The
History Of
Camaro
Chevrolet General Manager E.M. "Pete" Estes
setting off the Camaro explosion, September 21, 1966.
 |
 |
| 1963
airbrush rendering for Project XP-836, which became the Camaro |
June 1962 clay model of the XP-836 |
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!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." 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 1968. 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.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.
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.
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.
As the launch date
neared, the car still had no name. It had been called various names by
GM and the press, including Nova, Panther, Chaparral, and Wildcat (later
used by Buick.) It is rumored that 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 supposedly killed
that name,
because they didn't want the letters "GM" used in case the
car was afailure.
This pre-release car bears "Chaparral" name.
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!
