AUTO HISTORY
Ford Motor Co.’s introduction of the sporty Mustang in April, 1964 and caught the competition flat-footed. By draping a nicely styled, longnose, short-deck 2+2 body over inexpensive compact Falcon running gear Ford scooped the industry.
In the process it set in motion a new automotive genre called the "pony car," and when the Mustang arrived no one felt the sting of being left behind more keenly than Ford’s traditional rival Chevrolet.
Chevrolet had nothing to compete with the Mustang. The rear-engined air-cooled Corvair Monza which Chevrolet had created for the sporty market segment by dressing up a regular Corvair two door catered to a much more specialized audience.
And besides, the Corvair was on the brink of nasty surprise, the result of Ralph Nader's 1965 book, “Unsafe At Any Speed.” It gave the Corvair the most savage attack ever administered to a single model and Corvair sales went into steep decline. It was discontinued in 1969.
And since the Corvette sports car was too powerful, expensive and specialized for the pony car market, Chevrolet immediately set to work to develop a Mustang competitor. It would be called the Camaro and to facilitate its creation they did the same as Ford by borrowing components from existing models.
The base engine was the 3.8 litre, overhead valve, inline-six from the compact Chevy II and intermediate Chevelle. The single leaf "Mono-Plate" rear springs came from the Chevy II and the coil spring front suspension was lifted pretty well intact from the Chevelle. Unit construction was used aft of the windshield, with a subframe extending forward for suspension and engine mounting.
Even using existing components it took Chevrolet 21/2 years to develop its Mustang rival. The Camaro arrived in the fall of 1966 as a 1967 model and it was apparent that the stylists had been more daring than the engineers.
While it was a conventional front-engine, rear drive, four seater (no more rear engines for Chevrolet), the body was a thing of beauty. It was a cleanly sculpted, crisply styled piece of automotive art. With an appearance smoother and less angular than the Mustang's it also looked more aerodynamic, although that received little attention in those pre-oil crises, cheap gasoline days.
The Camaro's dimensions were within fractions of the Mustang's. The Camaro's wheelbase of 2,746 mm (108.1 in.) was almost identical to the Ford's 2,743 mm (108 in.). Other measurements the Camaro was very close at 25 mm (1 in.) longer, 41 mm (1.6 in.) wider, and 20 mm (.8 in.) lower. The 1,542 kg (3,400 lb) Mustang was 86 kg (190 lb) heavier when both were V8-equipped.
Both cars had inline sixcylinder engines as standard power, with the Camaro's 4.1 litre larger than the Mustang's 3.3. With 140 horsepower, the Chevrolet six was 20 horsepower more powerful.
The Camaro took another chapter out of Ford's book by offering an extensive array of options. Inside, Camaro buyers could add items like consoles, stereos and power windows, while outside they could opt for the SS (Super Sport) and RS (Rally Sport) packages which included a wide stripe around the nose and disappearing headlights. Both cars came as hardtops or convertibles.
Under the skin the Camaro offered a array of powertrains, including three- and four-speed manual transmissions or an automatic. Buyers could choose all the way up to the blockbuster 6.5 litre, 325 horsepower V8. Ford had not been sleeping on power either; the Mustang's hottest option was a 6.4 litre, 335 horsepower V8.
The inevitable performance comparisons were made, and the two cars fitted with big V8s proved to be identical in zero to 97 km/h (60 mph) acceleration. Car Life (1/67) reported 7.8 seconds for the Mustang 390, the same as the Camaro SS 350 (CL 3/67). The Camaro had a little higher top speed at 193 km/h (120 mph) compared with 182 km/h (113 mph) for the Mustang.
Ford was on a sales roll with the Mustang, selling close to half a million in 1967. The Camaro couldn't get up to speed fast enough to match that sales figure and the Mustang outsold the first year Camaro by about four to one. Camaro did better in 1968 with 235,151, although still short of the Mustang's 317,148.
The Camaro, and its corporate sibling Pontiac Firebird went through several generations until flagging sales prompted General Motors to phase out Camaro/Firebird production at its Ste. Therese, Quebec plant in 2002. Ford stayed the course with the Mustang.
GM pony car fans were sad to see them go, and they became popular collectibles. But Camaro enthusiasts are happy again because General Motors reinstated the Camaro as a 2010 model complete with retro styling cues.