Recently my wife and I took our one year old son to the beach (first time in his life, come to think of it). This is a well developed recreation and shopping complex, which Tel-Aviv municipality has set up in what used to be the (small) old harbor area- very pretty and organized, so arriving early in the morning meant parking was readily available within the harbor’s confines.
Once finished, on the way out, this is what we saw:
As you can see, it’s parked at a very comfortable spot, which is reserved for uploading / unloading only. But since this is Saturday and no work in Israel, I guess it’s alright. Maybe.
FInding a fourth gen. Camaro in Israel, not to mention a convertible, is not as easy as you might think. Those were never imported officially, only privately as grey imports when new. Also, the law allows private import only for cars up to two years old – or over thirty years old. Thus, you understand that any fourth gen. Camaro / Firebird you stumle upon could only be imported as new (or nearly new). The first classic gen. four Camaro / Firebirds will be able to be imported here only in 2023 (which is not so far away).
As for the Camaro itself, most folks who took the trouble to overcome the bureaucracy, didn’t bother with it and preferred the Firebird instead, which makes the Camaro yet even more rare in Israel. Therefore, it’s not surprising that I have only one photo of a Camaro (just by chance it’s also a convertible:
Well, beggars can’t be choosers, so rest of the photos are of various Firebirds, taken in local meetings:
I don’t know why they felt the need to install those non-related wheels, but to each his own.
Next up are two Firebird convertibles, obviously newer than the one in the video, more towards the end of the fourth gen.:
Note the two Grand Prixs photo-bombing from the back.
One even has scissor doors, which is very handy (you’ll never know when it might come in handy).
And, lest I forget, it was also very productive at the beach. Looking at this photo, I have to say it still feels weird to be a father one year later…
I wonder if I would feel differently about this generation of Camaro/Firebird if they were ultra-rare imports to my country. Probably. But as they were made here, I will be kind and say that they just do not interest me.
But then I will see an occasional car never imported here that I think is cool and those in its home market are not in love with.
It is interesting to hear about what cars are considered rare and interesting versus which ones are common and uninteresting in different countries. I had a discussion with a fellow in the UK on another forum recently that started out with me mentioning that I had seen an Aston-Martin on the road, which I think is officially imported but isn’t exactly a common car in the USA. He replied that he, living in an affluent English town, sees Aston-Martins pretty much every day and therefore doesn’t find them interesting. On the other hand he’s only seen a Corvette in person maybe once in his life, while I see Corvettes all the time and don’t find them interesting unless it’s a particularly well preserved old one. And that’s how he fells about Aston-Martins.
I respect the 4th gen f-body for their performance in v8 form, but really dislike the short wheelbase over the long body. It so distracting from the side view, especially with bigger wheels. Since 1st gen its going downhill in this aspect, each generation gets worst.
‘…dislike the short wheelbase over the long body. It so distracting from the side view, especially with bigger wheels.’
Ditto for the ninth generation Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar (1983-1988).
The ’93-’97 Camaro shares the shameful ignominy of “world’s worst headlamps of the last 77 years” with the handful of other models that used the ridiculously undersized 150 × 35 mm mini sealed beams.* They were designed to be used as an 8-lamp system, two low and two high beams on each side, but GM figured out they could barely squeak by the minimum legal requirements** with just four total lamps, so—being GM—of course they did.
* and with almost all similar-year Chrysler products, which didn’t use the mini sealbeams but instead had undersized, underspent composite lamps
** the minimum legal requirements are quite a bit lower than minimum practical requirements
are you the lighting guy?
THE Daniel Stern himself?
I used to own a 97 SS Camaro. It was a fun car to drive and was much better looking than the 98-2002 model but it had some serious drawbacks.
The stock brakes were a bit weak imo and didn’t quite match the potential of the LT1 engine.(later fixed on the 98+ model)
The headlights needed to have the high beams on at all times…hell the stock single h7 bulb on my Aprilia Falco puts out much better light..
The suspension was stiff but the chassis was very flexy so it made low speed handling really weird COWL SHAKE…ugh
Low build quality. The use of body sealer epoxy was ridiculous. Parts of the car were coated in around 1/4″ thick slabbed on. dang things rattled like it was nobodies business.
Long hood you could not see over from the drivers seat made parking an adventure. The seating position was not exactly comfortable either.
repairs were difficult due to the powertrain layout
SKIP SHIFT!!………ugggh
The good:
The LT1 engine was grunty af and is one of the best sounding stock engines ever (especially with the SS optional two on the left exhaust). WAY better sounding than the current GM V8s
Excellent traction both straight line and in the twisties. 275/40/17 is probably the best all around performance tire size ever. The solid rear axle was not nearly as much of a hindrance as car mags say.
The optional stock Hurst shifter was pretty decent and heel toe shifting was not difficult at all. The linkage was nice and solid.
Excellent freeway fuel economy thanks to the .50 6th gear ratio. I would routinely get 29-32 mpg on trips to Tahoe or Reno. City was around 13ish though lol
Did I mention the sound? because it was glorious
The AC got VERY cold even on 110* days
The stock sound system (not monsoon) was also surprisingly powerful even when using the stock speakers.
Every once in awhile I look them up on craigslist but then I remember all the bad and I already have my hands full with my Electra right now as it is. Had the transmission out for the last week….ugh
Yup, I’m that guy, atchyer soyvice.
(using high beams all the time on the ’93-’97 Camaro didn’t make it safely driveable at night, it just shifted where the meager patch of insufficient light hit the road)
oh cool
I use your website all the time lol
I installed E code style H4 bulbs in my Electra along with relays and 10ga wire based upon your recommendations. The light output is vey nice though I still need to aim them a bit better. Its such an improvement over stock I haven’t really been that concerned.
I’m currently rocking a H7 Rallye bulb in my Falco and it made a pretty big difference
Somehow the late Firebird Trans Ams with their nostrils and other assorted openings remind me of anatomical diagrams of the human sinuses.
Good one! Now that’s an analogy that’ll be hard to unsee whenever I come across a be-nostriled Trans Am.
My least favorite exterior feature of these cars were the headlights. It looked as if GM originally planned these to have rounded composite headlamp assemblies, and in a typical penny-pinching move decided they could use these sealed units in place. The awful black painted blanks where parking lights would go just added to the discordance of the design. I was so sure of this scenario, I looked up concepts of this car and indeed the prototypes had flush headlamps. There was/is an aftermarket company that makes flush covers for the Camaro which greatly enhances the appearance to me.
Ugh. These final Firebirds are just hideous. They are a major reason why the ’04-06 GTO gets called bland, because it came immediately after these monstrosities. The Firebird had sometimes been elegant (’70-72), subtly aggressive (’77-78) and crisp and modern (’82-90) but these? Blech. The Camaro looked much, much better.
They both have nasty interiors though. But Americans were getting pretty starved for RWD V8 performance by the late 90s, while here in Australia we had a whole range of Falcon and Commodore V8s in vastly more practical sedan, wagon and ute bodies.
I totally agree. Hideous or not the Trans Am WS6s were the fastest things on the street when new, so I think those who still wanted one after discontinuation wanted that whole familiar package, not an even pricier sleeper that was the otherwise excellent GTO.
The Holden based GTO interior was literally stepping into a different world from the F bodies. The GTO had excellent quality, nice materials, good ergonomics, and even a usable back seat (trunk sucked because of the fuel tank of course). So much of my personal exposure to GM came from these 4th gens (and other 90s era America GM products), and my thought, even before it became T
HE thing to do was ” take this LS1 engine/6-speed transmission and put it in a 60s-70s body and that would be something” that’s the most good this generation good for.
Thanks for all the car pics you send, but a special thanks for sharing the pic of “Yohai Junior”
He looks like a smart little guy and hopefully he will grow up with Daddies sharp eye and be sending us interesting car pics of his own from Israel!?
Well the misshapen Gen 4 F-Bodies started out as the FWD GM80 (sort of), didn’t they (see below)? The ridiculously long front overhang makes some sense on a FWD vehicle but on a RWD one it totally bombs (well, one could say that ALL cab forward designs are stylistic faux passes but…).
@Yohai: say what you will about the Tel Aviv municipality, they got the Tayelet (=esplanade, for those few who do not speak Hebrew) 100% right.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-histories-the-gm-80-camarofirebird-f-body-almost-becomes-fwd-body/
I had a 97 30th anniversary Z28 and it was a very good American high performance car. While build quality was typical for the time the LT1 provided plenty of punch and the 6 speed manual made it a fun car to drive. You could do 80 MPH at 2000 rpm all day and get good gas mileage. In 98 the Camaro changed the styling and the car was on the way out. It always seems a pity the Camaro was reborn as a “retro pony car” and it never evolved in a natural way. The prices on the later 2000-2002 SS model are going through the roof so someone is appreciating these cars. IMO the Pontiac Firebird clone was just plain bizarre looking.
I’ll be the contrarian and go on record as saying I liked the small, quad sealed-beams on the early fourth-generation Camaros. I thought it was a really daring look at a time when every, single other contemporary car out there had blobby, flush-mounted, plastic “eyes” up front.
Thanks for all your comments, they’re greatly appreciated as ever.
🙂