I collect diecast cars and for my birthday last week, my girfriend bought me a '96 Z28 convertable and a Corvette Stingray III concept. When I took them out of the box, I looked at them and said "Wow, this Vette could be a good Camaro concept.

The Stingray III got Corvette lines in it, but it also has Camaroish lines as well. Theyre about the same size, but the Vette has shorter doors. The overhangs are shorter and it just looks like it would make an acceptable evolutionary Camaro design to me. The only thing I would do would be tone down the front end.

I took lots of pics of them side by side at different angles. Here, tell me what you think.

http://community.webshots.com/album/83441406zsVPcO

 

I have been on record many-o-time as saying I think the Stingray III would be an excellent starting point for a 5th Gen Camaro.



That design is getting old, and it still looks, fresh, modern, and progressive to me.

It really says "Camaro" more than "Corvette"... always has, IMO.

 

I agree with you guys. When I first saw the Stingray III a number of years ago, the first thing that I noticed was its Camaroish styling. I think a 5th Gen styled like something in that vein would be perfect. It would look like an evolution of the 4th gen, which, imo, is the way it should be done.

 

If I'm not mistaken, that car was the basis for the 4th gen. It's steeply raked windshield is what brought GM's design studio to a standstill when Wayne Cherry decided after the Camaro's design was done & about to be locked in, put the studio on a crash program to incorperate that windshield into the actual car.

Just the same, that Stingray was the concept version of the actual 4th gen Camaro, so it's similarity is no accident.

Kind of makes you wonder about the SS concept.

 

I thought it was the California Camaro concept that was the basis for the 4th Gen. The Stingray III concept debuted right around the same time the 4th Gen was released to the public. The guys at GM designed the steeply raked windshield in '87 or early '88.

 

Come on gui, everyone knows by now that the four doors on the SS concept was just to throw us off the trail... don't they?

 

This is true.

The California Camaro is what inroduced the windshield rake et al to the 4th Gen and was a major player in the design of the 4th Gen... not Stingray III.

 

Stingray III actually debuted in 1989, but you're right. I did get my concepts mixed up. The California Camaro and the Pontiac Banshee were "stylized" peeks at the upcomming 1993 F-bodies.

The Stingray III was an early John Cafaro (sp?) design that was an early peek at what was likely to be the next Corvette, before the whole project went through a number of cancellations & revisions.

A version of the Stingray III's front end was grafted on the 4th gen, though.

(Better Stingray pics. Scroll to bottom & click on pictures)
http://www26.brinkster.com/beacon20/protoindex7.htm

(California Camaro)
http://www.conceptcarz.com/folder/ph...ehicleTypeID=0

 

The Sting Ray III wasn't Cafaro. It was in competition with his designs on which styling direction the C5 should take. The Sting Ray III was also known as the "California Corvette" due to it being designed by the same people that did the California Camaro. Chuck Jordan ordered the Vette to be done because he was nitpicking over the designs from Detroit.

 

Rant on totally unrelated topic I see pop up here from time to time:

Why do people keep posting about the Woodward Dream Cruise Cars and how they wish they were the 5th gens? The pics in the above link reminded me of a post I saw here the other day in that vein.

Those were not concept cars in the same definition of future product concept cars. They were obviously existing 4th gen cars modified for the Woodward event. If those cars were made into production cars how could you justifiably call them 5th gens when they really are just a pair of 4th gens with engine/appearance modifications?

I think some folks are soooooo emotionally attached to the existing or previous generations they cannot get past them. Some will only love the 5th gen if it is a 1st gen retro. Others want a 3rd gen copy because they believe the 3rd gen was the best one ever, and yet others are so attached to their 4th gens they want the next car to be merely a more muscular carbon copy of the existing cars.

News Flash...all previous generations are just that, previous. The next one, if we should be so lucky, will be NEW...and even if it draws on cues from the past I'm pretty certain its not going to be just a reskin of a couple of 4th gens.

Back to topic at hand:

Now, as for the Stingray III, loved that car.....14 years ago. It and the Calif Camaro shared a lot of cues. I would like to see us move past relatively old concepts, but would agree in general the lines of the Stingray III were very appealing.

 

...correct, you've been paying attention to GM's BS for quite some time! The concept was done at GM's California Design Studio. It was a way to light some fire under Cafaro and the Design Staff in Warren. And or a copy of "All Corvette's are Red" helps too!

 

I think in this instance he wasn't refering to the Woodward Dream Cruise Camaro/Trans Am.

On your second point....I whole-heartedly agree. I want a 5th gen to be it's own gen...not a "copy" of the past, but a design that carries on memorable cues while staking it's own claim.

 

Yeah, I know he wasn't referring to the Woodward cars, but seeing them on his image page reminded me of another post I saw the other day. Seems like every few weeks somebody posts "boy, I sure wish this was the 5th gen"....

 

I loved the StingrayIII when it came out too. I also thought it was more Camaro than Corvette.

Now.....it just looks old.