Oh Shit Fire! Where’d you get that bitchin Camaro? What chu got in there? 7 liter LS
with big cams blower popping out the hood. Bet that thing’s fast as hell. Dang thing’ll blow
the dang doors off a dang import no problem. Can I get a ride in it?
Camaro, it’s angry, it’s stylish, it’s bold and it's loud!
From Chevrolet’s point of view, the Camaro was born out of necessity. From conception
to execution, it was created with one purpose and one purpose alone.
To destroy the Mustang.
This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Chevy Camaro.
(8-bit music plays)
This episode of Up To Speed is brought to you by
Vincero watches.
Shoutouts to Vincero for sending me this cool bad boy.
It looks good, it's really well engineered.
Speaking of really well engineered let's talk about Camaros.
Chevy entered into the 1965 model year looking to to overtake Ford in all their categories,
and their plan was 3-fold...
They introduced their Chevelle to compete with Ford’s Falcon.
They completely redesigned the Impala and
And they made them both available with the race inspired Super Sport package.
The nimble Nova and the new Chevelle outsold Ford in the small and mid-sized market, and
the ‘65 Impala dominated the full size American Market. They sold over one million units.
A million. One comma, zero-zero-zero comma zero-zero-zero. And as far as I can find
that record still stands.
Full-size, check. Mid-size, check. Small car Uh check…
We won all of the three categories am I right boys?
WRONG.
What?
Mustang.
Ford debuted the Mustang in 1964, and created an entirely new class, the Pony Car. How could
Chevy beat Ford in a class that we don't even have a freakin car for?
Guys when we talked in January we said we wanted to beat Ford in every class.
Who was on this? Seth I can't fire you 'cus you are my brother and I love you but I am mad and
I'm not sitting by you at dinner tonight.
Here’s a surprise, like almost every other two door sports car we’ve talked about on
this show. Someone at a competing company saw a mustang and was like
“Dang dude, that’s a good idea. We need to do a car like that.”
Without delay- the same year, Chevy Head Bucky Knudsen.
Laughs
The guy in charge of Chevy Bucky Knudsen took the guys responsible for the record setting
Impala Irv Rybicki and Henry Haga, and told them to make a new car that would beat the Mustang.
Chevy codenamed the project “Panther,” and the team prioritized aggressive, sleek design
a wide wheelbase, and sport inspired performance.
Then, in 1966, Chevy set another record- this time for the biggest phone call ever,
Chevrolet general manager Pete Estes, announced the Camaro on a 14 city conference call with
the press. He says the panther is dead, long live the Camaro. Click. Straight up hangs up.
Everybody in the press is like "I think a Panther died? What is, what is a Camaro?"
Happened, Google it.
Estes said that the name Camaro evokes the camaraderie between man and machine
thank you
He also claimed the name was French. It’s not French. When pressed about what the name Camaro actually
means he slyly responded, “it's a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.”
Estes is the weirdest dude ever.
This first generation Camaro was released in 1967, and it took everything that was great
about Chevy’s aggressive new styling in the Impala and Chevelle, and turned that sh*t
up to 11.
(Engine revs)
It had a recessed grill, innovative front and rear fenders and was available with
up to a 6.5 liter V8. With a Supersport, Rally, and a Z-28 Packages, the Camaro, from its
inception has been associated with performance.
Ah yes, the iconic Z-28 performance package- we’ve all seen it- but what does it mean?
Nothing. It’s just the internal Chevy RPO code for the package. Does it mean anything?
Cars are fun.
The Camaro was an effort to compete with the Mustang but Detroit’s a small town, and
Ford, aware that Chevy had something up its sleeve, redesigned their mustang to receive
a bigger engine too. Even in its first year, the Camaro, while an impressive, cool little car
was playing catch up to the mustang...
Again to compete with the Mustang, the second generation Camaro came out three short years
later. For 1970, it got wider, pushed the headlights outside of the front grill, had
a faster looking rear end, and a more prominent rear fender. This is the fish face that people
love or hate. You know who loved it? Road and Track Magazine. They named the 1971 SS
350 as one of the 10 best cars in the world that year. And finally the Camaro outsold
the Mustang, though only a slim margin of one thousand cars.
I mean that was close.
The Camaro, because of its origins, will always be compared to the Mustang, but having outsold
it in 1970, it could now develop an identity of its own.
Chevy was fine with the Mustang being as American as Apple Pie. Because that meant the Camaro
could be as American as ROCK AND ROLL!
The 2nd gen had quite a few facelifts through its 11 year run. Just like my little brother Tom.
Rest in peace. Most notable were the variations to the grill. The Camaro kept getting
more Camaro-y, and while still competing with the Mustang, it wasn’t in the “hey Mustang
buyers, maybe you’ll like this” way. You now bought a Camaro because you wanted a badass
Camaro.
(Rock music playing)
The third-generation Camaro rolled out for the 1982 model year.
Look, the 60s Camaro looked like the 60s, the 70s camaro looks like the 70s…
and the 80s camaro? I mean freakin look at this thing! It’s as 80’s as Reagan and Bush, or crimped
hair, or doing cocaine with your boss. Which is apparently a thing that I totally missed out on.
In 1985, for my birthday, the Camaro was chosen as the official racecar for the International
Race Of Champions (I R O C)
IROC IROC Ooohhh
and to commemorate, Chevy rebranded the Z28 as the IROC-Z.
Jean jackets everywhere rejoiced!
The "20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition" was offered in 1987, as well as a "25th Anniversary
Heritage Package" in 1992 .
Camaro. They like anniversaries.
The fourth-generation Camaro debuted in 1993 on an updated F-body platform. It retained
the same characteristics since its introduction in 1967: a 2-door body with 2+2 seating and
an optional T-top roof or convertible.
In 1998, the 5.7 L LS1 was the first all-aluminum engine offered in a Camaro since 1969
and this one made 325 horsepower.
Ok I know everyone, like the LS is starting to get like uh oh my God it's so boring. But,
it''s a freakin all aluminum V8 that's the size of a loaf of bread.
Weights less than a B16.
If you don't like LS-swapped cars you're a hater. Don't be a hater.
The Camaro was still pushing that aggressive reputation, but after 2002, production of
the F-Body platform was discontinued due to slowing sales, and a deteriorating market
for sports coupes.
The Mustang was finally free to prance fancifully across the roads of the American Countryside
without fear of the being stalked by a Camaro.
Until… in 2010 after an 8 year hiatus, a totally re-designed, retro-inspired
"brand new” Camaro made its triumphant debut. Finally, it was Ford’s turn to play catch-up
the 2010 Camaro SS had about 100 HP more than the Mustang GT. That’s not even a fair right?
That's like me fighting any man on Earth. If you want to fight me I'll put twenty-thousand
dollars cash on it. You let me know in the comments, we'll set up a time and a place.
The only rule is it's to the death and your kids gotta watch
The car looked great… It looked new and it wasn't like, “HEY, I’M A CRAZY CAMARO!
LOOK HOW CRAZY I LOOK!” It was meticulous in design and remained true to its 1967 origins.
It handled better than ever, and could outpace the mustang on almost any track.
On April 1, 2010, the Camaro was named the World Car Design of the Year at the World
Car of the Year Design Awards.
What the f**k.
And the winner is, the Chevrolet Camaro.
Is this real? Anyway congrats, we did it guys!
And the experience of driving it? People love it. It was lighter and more nimble than the Mustang
and in 2016, the Z28 returned, and made 505 Horsepower!
MotorTrend's 2016 car of the year is the all new Chevrolet Camaro.
It was motortrends car of the year.
And today, 2017. Happy 50th Camaro. The 50th anniversary edition had unique interior styling badges.
It’s 200 pounds lighter than the 5th gen, and the 2018 ZL1 drops about
60 pounds more. Add to this the optional 650 horsepower? I’m telling you- it’s a small,
vicious animal that devours Mustangs. And sometimes it turns into a robot and saves
Shia Leboof and Megan Fooks.
From it’s inception, the Camaro has had one job and it has done it well. It was designed
to rival the Mustang, and aside from an 8 year sabbatical, it has been doing just that
for over 50 years.
That's everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Chevy Camaro.
This episode of Up To Speed is brought to you by Vincero watches.
All you have to do is click the link below, enter the code WATCHDONUT.
You can get sweet discounts on all Vincero products including watches and sunglasses.
What other cars do you guys want us to cover?
How many jean jackets do you own?
Do you guys think that the catfish Camaro is like one of the last cars that's still
cheaper than it should be?
I want the white one with the orange stripes.
Check out our Evolution series. We take you through the history of every car in this really
cool animated morphy way.
Make sure to like, comment, share, subscribe, follow, and come back every week to watch
more Up To Speed.
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I love you. I love you. Ugh I have heartburn.