Chevrolet Camaro |
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Wikipedia: Chevrolet Camaro
Subtopics 1st Generation (1967, 1968, 1969) 2nd Generation (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981) 3rd Generation (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992) 4th Generation (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002) 5th Generation (Concept, 2012) 6th Generation Z28.com Page Sections History Reference Desk Photographs Article Index |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Chevrolet Camaro page on 12 November 2015, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang. The car shared its platform and major components with the Pontiac Firebird, also introduced for 1967.
Four distinct generations of the Camaro were developed before production ended in 2002. The nameplate was revived on a concept car that evolved into the fifth-generation Camaro; production started on March 16, 2009.
Background
Before any official announcement, reports began running during April 1965 within the automotive press that Chevrolet was preparing a competitor to the Ford Mustang, code-named Panther. On June 21, 1966, around 200 automotive journalists received a telegram from General Motors stating, "...please save noon of June 28 for important SEPAW meeting. Hope you can be on hand to help scratch a cat. Details will follow...(signed) John L. Cutter – Chevrolet public relations – SEPAW secretary." The following day, the same journalists received another General Motors telegram stating, "Society for the Eradication of Panthers from the Automotive World will hold first and last meeting on June 28...(signed) John L. Cutter – Chevrolet public relations SEPAW secretary." These telegrams puzzled the automotive journalists.
On June 28, 1966, General Motors held a live press conference in Detroit’s Statler-Hilton Hotel. It was to be the first time in history that 14 cities were connected in real time for a press conference via telephone lines. Chevrolet general manager Pete Estes started the news conference stating that all attendees of the conference were charter members of the Society for the Elimination of Panthers from the Automotive World and that this would be the first and last meeting of SEPAW. Estes then announced a new car line, project designation XP-836, with a name that Chevrolet chose in keeping with other car names beginning with the letter C such as the Corvair, Chevelle, Chevy II, and Corvette. He claimed the name, suggests the comradeship of good friends as a personal car should be to its owner and that to us, the name means just what we think the car will do... go. The Camaro name was then unveiled. Automotive press asked Chevrolet product managers, what is a Camaro? and were told it was a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.
According to the book The Complete Book of Camaro: Every Model Since 1967, the name Camaro was conceived by Chevrolet merchandising manager Bob Lund and General Motors vice president Ed Rollett, while they were reading the book Heath's French and English Dictionary by James Boïelle and by de V. Payen-Payne printed in 1936. In the book The Complete Book of Camaro, it states that Mr. Lund and Mr. Rollett found the word camaro in the French-English dictionary to mean friend, pal, or comrade. The article further repeated Estes's statement of what the word camaro was meant to imply, that the car's name "suggests the comradeship of good friends, as a personal car should be to its owner". In fact, the actual French word that has that meaning is "camarade", from which the English word "comrade" is derived, and not "camaro"; "camaro" is not a recognized word in the French language.
The Camaro was first shown at a press preview in Detroit, Michigan, on September 12, 1966, and then later in Los Angeles, California, on September 19, 1966. Public introduction of the new model was on September 26, 1966. The Camaro officially went on sale in dealerships on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year.
Reference Desk
The Crittenden Automotive Library's "Reference Desk" is a collection of materials that cannot be shared due to copyright restrictions. Information from these resources, however, can be shared. Go to the Reference Desk page for more information.
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2006  Book | The Story of Camaro by John Gunnell & Jerry Heasley; Krause Publications |
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Photo ©2010 Bill Crittenden Green Street Cruise Night: June 7, 2010 View photo of Chevrolet Camaros - 4,049KB |
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Photo ©2010 Bill Crittenden 2010 Gary Lang Auto Group Car Show View photo of Chevrolet Camaros - 3,653KB |
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Photo ©2010 Bill Crittenden 2010 Gary Lang Auto Group Car Show View photo of Chevrolet Camaros - 3,303KB |
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Original Featured Vehicle banner for Chevrolet Camaro Camaro at left is a 1997 scale model, Camaro badge at right from the dashboard of a 1972 Camaro. Image ©2011 Bill Crittenden 25KB |
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Second Featured Vehicle banner for Chevrolet Camaro Camaro badge at right from the dashboard of a 1972 Camaro Image ©2011 Bill Crittenden 14KB |
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Third Featured Vehicle banner for Chevrolet Camaro Camaro badge at right from the dashboard of a 1972 Camaro Image ©2011 Bill Crittenden 15KB |
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Current Featured Vehicle banner for Chevrolet Camaro Camaro badge from the fender of a 1969 Camaro Image ©2012 Bill Crittenden |
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March (17 pages) Cover Car: 1970 Chevrolet Camaro & 4th Generation Chevrolet Camaro Cover photo ©2015 Bill Crittenden Released 1 March 2015 View Tail Lights Cover: Chevrolet Camaro Engines - 1.1MB Download Tail Lights: March 2015 - 13.2MB |
