The Chevy Camaro is now 50 years old.
It was September of 1966 when the ‘67 model year was introduced to the world, and it was a hit!
“The Camaro was Chevy’s answer to the tremendous success of the sales of the Ford Mustang, which had come out a couple years prior to that,” says Jonathan Klinger.
So it’s official, 50 years of Detroit muscle car wars. The simplest definition of a muscle car is the biggest possible engine in a midsize car. Detroit’s Big 3 were answering the desire of the car buying public.
“The street rod movement of the 50s lead to the muscle car era. That is when the American auto manufacturers realized there was a hunger and desire for powerful cars, especially with all the service men who came back from WWII, and they answered with the idea of a small car with a large engine,” says Jonathan.
When I got behind the wheel, I gotta say I was transported back. The handling, the rumble of the big engine, the feeling of carefree power. The era of street drag racing on Woodward or Gratiot Avenue in Motown, and the Camaro was comfortable taking its place in the fight with the Mustang.
I’m told in the Hagerty collector’s database, the Camaro is in the top five most collected cars and it has a young feel.
“The Camaro attracts a younger demographic. That is true both on the collectors’ side as well as the new car sales. So the Camaro has always been attracting a younger car enthusiast,” says Jonathan.
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