briefly, but did not include driving. And “production” means
production sheetmetal but not a showroom-ready car. That happens much
later. New Camaros will appear in Chevy dealerships in March, arriving
as 2010 models. Convertibles (softtops, no folding hardtop) are due
about a year later.
While we have not had our first Camaro driving experience, here’s what
we know. Like rival offerings from Ford and, more recently, Dodge, the
latest Camaro was inspired by one from the golden age, specifically the
1969 SS model owned by GM design chief Ed Welburn. However, unlike the
other revivalist ponies, Chevy’s isn’t a slavish stylistic rerun of the
original. Like the Camaro concept that appeared at the 2006 Detroit
show—all but identical to it, in fact— Chevy’s neo-retro approach,
brought to production readiness under the supervision of Tom Peters,
adds plenty of fresh touches, most notably the front end and the
dramatic fender creases and character lines, touches that had
die-makers tearing their hair and muttering dark curses.
“Those shoulders at the rear have the deepest one-piece stamping we’ve
ever done,” says Al Oppenheiser, chief vehicle engineer on the project.
“It took us 10 or 12 iterations to get it right.”
This is a much bigger coupe than Welburn’s ’69 SS, and it’s bigger than
the current Mustang, though the Dodge Challenger, riding a slightly
abbreviated Charger sedan platform, dwarfs them both. Like the
Challenger, the Camaro has some sedan in its structural résumé, too,
elements of the Zeta I platform developed by Holden, in Australia, that
give the Pontiac G8 its eager road responses. But there’s enough
difference in the Camaro version—shorter wheelbase and stiffer overall,
particularly from the A-pillar forward—to justify a Zeta II
designation.
At 112.3 inches, the Camaro’s wheelbase is 2.5 inches shorter than that
of the G8, and overall length is 6.5 inches shorter than the Pontiac
from Oz. Also, the Camaro team moved the front wheels forward 3.0
inches (part of the Zeta II program), and the coupe’s 63.7-inch front
track is an inch wider than the G8’s, as is its overall width—at 75.5
inches, it’s a smidge narrower than the otherwise much bigger
Challenger.
Like the G8, the Camaro uses struts up front and a multilink
arrangement at the rear. However, the engine rides an inch further
toward the front, and the steering rack sits ahead of the front axle.
Chevy will offer 18-, 19-, and 20-inch wheel choices for the Camaro,
but the tires that wrap these rims will share a common rolling
diameter—28.7 inches. This touch, new for a GM car, keeps the wheel
wells nicely filled and also makes for simple speedometer calibration.Continued...
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