Anniversary Post: Chevrolet Camaro

1967 CamaroOn this day in 1966, the first (1967 model year) Chevrolet Camaro went on the market. As longtime readers know, I really don’t care for cars. But I actually know something about the Camaro. I can tell if a Camaro is a 1967 model or something else. That is because the 1967 Camaro is the only one that has a vent window. And to know this little bit of car trivia fills me with pride.

When I was a little boy, my parents owned what I think was a 1968 Camaro. It was painted gold. And I remember seeing a Camaro around that time that was painted yellow with a purple racing stripe. As part of my filial duties, I sometimes go with my father to old car shows. And I’m amazed at how often people put racing stripes on “muscle” cars. (The Camaro is supposedly a “pony” car.) It seems so silly to me. Do these people think they are race car drivers?

My father is very much a General Motors kind of guy. He’s very into Buicks. This is kind of odd to me, because whenever I see an American car that I think is compelling at one of these shows, it is almost always a Ford. And as an example of this, I think the Mustang is a much more interesting car than a Camaro. Of course, if I had to have a car, I would like one of those old (tiny) Mini Coopers. As it was, my sister used to have a really old Subaru Justy, and I loved that car. You can make those little cars dance. Literally:

Afterword

James FogleIt would be the 79th birthday of James Fogle today. He wrote the novel Drugstore Cowboy. And he wrote a number of other novels, but they’ve never been published. The thing about him is that he actually lived the life that he wrote about in his one published novel. So he spent a lot of time in prison and ended up dying in prison. It’s a shame, because Fogle clearly had a lot to offer to the world. But we do have that one novel and we have the excellent film that was made from it — which I consider by far the best drug movie ever made.

5 thoughts on “Anniversary Post: Chevrolet Camaro

  1. Mustangs are nice. They are a much better value for a performance coupe than a Camaro these days. I drive a fast car, a Pontiac G8 GT. I like that it is big and roomy. I don’t drive any more irresponsibly than most other people in Phoenix. Really, large truck driver are the worst for that. Especially on the road to and from Flagstaff where they ought to mind the grade. The tires for my car are expensive, and this is something I did not consider before buying it. I would have anyway, though. I finally found some that have decent treadwear. 245/40/19 is an uncommon size, so I don’t get many choices. The car is well designed, but the build quality could be better. There’s about six things that need fixing on it, most notably a broken power window lifter in back. I fixed all four shoddy windows on my wife’s Jeep, so this can’t be worse. Just waiting for cooler weather. I don’t like working on cars anymore. I once built a racing engine for an old Nova I used to drive, but ended up selling it before I got in installed. It’s an expensive hobby, and I would have been money ahead to just buy something new that starts and runs when you ask it to. Engine performance is just amazing these days. Dodge sells a variant of their Challenger, the Hellcat, that has a 700HP engine for about $60K. Twenty years ago there wasn’t a car like that available for any amount of money. I’ll probably replace my G8 with something electric when the time comes.

    • I had to look it up, of course, but the Pontiac G8 GT looks kind of like a car I would rent. Of course, that’s all I do — rent a car if I can’t manage anything else. But if I lived in Pheonix, I’m not sure I would be as open to walking around as much as I do here. So maybe I’d get a car. I wonder if I could get a 1984 Justy with air conditioning.

      If you’re going electric, you might want to read one of the first articles I wrote around here, The Myth of Zero-Emission Cars.

    • Oh yessssssssssssss, the big stupid ugly annoying evil and wrong giant trucks that are jacked up and make it next to impossible to see! How I loathe them.

      People who walk in Phoenix are the poor and the really insane. Our public transportation is a joke but slowly, by fits and spurts, improving. Mainly because we had a slew of good Phoenix mayors and councils who stopped thinking that we did not want to become LA. You would get a car simply to drive to the store since 115 with four grocery bags is really difficult to do (and I have done it.)

      • I had to use the bus for the first time in twenty years recently and was very pleased with the improvements. The bus stop has a code you can search on your phone that tells you when the next one will be by, and they run pretty frequently. Years ago they ran so infrequently that any distance under ten ten miles I could walk to as easily as wait for the next bus. And in the brutally hot time of year that is no way to arrive at work or school.
        I am hoping tomorrow is our last 100+ day of the year. 100 isn’t so bad, but by September I’m just done with it.

        • I really need to move to a state with normal temps most of the year. My health is seriously suffering the older I get with the 200 days a year with 100 or higher. Or whatever it is.

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