.....Mercury Capri.

 

Sure there were those cars, but the Camaro was way better than any of those. The asian cars have really improved since then, and they distract attention away from the newer camaros. Before, all those 4cyl. engines sucked, but they're getting much better now and people like the interiors that now rival camaro in quality. In short, most of what you listed were not really stealing from the camaro's customer base.


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<A HREF="http://community.webshots.com/user/stealthknight

2001" TARGET=_blank>http://community.webshots.com/user/stealthknight

2001</A> Camaro Z28
Black on Black

M6

Front & rear sway bars
Subframe Connectors
Flowmaster Exhaust w/ Cut-out
Clear corners
Head/taillight blackouts(Copicers don't like these)
Air lid
Free Ram Air
Limo tint on the back window
Eibach Pro-kit lowering springs
Ripper Shifter
White Face Gauges

 

Sorry..maybe I missed your point. Weren't you trying to say that the 3rd gen sucked and only made it because there was no competition for it in the '80s?

 

Maybe ... or maybe your sense of style is deficient

http://ohok.com/84SE/mp_0010.jpg
http://ohok.com/84SE/20020208-kiz_0009.jpg

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1982 Recaro Trans Am (Y84), LU5/WS6/CC1/G80/J65/etc. 3,070 orig. miles (6/20/2002) - http://ohok.com/82recaro
1985 Base Firebird, F41/LB8/GU5/etc. CB radio, 142kmiles. http://ohok.com/82recaro/kizzsfb.jpg
1984 Firebird S/E, WS6/LL1/MD8/etc. All original, 102kmiles. Sold 5/02 http://ohok.com/82recaro/kizzsse.jpg

 

Not only would I buy one but Id buy 2 like I currently own. Only 17 and got a 3rd and 4th gen...hopefully by the end of HS ill have enuf for a 1st and 2nd restore. =) Maybe by the time i get to college the nice people at GM would kick them self in the *** a few times and get hoppin on a 5th gen so my kid could continue the trend in the family and buy a camaro also like my father and grand father...you all know....its a chevy thing =P



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- BIGKerneL 44
:: 1996 Camaro Z28
:: Black, M6, Full Tint / 350 rwhp/ Whole lotta chrome

 

3rd & 4th gen at 17? Must be nice.

 

When I was 17 I had both a Schwinn Continental 10-speed and a bus pass.

 

Yeah, I hear ya Z284ever! When I was 17 I had a 7-year-old 4-banger auto-tranny with every option my old man could find to bog it down with! He knew I'd floor the go-pedal alot! It got me to my job after school and through college though.

I guess I'm letting my age show here again, but I like the older cars better. 3rd gens hold a special place in my heart because they were being made when I got my license and that's what everybody was after when I was in High School. I guess wanting something so badly for so long has a lasting effect on what you find interesting. So likewise, I can see and understand why guys that got licenses and graduated in the mid-late '90's would like the 4th gen better. And that's cool too! Can't each of us spout-off a car name we wanted desperately but couldn't have when we were 16? Don't you still want one?

One last thing, remember that technology has come very far over the last 30 years. Who could expect a car with 30 year old technology to perform like a new one? The past performance and building of a name for the cars is a testament to what they were doing "back then". I really hate it when magazines do a "new v. old" article pitting a '65 Mustang against an '02 Mustang or a '69 Z/28 to the '02 Z-car - It's like comparing you to your Grandpa because you're men of the same family or something. It's just WrOnG! So how about a little respect for the old jalopies - after all, they are the stepping stones that got us to where we are with our great cars today!

 

You can bet that if I had the money I would've bought a 2002 TA. But I just happen to be 17, making such things impossible I just got my first car (my 88 formula) 3 months ago, and while it has some unique problems (I think its been in an accident, I know hte odometer's been rolled back) I still like the car. It's a tough little car, it has at least 150,000 miles on it (i dont know, it currently reads 118k, but the carfax shows 4 years ago it had 133k...) and it's still running fairly well on the original engine. It has been pretty beat up, so it needs a lot of work. But I've always wanted a 4th gen, ever since they first came out. My friend has a 95 formula, and next to mine it looks so much cooler. I made my dad take me to the pontiac dealer in '94 when I was 9, and i sat in a black TA. That was the coolest ever Ever since then I've wanted one, wish I could afford one. Hopefully next year I'll have fixed the formula well enough to sell it and saved up enough money i can buy a 93 TA. The whole 3rd vs. 4th arguement is pretty silly. the 4th is an evolution of the 3rd, in my opinion it improved a lot of things, but some dont like the styling. *shrug* I've never heard anything bad about 4th gens except here, everyone at school always gives my friend with the '95 compliments, whereas i dont really hear anything about my car. Theyre just too expensive for most 'kids' to own I think. there are lotsa 3rd gens at school, and a few 4th gens for those that can afford them.

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1988 Pontiac Firebird Formula
TBI 305 A4 (boy do I want a manual..)
It ain't too fast, but it makes for a nice first car

[This message has been edited by Big_Z (edited July 19, 2002).]

 

Amen! I think that pretty much sums it up.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. Those comparos might have had more validity 20 years ago when performance cars were coming out of that emissions and MPG emasculation era...and you might want to compare with an pre EPA unmolested original.

But to compare a new car to an old is not fair.

I remember years ago looking for a '69 Camaro. After test driving afew..I remember thinking that they drove just like a modern pick-up truck. That's no flame...but merely an illustration of how time marches on.

 

In the early 90's, on the cover of Car & Driver introducing the new Dodge Daytona, was the headline "The car Camaro could have been". FWD was becoming the craze then & these cars were considered Camaro's competitors. Before Dodge pulled the plug on them, Daytonas were doing the quarter mile as fast as TPI Camaros & 5.0 Mustangs were.

 

I'm happy with what I have! I've always been a Trans-Am man, but I hate the front end on the 98" to current cars. The headlamps looks like an after-thought, and the WS6 hood looks kinda silly. It has that stupid split where the car looks like it has four ram-air nostrils. I like the way the Firehawk and the Predator hood looks though. Morgan Motorsports actually designed a front end for the Trans-Am, and gave the car a nice clean and uncluttered appearance with the headlights totally flush with the fascia. GMHTP mag did a story on it in the July 2001 issue if I'm not mistaken.

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BLACK 97' RAM-AIR TRANS-AM, DEEP TINT,
LINGENFELTER 383 LT4,
6 SPD. TRANNY, CENTERFORCE CLUTCH, SLP HEADERS, FLOWMASTER CAT-BACK, STOCK WS6 HIGH POLISHED WHEELS WITH THE REARS WIDENED TO 11 INCHES WEARING 315-35-17
G-FORCE TA's, 2 INCH SUSPENSION DROP VIA EIBACH SPRINGS AND KONI SHOCKS, HARDER DUROMETER BUSHINGS EVERYWHERE ON THE CAR, 4 PISTON BREMBO CALIPERS AND 13 INCH CROSSED-DRILLED ROTORS, DOUBLE DIAMOND SUB-FRAME CONNECTORS, LG MOTORSPORTS REAR LOWER CONTROL ARMS, STRUT TOWER BRACE, TORQUE ARM, AND ADJUSTABLE PANHARD ROD

 

Remember that! I also remember when when absolutely, positively everyone in the know, was saying that NO factory V8's would ever make it out of the 80's.

 

Yeah but no1 wanted them and they only became a competitor when like the 4tH gen was starting.