Let me start out by saying that Im new to the forum and Im about to probably make a lot of people mad but please bare with me till Im done. The Camaro is one of the greatest legacies in car history. Like everyone else I was heartbroken to see it go along with its twin. However, contrary to what a lot of people are hoping, I hope they leave it retired. Think about it. The Camaro/Firebired went out on top and retired with style. How many other muscle cars can say that? Example: Nova, Duster, Challenger, Chevelle, even the mighty Charger was a joke when it was retired.(I think it was '87) I personally think the Muscle Car world needs some new blood. The new GTO look like everthing else Pontiac makes so it wont turn any heads. In last months issue of Hot Rod there was an in depth concept of a 2005 Chevelle. Theyre asking for people to email them and help get the thing approved. I think we should help em out.

 

If Monte Carlo goes V8, RWD, I don't see a huge void that a Chevelle would fill.

Camaro & Firebird have left a huge hole in GM's offering. I think there is a much more pressing need for a sporty coupe in the current lineup.

 

I totally agree with USHotRod about the GTO. The GTO can be a great car, but the looks have been done too many times for my buck anyway. I'd hate for the fbody to gone for 1yr, so you know put to rest would really suck. BUT bring back a sweet Chevelle would be great if the fbody isn't around.

 

USHotRod, I agree with you as far as Camaro retiring while it was still on top (The 2003 Cobra was nicknamed "Terminator" because it was to "Terminate" all debate as to which car, Camaro or Mustang, was the quickest pony car...true story directly from the person directing the effort!

But, I also think that you also fell for the "All car names from the past are glorious" disease. Nova and Duster were NOT performance cars by any measure. Thinking those cars were performance cars is just like saying the Neon is a performance associated name simply because of the SRT-4, or a Lebaron a performance name simply because of the turbo it used to have.

Dodge Challenger and the Chevy Chevelle were mid-sized cars, and nothing more. Pontiac's Grand Prix has a far longer and more performance oriented history than either one of those cars. If you instead refered to "R/T" or "SS" then you'd be far closer to the mark.

As has been debated endlessly here, GTO has always looked like every other Pontiac in the lineup each individual year it's been made, and has no unique styling. The general consensus is that the new GTO should have at least hood scoops and exhaust outlets on both sides. Being that the new GTO is the quickest and fastest GTO EVER made, it seems that the only complaint from distractors is on the point of styling, which IMHO (expressed way way too much ) if that's the only point of contention, then the new GTO still aquits itself very nicely.

 

Yeah when I was talking about those particular models being performance models I meant the actual performance models. Hell you could say the same thing about the camaro. The Z28 brand and SS brand is what made them performance models.