Unless you guys (GM) offer some special 40th Anniversary package with stripes funky paint (hugger orange?) and scoops and wings... I'm more destined to keep my 5th Gen "SuperDuper" Camaro as stealthy as possible.

If a 450+HP V8 Camaro looks like a lowly V6... all the better for slaying Cobras my pretties.

 

Seems like the popular choice is "kept as it is".

 

It's one thing to make the V6 look like the V8. It's completely another to make the V8 look like the V6.

I can see how that may be one of the toughest parts of your job.... deciding which consumer input to use, and how to use it.

 

Maybe. But then why even bother keeping the Camaro name?

 

How can you argue that the V8 was made to look like the V6 (that the V8 styling was the afterthought) and not vice-versa?

I'm interested to hear what you base that assumption on.

 

The Camaro name, like Mustang and Corvette, is more important than "trim" levels or options like Z28, SS, GT, Z06.

Pontiac has created GXP as its new performance "trim" level. At one time Z28 was new. And who says everything Camaro was established in '67 for all time?

 

Huh?

Technically "SS" started in 1961 on Impala.

"Z28" and "SS" are just "trim" levels???

I beg to differ.

 

I can see how the 3rd gen California RS became popular. Add the Z/28's ground effects, front fascia and aluminum wheels to the Sport Coupe...and you get alittle more style in the base car.

On the 4th gen...I have no idea what happened.

But the base car looked plain and the V8 (don't want to use Z/28 too often.....seems to upset people ), car looked just as plain.

"Bringing up" a base car does not have the identical affect of "dumbing down" a V8 car.

 

OK, you say it "looked" plain, but the fact that the V6 and Z28 cars didn't have tacked-on ground effects and bigger spoilers doesn't really mean much to me. I thought they looked aggressive enough. Again, the assumption that the V8 was dumbed down to the V6 level is just as illogical as saying the opposite happened when both cars looked the same from the beginning of the 4th Gen run. Just like the old question "how do you know which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

You'll get no argument from me about the 3rd Gen California RS Camaro, because we saw how the base Camaro started out as looking different than the Z28....

All in all, I think the reasons for your resentment of the base car and Z28 looking the same are misplaced. I'm going to take a guess that your true gripe isn't the fact that the Z28 looked like a V6, it's that the base V6 came standard looking like the Z28.

 

I wasn't really refering to "boy racer" ground FX or flashy spoilers.

Bigger more agressive wheels and nicer trim....like nicer emblems...would have been enough.

The base car didn't have any sort of special look at all....and the V8 car was no better...maybe even worse. I never cared for the black two toned roof.

 

What?

But we're talking about Camaro.

Whether I call them "trim" levels, options, or something else doesn't change my point. (I wrote ". . . 'trim' levels or options like Z28, SS, GT, Z06. . . ." [italics added]. Why did you ignore that and falsely attribute to me the idea that they are "just 'trim' levels, as though they are nothing else, when I wrote that they could also be considered options? And what, exactly, is your point?)

 

I think you're missing my point. I'm well aware that you and IZ28 are no fans of 4th Gen styling, period. Your point was that the Z28 was the car that was reverse-styled to look like a V6. No one can possibly have any proof of that. I doubt John Cafaro ever thought about it like that. You say they both looked plain, and that's proof enough for you. Fortunately no court of law would ever accept that.

 

I can't prove anything...and really nor should I have to. Myself and hundreds of thousands of potential consumers only need to make choices based on our impressions. Perception is sometimes more powerful than reality.

As for Cafaro...I have no idea what he was thinking...but after reading "ALL CORVETTES ARE RED"I'd bet he was just happy to wash his hands of the whole 4th gen project.

 

I read it too, but don't remember why he'd want to disassociate himself from the 4th gen. Please refresh our memories.

 

Don't you think that when the decision was made to listen to the V6 owners who wanted their car to look like a Z28, it would dumb down the Z28 & make it non-discript to those who actually bought Z28?

What would have happened if base Camaro owners wanted their cars to look like Camaro SSs, scoops & all? Under this logic, if base Mustang owners wanted their cars to look like the Mustang Mach 1, then Ford would have hords of V6 Mustangs with shaker scoops, spoilers, and blackout paint.

Of course if you ask someone, they are going to want their car to look like the more expensive or sporty version of that same car (look at how many fake Chevelle SS's are out there)

This was one instance where some misguided marketing logic got the better of someone. Something that seemed a good decision on the surface that ends up eroding the value of the upmarket model, and alienating it's fans.