New Camaros on the road

Topspin · 08-22-2008, 09:45 PM

I live about 15 miles from the GM proving grounds in Milford MI. The engineers there do a lot of road testing out in my area, and I hit the motherlode today while out with my wife crusin in the R. I was at the pumps in a new gas station out in the middle of nowhere and when I looked up there was a bunch of SUV's with fabric covers draped over them pulling in. Next came a half dozen white small Pontiac sedans, that I think are the replacements for the GTO. Finally a line of Camaros was last. The first was in black and white camo style paint that's supposed to confuse the viewer as to the real shape. The next two were identical in a pretty burgundy color. My wife loved the last one in silver, but guess what? It was a new Challenger R/T they were beating on. They parked in a line to change drivers and the Camaro and R/T were parked nose to tail for a quite vivid comparison. My feeling is they really nailed the Challenger and the Camaro is too modern. I cruised very slowly by, on my way out, and was pleased to get a number of nice comments from the drivers. All in all a fun day!

turnheadz · 08-22-2008, 10:32 PM

what a day

Beach potato · 08-22-2008, 10:37 PM

WOW! Just how cool is that! And to be recognized in a

cool ride. The front of the Challenger looks a bit cro-mag and may be in the flesh its macho with style!

ssrgarage · 08-22-2008, 10:54 PM

HALSSSR · 08-23-2008, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssrgarage

Tim

That's a neat expierience for sure!! You residing close to a proving ground,maybe you could take some photos for auto spy magazines,secret agent man,secret agent man,remember that tune.....

. Reminds me of when
I lived in Michigan as a young Lad,I was standing on the school grounds near
the four way stop in the middle of winter,as a safety patrolman,Lieutenant,woo
hoo,

, it was early morning and up to the stop sign pulls this car that I swear looked(like a space ship) keep in mind 1954 folks,nothing like this anywhere on the planet, so darn cool,I literally froze in glance at this 1954 white corvette with hardtop,it had the neatest sound and looked so very

,what was odd, I never saw it again around town,and we lived in a very small town of 3600 people?! But what an impression it made on me as a ten year old boy! Your story reminded me of my first sight of a corvette,never heard of it before then,was so new!

I decided to take out the 1954 corvette and take a picture of it too!!
Boy I love the front end on this and the 1957,that's why I think Mr sinister's R,is way cool!! Don't like the matt finish,I like shinny sparkling looking things,
stems from being a kid and my MOM would always give us gifts in baskets,like Easter,with pretty colored paper etc. Yeah,ya ever wonder!

The rear view is what I remember seeing,just cool,still today! IMO

Topspin · 08-23-2008, 12:12 PM

HAHSSSR, where in MI did you live? Your Vette story reminded me of a similar experience when I was about 10 yrs. old. I was walking home from school and this spaceship looking car going down the street caught my eye. I remember just frozen in place watching it go by and not moving until it was out of sight. It was a turbine powered car that Chrysler was experimenting with at the time. It's also kind of funny because as a teen I'd talk girls into going for a ride way out to the proving grounds- I lived in Detroit 50 miles away at the time- to spy on the new cars. There was a little hill down at the end of the long 2 mile plus straightaway where you could park and watch them run topspeed tests. Of course my motive wasn't just watching cars as it was very dark and deserted there and you could see the moon and the stars ------ . Houses all around the place now.

HALSSSR · 08-23-2008, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topspin

HAHSSSR, where in MI did you live? Your Vette story reminded me of a similar experience when I was about 10 yrs. old. I was walking home from school and this spaceship looking car going down the street caught my eye. I remember just frozen in place watching it go by and not moving until it was out of sight. It was a turbine powered car that Chrysler was experimenting with at the time. It's also kind of funny because as a teen I'd talk girls into going for a ride way out to the proving grounds- I lived in Detroit 50 miles away at the time- to spy on the new cars. There was a little hill down at the end of the long 2 mile plus straightaway where you could park and watch them run topspeed tests. Of course my motive wasn't just watching cars as it was very dark and deserted there and you could see the moon and the stars ------ . Houses all around the place now.

I grew up in Laurium ,Michigan (U.P.) ,left there when I was fifteen,to come live with my Dad here in Washington,State,thank God,it was great for childhood,but not to good for a young adult,just an old closed up copper mining town,with great people,but no industry,just bars every other building,tea parlors and saloons,I got out just in time IMO! Now it's a retirement community,summer time only! That was me driving by in my turbine chrysler

,did it look like this?! I pulled it out of my cabinet of diecasts to take a picture!But back to your expierience,sounds similiar to mine,just took us away to wow land!!

Great memorys for sure!! Take care,my fanatic friend! Permagrins Always,I think you posted in the wrong category though?!(Site Help)

Yeah

Topspin · 08-23-2008, 05:46 PM

Wow, that's the car, only the one I saw was white. Thanks for the headsup on the category. This is the first and only forum I belong to and this is the first thread I've posted and I wasn't at all sure of what I was doing. I apologize for the wrong placement.
Just came back from Naubinway In the U.P. Also used to get up to Houghton every Nov. The S.C.C.A used to have a Pro Rally circuit and one of the main stops was The P.O.R. (press on regardless) rally in Houghton. I was building motors for a factory Jeep team at the time and would go up every year to watch the race. It was really crazy as they ran only at night on mostly gravel roads that were blocked off to the public. After a few drivers died hitting trees or animals, they quit doing the performance stages and turned into a simple T.S.D. (time,speed, distance) event. Don't know if it even goes on anymore.
Thanks for the good memories HALSSSR!

WOW_FCTR · 08-25-2008, 07:57 AM

I moved the thread to General Off Topic, so that others would see it

ssr71 · 08-25-2008, 08:28 AM

Too bad you didn't have a camera!

I thought Lutz had ordered all camouflage to be removed from the Camaros?

Topspin · 08-25-2008, 08:29 AM

Thanks WOW_FCTR! All you do for this forum is greatly appreciated. I can't imagine how much time you must devote to this task.

Topspin · 08-25-2008, 08:54 AM

ssr71 it was weird, that camouflage does work. The first Camaro was the camo'd one and I was really studying it, to figure out what exactly it was, when the first painted one rolled in and I immediately recognized it to be a Camaro. When they really want to keep eyes off they put black nylon covers over them with cutouts for the windows.

ssr71 · 08-25-2008, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topspin

It was a turbine powered car that Chrysler was experimenting with at the time.

There are only 9 surviving turbine cars. The remaining cars were crushed and burned.

Topspin · 08-25-2008, 09:20 PM

ssr71 you are right, my buddy that works at the proving grounds said they are supposed to try to keep camo'd cars off the roads now. He says some of the bodies on early prototypes are so poor that they keep the camo to hide all the flaws. That's a shame about the turbine cars, they were way way ahead of their time.