I wasnt suggesting variations of the 69 but rather a jumping off point BMW style, or even corvette style from 4-6th gen for that matter. I never thought of it as safe but you do have point in it might be safer vs going with an entirely new style. Those two examples are the best ideas I can think of what I would like to see personally.

I really dont want to crap on your point but to my eye I dont see any first gen Heritage styling in the 2nd gen at all. I dont see it in the 70-73 and even less so in the 74-79(?) If youre talking about the mechanicals, performance, and what each moniker was maybe. I do see a little bit of 1st gen in the 3rd style.

Sounds like we might just have different tastes. I still get excited when I see a nicely restored 69 and more so with a 69 thats been turned into a modern street racer. I hope you are talking about your tastes vs what you think others might like based on the late 70's sales. Although that might be valid.

put me down for no on that one...

 

dont treat it like a mustang and just change some sheet metal on it....if its going to be on a new platform, redesign it. no 2nd gen inspiration. the camaro needs to take on its own new personality now. it got a great start milking the style of the 69....now that they got everyones attention, they need to go for something different.
when they went from the 3rd to the 4th gen, did they concider making it look like a 1st gen or 2nd gen? my guess is no.....theyve done it before, they can do it again. make something new.

 

I would love to see an evolution of the 5th gen... into a more modern/striking design.

 

I think I agree. Good point.

I think part of looking at the 1st gen for the 5th gen was that they both had a "new" release element to them and not a continuation. The 4th gen had the 3rd gen to evolve from, but the 5th had such a gap between it and the 4th gen was WAY obsolete. It was back when all cars looked like door stops and jellybeans.

 

yeah the 4th had the 3rd to evolve from...yet looked nothing like it and took nothing from it when switched to the 4th gen. just like the 2nd gen did when switching from the 1st and the 3rd from 2nd.....they dont take any design from each other and shouldnt.

like the vette and mustang did....i dont liek how the vette went from ,whats the first year of the c4? 94? the back end still looks the same all the way through the c5. and the front looked the same too.

only car that can pull off a slight redesign.........Porsche with the 911....that car is so sexy looking and that style is just timeless.

 

No. Of course it should still "look like a Camaro" and use those elements, I'm just not so sure why we need to focus on only including '69 elements like what was suggested when there are 35+ years of heritage from which to draw.

Well that was kind of my point, the 2nd Gen took almost nothing directly from the 1st and yet was still highly successful and is still a respected Camaro (at least, the 70-73).

Well sure, so do I. I just don't need to see rehashes of it on every future Camaro. That's my only point. I think the 5th Gen is a well-done modern homage to the first Camaro, and that's fine, but I don't think every future Camaro needs to be a new homage take on the same car. If that makes sense.

 

Assuming the 6th gen Camaro moves to Alpha, it should still maintain the basic heritage styling of the current Camaro and just continue to evolve, similar to the next Corvette and much like what Ford is doing with the Mustang.

Sure the 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen Camaros were not failures. However the 4th gen came out almost 20 years ago. Is its design still "fresh" today? I say no, despite the fact that I still enjoy driving mine. Some argue that the Code 130R should be the starting point for the next Camaro. I say "no". Let the Code 130R stand on its own as a unique vehicle and give it a new name.

GM fixed what was wrong with the previous version of the Camaro. It had basically turned into a 2+2 version of the Corvette. While the current Camaro performs similarly, it has its own unique design and following. Keep that going with annual refreshes and when it comes time to roll-out the next generation on a new platform, don't change to much. If and when that sales model fails and GM is forced into a radical redesign, then its time to bury the "Camaro" name forever and let its future ponycar replacement take on its own unique identity.

The current version of the Camaro is out selling the competition during a recession. Now people want to radically change its looks? Excuse me for stating the obvious, but does anyone believe GM is stupid enough to do that?

If it aint broke, don't fix it.

 

I'm with you on this.
Just make the next one an evolution of the current one.

I think those that want to turn the car into who knows what are misguided.
The car is selling like hotcakes. I think we read that it is the best selling coupe in America? Why mess with that formula.

 

Why the facepalm? Because I don't agree with you that modern designers know how to do a coupe based on what they've been doing for the past few years?


I don't understand why you keep referring to a bunch of drawings done by amateurs. You can't compare any of them to what a professional designer does.

I say bring on MORE retro inspired pony and muscle cars. It's obvious the public loves 'em!
Just think what the new GTO could have been if they used a heritage design based on the '67 or '69 GTO. They wouldn't have been able to build enough of them.
And the '82 Camaro as exotic? Really? I remember when those came out. People who owned or liked the 1st & 2nd gen F-bodies cast nothing but derision on those cars.
And look how far back YOU have to go for examples: '79 and '82.

Why don't you just say what you're really thinking: that you'd like the next Camaro to go back to becoming a poor man's Corvette. Like the 3rd & 4th gens were.

 

Just changing sheet metal only worked for the corvette and mustang because there was no competition for the car. The camaro was dead so why spend more money to redo a car that had no competition? And the vette has such a strange following , similar to 911 fans, that they would probably buy the car no matter what it looked like. For the camaro to stay on top, it has to make drastic changes. The face is getting old and ready for a change. And not just sheet metal.

 

No, because you're not understanding my point. Ok, you're stating that modern designers "don't know how to style a coupe" based on a string of FWD pocket rocket examples. My point is, what does the styling of a Scion or a Mitsubishi have to do with a Camaro? They are completely different segments marketed to completely different tastes. The fact that you and I don't dig how a Scion tC looks has no bearing at all on the skills of a GM designer working on the next Camaro. It's a complete non sequitur.

My point was to illustrate how absurd your original comment was, that "oh this amateur design is better than anything GM Design could come up with!" Yeah, do you still feel that way, that those silly frankenfirstgen renderings from 2005 look better than what GM came up with for the 5th Gen? That's my point. GM Design will do a nicer looking car than the original one in this thread and nicer than 99.9% of all other amateur 6th Gen concepts.

I admit I was wayyyy too young to remember when those cars debuted but listening to stories of others and looking through old car magazines of the day, yes, they were marveled at for their revolutionary design. And considering they sold like no Camaro has since that time, I'd say the public agreed.

I'm not suggesting changing the entire formula of the 5th Gen, considering its success you'd have to be nuts to want to do that. I am simply saying I don't see the need to make every future Camaro look like a different interpretation of one specific generation of Camaro. That's it.

 

I am old enough to remember. (I was in high school at the time.) I was a huge Camaro fan even back then. My best friend drove a '80 Z-28 and I had other friends that drove Z/28s, TransAms, Chevelles, Novas, Mustangs, etc. Yes everyone thought the new 1982 Camaro was amazing, but then the 2nd gen had become so bloated and gutless due in-part to emissions laws, that they had to lighten the load some how.

However, while it was revolutionary back then, you need to remember we also thought feathered-hair and parachute pants looked good. Do we still think that today?

The point being, while previous versions were successful in their day, but times have changed and we see a need to evolve. What is simply amazing is that the current Camaro is selling so well even though we are deep in a recession. Could you imagine the sales numbers if times were good?

I also don't by the "current Camaro is looking tired" argument. We're only deep into Model Year #2 of its existence. I don't buy the crap that its a modern day "copy" of the '69. Place two side-by-side and you'll see similarities, but they are hardly identical. (The same can be said for the Mustang and its 1960's counterparts.)

While I like each generation of Camaro, the current is by far my favorite. We need to embrace it and let it take its course. A drastic redesign isn't warranted, nor is it need... and it certainly makes absolutely no business sense in these economic times.

 

My point was not to say "we could do an homage car to the 3rd Gen next time", my point is only that we don't have to be so afraid and hold so rigidly to the 1st Gen-inspired mantra for all future Camaros. And I'm not just talking 6th Gen, I'm talking 7th, 8th, etc. Revolutionary designs can be just as effective when done right and we've seen it many times (F2-F3, C4-C5, etc.)

Never said it was tired.

Never said it's a modern day copy either (Challenger much more closely fits that bill). Never said its layout needs to radically change, never said any of this. I'm just pointing out the fact that we may not want to be such sticklers for making a '67-'69 Camaro the jumping off point, style-wise, for any and all future Camaros (as the 5th Gen is). That's as far as I'm going.

 

I never said you did. I was just tagging that on my thoughts on your quote. (However others have said it in this thread.)

I'll even argue that the current Camaro, while having similarities to the first gen Camaros, actually takes more of its DNA from recent Cadillacs. Yes they added a wide mouth open grill like the first gens and fake gills in front of the rear wheel openings; however there's more styling ques from other GM products than just the early Camaros.

Don't get me wrong. I love the 3rd gens (although I've never owned one myself), I just couldn't afford the insurance on one back when they were new. By the time I could swing it, the 4th gens were out. However there are little things that I find quirky when compared to newer cars. I suspect that if GM were to give us a 3rd gen inspired Camaro on the Alpha platform, it would be "bloated" and "fat" and folks would complain about it. I also don't think a modern sport coupe needs a rear hatch like the 3rd and 4th gens had and wouldn't want to see that make the cut either. Also, t-tops have gone out of style just like feathered hair and parachute pants.

I think rather than rehash former transitions, GM should stick with one design idea and evolve it rather than throw it out every 3-5 years and start over fresh. (Or retro a different generation.)

But, I do think the later 3rd gens are still good looking and huge bargains for someone looking for a fun and cheap ponycar today.

 

I get exactly what you're saying. You're saying that just because I don't like the current crop of coupes out there, that doesn't mean the designers don't know what they're doing or that they couldn't design a good looking coupe. This is where I disagree with you. If they could do a good looking coupe (like the Camaro, like the Mustang, like the Challenger, like the CTS coupe), then why aren't they?
I look at the current coupes on the market sort of as a designer's portfolio; what a designer would have to show a prospective employer in order to get a job. I don't like what I see. I would not hire them based on their portfolio.



I stand by my statement. And I submit the 130R and 140S as evidence to back up my statement. This 6th gen concept is WAYY better looking than the 130 or 140. This is telling me that their designers cannot come up with a design that will knock our socks off. The 5th gen backs up this theory. The designers had to reach back to the 1st gen design to come up with a good design. I'm pretty confident they wouldn't have come up with something as awesome as the 5th gen if they didn't do a heritage car.




I feel if Chevy wants to continue to sell Camaros in the numbers they currently are, they cannot stray to far from they already have. The car has to remain a more upright 3 box design with strong styling cues back to the 1st gen.
If they go clean sheet, I'd bet Mitt Romney's paycheck that it would end up looking like every other coupe out there. Just my opinion.