I'm sure somebody else pointed this out long ago, but...

With the 1st Generation:
Firebirds came with quad headlamps and Camaros came with ( optional) hidden headlamps.

With the "Final" Generation:
Camaros came with quad headlamps and Firebirds came with hidden headlamps.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm?

 

It is a good point on the headlights, of how far the body designers went with the F-body car and eventual lost the sales of for GM. With the retro of the VW Bug and the 1994 Mustang help renew interest in both cars.
If GM designers of the F-body went with a retro of the first generation again in 1992, they could still be producting them today. Finally after 30 years of being saved from the GM ax, they prolong the death sentance until they fell upon their own sword. 1970-74 Dodge Challenger, was the best pony car ever! Dodge Boys got it right the first time and the insurance company kill the Vanishing Point legend. (the car that crash in the dozer was a cross of hate camaro). I will see you on the road in my Avenger driving sanely!

 

Before we go overboard glorifying the Chrysler E-cars, consider this:

1974 Pony Car Total Sales by nameplate:
Ford MustangII 385,993
Chevrolet Camaro 151,008
Pontiac Firebird 73,729
AMC Javelins 27,536
Dodge Challenger (shortened year) 11,354 (32,596 in 1973)
Plymouth Barracuda (shortened year) 6746 (11,587 in 1973)


0-60 times
Mustang II 14.2 (8.5 in 1973 with the CJ351 in case anyone's curious)
Camaro Z28 8.1
Firebird Trans Am 455 7.3
Javelin 401 7.7
Challenger & Cuda 440 6.4

Chrysler made some extremely fast cars compared to it's competetors. But as far as it being the best pony cars ever, it's a matter of opinion. They had a horrendous reputation of rusting out & had generally the worst build qualityof of them all (even behind AMC's Javelin), so insurence alone didn't kill them.

All performance cars had to deal with the same problems (insurence included) & the f-bodys (and Mustangs) did exceptionally well. During the late 70s and the entire 80s, GM had a very active F-Body program, and till the last couple of years, sold well without being retro.

Retro is nice as a low volume unique car, but is NOT the answer to everything ( last year the Beetle sold 65,000 cars...Ford Focus sells way more than that in just 3 months!).

BTW, Although the 1999- current Mustang is far from retro, it's sales actually dropped that year, before rebounding as GM's F-bodies aged went without a restyle or advertizing. Special editions such as Bullit and now Mach1 and the upcomming 'Pony' keeps intrest in the car going.

Also, GM did NOT spend the past 30 years trying to kill the f-body. I really don't know where you came to that idea.

 

Not trying to flame you or anything but the Camaro didn’t die because of sales or lack of styling. We forget that this is just an excuse GM stuff down the throats of the press. The f-bod was making money. I’m convinced that it has more to do with who build it and where it was built. GM wanted out of St. Therese and because of stupid contract with the CAW the Camaro has to go on a 4 or 5 year hiatus.

 

I agree on the location of the plant. I think that has more to do with it than anything else. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Steve

 

oh comon now, we all know why GM killed the Fbody,
it was the same reason the roman empire crumbled......
Histeria caused from Lead poisoning