I'm willing to bet you 20 years ago, 1st gens held that exact stigma. Like I said in another thread, as certain models age and get cheap, "red necks" grab them and beat the crap outta them. This is when they're old enough to be cheap, but not old enough to have collector value. I guarantee you in 15 years, an '05 Mustang will have the same trailer cache to it

 

Me too. In fact, that's probably my biggest issue with it's looks.

 

Once upon a time, high school kids used to buy ratty, rusted, primered, '67 Camaros, for $700...and drive them to school.

 

Well imagine that You mean, 1st gens weren't always prized possessions? Loved by all? You mean to tell me my father sold his well-cared-for (but rustily falling apart) '69 by '75 despite the fact the car was the paragon of the collector industry?

It amazes me how people can have such tunnel vision. A '69 Camaro by the mid '70s was an also-ran. My father's had 90k miles on it and had already gone through 3 clutches because it had a 3 on the tree (yes, not all '69s were SSs and Z28s) that the first owner abused the crap out of and never shifted right (he purchased in '72 with 35k on it). The white vinyl top was peeling and cracked. The driver door no longer unlocked from the outside. Rear 1/4s? What rear 1/4s? They were strewn rustily all over the highways of New England. The gagues didn't work half the time. Think about it people...imagine a '98 Camaro displaying these problems today.

Like Charlie just said, at one point these were ALL used cars...just like 3rd and 4th gens are today. And what looks worse to people's perception? A rusty 6 year old Camaro, or a somewhat beat 15+ year old one? Someday, all the 20 somethings will covet 3rd and 4th gens too...despite their "mullet factor" now.

The problem with history is that people fall in love with the image instead of the reality.

 

To all you retro haters.. would you buy a "modern" ugly Camaro over an attractive retro Camaro? People are dismissing a car they haven't even seen yet.

It can take styling cues from the ugly late 2nd gens/early 3rd gens for all I care. If it looks good, and is a RWD/V8/6 speed car, sign me up.

 

thank you

 

A guy at work has a new 2005 V6 stang, it looks huge and ungainly stting next to my '98 Z.

Like the 300C I really have to convince my self the car can really handle when I look at it.

No retro. GM has a huge oppportunity here to pull off the coup of the decade with a whole new fresh design. Heritage cues are fine, I have like when designers 'tip there hats' to the past with style, but to blatently copy a prior design is nonsense.

And no, just becuase it's modern and has a 400hp V8 that IS NOT ENOUGH for me to buy it. My standards are a bit higher....

 

Depends on how "retro" is "retro". All of people on here seem to define the term differently. If the car looked like the Road and Track car, I wouldn't necessarily have a problem. I do not want a car that is an exactly clone of a previous model year.

If it is inspired by the past or whatever, fine. Despite some of what I have read on here of people saying the Mustang was inspired, but not a direct copy, of the past; when I see a Mustang I think clone. This is exactly what I do not want, and I will be exceedingly disappointed if I have waited all this time and get a copy of a 69.

 

Me-too-ish eh? So Ford didn't copy Chryslers retro PT Cruiser idea? C'mon, it's called following the market. Ford saw Chrysler, then went with the T-bird, which was a flop, then tried recreating a car that sold millions and won. GM has been far too behind in following market styling and they're much too conventional at groundbreaking designs. Tried and true formulas are what GM has to use to survive and that means drawing on its heritage for a sure thing. They can't afford to have another screw up like the Aztec, and the 1st gen Camaro was a huge success. It's only natural they cash in on that.

 

Sp if I understand what you're saying....

After 10 years of retro designs on the market place GM will finally come to the table with 2 (HHR and Camaro, I'm not counting the SSr because I don't consider it a mass market vehicle), at which time the retro fad, being 10 yera old, will probably be dying out because the market will be driving in another direction.

GM's will be once again caught with it's pants down with late to the party and now obsolete designs. Nice Job.

BTW, companies drive the market. When someone comes out with an hugely popular design, they drive the market, not the other way around.

 

Just wanted to give this fine post a highlight!!

 

Groundbreaking designs? Say what? Are we talking about the same General Motors, or is there another GM I didn't know about?

LX is ground-breaking, and proves following the leader will not necessarily win you sales. Ford didn't copy the PT in terms of retro. Ford pretty much copies ALL of its famous designs. Witness the T-Bird/GT/Mustang. Do you believe the PT had anything to do with it?

It is "me-too-ish" and way too much follow the leader to have a retro '08 Camaro...without a doubt. Everyone pans the HHR for doing the EXACT SAME THING...yet for a Camaro its ok?

Why is it the only "safe" way to make a killing on a Camaro is retro? Can't they do a ground-breaking, attractive, FRESH design?

 

Thanks Darth. Charlie said now's the time to scream, so I'm gonna do it at the top of my friggen lungs and hope the martian and his crew can hear me

 

Oh yeah please encourage GM to FOLLOW more, that will help us. (computer sarcasm)

Come on buddy, two years from now the market could be somewhere else completely.

This Retro Fad should be seeing its closing stages by the end of the decade.

A fresh revolutionary Camaro design in 2008 could be leading the pack not following what Ford did now with no competition.

 

Damn right! I'm yelling right next to you.

LISTEN GM PLEASE!!!!!

RETRO =