This is an idea I had a little bit ago...

What if this chassis is used for the Malibu? It is a medium car. Develop three body sytles: coupe, sedan and wagon (2 door please). A RWD malibu would be pretty cool. It could help provide the needed volume for kappa.

I would rather have the Camaro...err pony car...on this chassis but it would make a cool malibu...hmmm...

 

All those nice concepts and Toyota brings this abortion?

http://www.markpakula.com/aims04/pages/DSC_1491.htm

How the hell they've gotten as far as they have is beyond me...

 

This link was posted on another site. I think it gives a good perspective of the size of the Torana. I would love to see this done with a few other cars...

Click here

 

Doesn't really look like the firewall height on the Torano is that short either.......

 

The Torana's size IMHO is close to a GTO, the front 1/4 side shot reminds me of a BMW 3 series... but the rear overhang is too big to where the wheels are. There's too much back there. Way to much. It makes the car look "fat" or "portly"... something that I think plagued many sports cars of the 90's. The Camaro/Firebird had a huge rear bumper that was as good as a diving board. Personally, look to the 2nd gen fbody, even the 3rd a little, and then look to the 90's for examples of trim rear quarters that still met some crash standards. The new GTO certainly has a large rear, the mustang does as well (though it isnt tooo bad right now with that huge front end) the Supra of the 90's, the Fbody, almost everything had a huge rear. One of my personal favorites still reigns down to the 300ZX. Great stance and great portions. The Torana's rear needs to loose a few inches of overhang in the back if it were to EVER make it to the next fbody. The GTO I think has a little less, and the next gen will probably have a better proportion. The problem is, how do you maintain the muscular arches in the rear, the symbol for all that rear-drive power, and not have a huge rear end? The c5 did a decent job, as does the new c6... you dont need 400lb of sheetmetal and a hatchback to do it.

Now I know what you're gonna say - if you were to take the 4th gen's rear bumper and slide it back 6" or 8" into the car, it'd go right where our nice rear well is, or for the convertibles, the trunk. And I know we dont want to loose that, and it'll be a tight squeeze.

The one thing I loved about the 4th gen compared to most other rwd v8's of the 90's was trunk space (not performance, as they all were decent). That huge rear well is worth it's weight in gold at times - I took my convertible on a 2 week vacation with my previous girlfriend, packing decently, and had nothing in the back seat and still spare room in the trunk. It had more room then her 98 mustang drop top did, and because it was so deep, was just better suited for lots of stuff.

I think that was one more of the camaro's selling points in the past 20 years. Compared to it's competition it wasnt the always the cheapest, but it was a solid performer, and it was pretty functional across the board. Also having driven a 4th gen in the winter through plenty of snow, it's much more capable then people realize. And to think - it was a HORRIBLE chassis! Though sales sucked... For a horrible chassis it did what it had to do- and did it decently. The next generation if its a better chassis, and a better performer simply will be a very impressive car if they do even a decent job.

And I say dont build a Camaro on a chassis originally designed for a 4 door, simply because they'll have to start from ground zero to get the portions right, and that might add too much to the scheme of things.

But I hope it doesnt look like the GTO side by side in any angle. They should have similar portions, but very different lines. The one thing I worry about is having the two look the same.

I have fayth. I have patience. And time is on my side.

 

This may come over as a Pontiac. There is a "mystery" Pontiac that will be forthcoming in the next year or two.