I remember when in 1981 a bunch of us kids (I was 23 then) were at a midnight movie and I think it was the first commercial ad I had ever seen after having paid to get into a theater.
It was a 1982 Chevy Camaro ad. No one had ever seen one. The ad gave you peeks at the car in motion, but never just sat it there for you to look at. It was a teaser, and what could be seen of the car was beautiful.
I finally ended up getting one when I my daughter needed a car and I handed her the '88 GrandAm I'd been driving. I knew I wanted TPI and preferably an IROC, but every IROC I found had been beat. A friend knows this guy who restores Camaros, and his personal driver was an '85 Z-28 TPI that he had repainted, T-roofs, loaded. He wanted $4K, but needed to pay income tax and I got it for $3.5K. This was 5 years ago. I've never regretted it.
It had 116K on it, and now has 156K on it. I have some motorcycles I ride when the weather's nice, that's why I don't put many miles on it, but I love driving it. I installed a Dynomax cat-back right after I got it, and it sounds great. It handles great. It looks great, although I need a headliner and seat reupholstery, but that might come next summer.
Now why did GM see fit to cancel production? Always was a better car than a Mustang. Now that the Mustang could actually give it some competition, they cancel it. My guess is that they'll use the Monaro/GTO platform for a future Camaro/Firebird, but Bob Lutz's comment in an interview didn't raise any hopes.
Someone asked him about the return of Camaro/Firebird, and he said "maybe after a 30-year nap." What? Why? Oh well, I've got mine. Maybe I'll have a '99-'02 SS someday. I once wanted a 'Vette, but after a road trip in one with a friend, I changed my mind. KennyH
Horsepower is cheaper than therapy.