KEEPING THE FAITH
Scott Settlemire is the Ultimate Camaro Enthusiast by Tony Kelly

Imagine that you're a young man growing up in a car-crazy family and spending many hours around the family's Chevrolet dealership. Many years later, you can still remember the exact date that the first Camaro ever was delivered to that dealership: September 10, 1966, and that it had to be squirreled away from the prying eyes of the public until the official introduction date on September 29th. Where were the new models hidden? In mom's backyard, that's where. You can recall the 29-piece orchestra that played during the Saturday night festivities in the "Introduction Week" showroom. in that era, the new cars were first shown to the public on a Thursday, and by the time Saturday rolled around, quite a few sales had been made. It was time to celebrate.

So, as this young man, what would be your "dream job"? How about Camaro product manager for GM? Scott Settlemire, who is the young fellow whom we've just described, fit into that job as if it was molded exactly for him. Scott had an idea of having his own Chevy dealership, but after college he became district sales manager for Chevrolet, moving up the GM ladder until he won the Camaro job in 1996. there were hundreds of hopefuls for that position, however, Scott's experience with dealers, sales, and the actual product served him well, and he "got the pick." He is now so highly associated with the Camaro that any mail sent to GM solely with the word "Camaro" on the envelope is directed to him.

Scott's first car wasn't a Camaro because they didn't make themwhen he was 12 years old. He picked up a '56 Pontiac Star Chief for $150, after promising dad he would only drive it around their own land; that's how Scott learned to drive. His first new car, however, was a Camaro-a '73 to be exact. It's been Camaros ever since.

Scott Settlemire has now been with General Motors for a little over 29 years and is currently its auto shows and exhibits manager. Where did we settle down to have a little chat with Scott? A car show, of course. We caught up with Scott at the Carlisle, Pennsylvania's 7th Annual Camaro Nationals; talk about a "busman's holiday." Scott likes to go to car shows, especially the ones that feature Camaros.

Sure, the Camaro has been out of production for a few years, and GM doesn't talk about future product plans, but Mr. Settlemire is not the sort of guy to leave things as is. He's the "Voice of the Camaro," making sure that no one at GM forgets what the car means, and what it might take to build it again. He defines a Camaro as having the following "DNA," if you will: a muscular V-8, rear wheel drive, handles as if it were on rails, and immediatley recognizable as a Camaro. It would be better the name never be used again than wind up on a front-wheel drive, egg-shaped compact car.

Having said that, we must assure our readers that no one at GM, including Scott Settlemire, is about to break any news at this time. However, when asked directly whether the Camaro is coming back, Scott would only smile and state, "The Camaro nameplate has huge equity-it's one of the top five most recognized names in the automobile industry." So we're confident that it's coming back.

To brighten the outlook even more, just look around at the new products from GM. We're seeing V-8 engines in cars and trucks that we never expected. Performance is back, which has translated into sales. And lets not forget about a fellow named Lutz who's still holding the reins at this corporate giant. It's great to have a car guy at the top instead of the "bean counters" we've put up with in the past.

We should be gratified that we have Scott in the right place to help keep the faith.