“LOOK! Lots oF The Fast Selling CAMARO’s. Follow This TRUCK TO COURTESY CHEVROLET For Your CAMARO NOW”
That kind of spelling lets you know this sign was no Corporate sponsored job. But that was the beauty of such times, wasn’t it? Not so much control, less planning, more spur-of-the-moment actions. And what memorable moments they’ve left behind, such as the arrival of the Camaro.
We all know there was much expectation swirling around Chevrolet’s new Pony Car. Wouldn’t the all-mighty GM trounce that pesky Mustang once and for all? But that Mustang certainly had left its imprint on the populace. In an early Hot Rod Magazine Camaro review, some gas attendant amusingly referred to it as ‘Chevrolet’s Mustang.’
Certainly, Chevrolet expected its new model to work wonders with all demographics, much as its Dearborn counterpart had done. Period advertising suggests the model pursued a large swath of the market, with romantic escapades playing rather prominently.
I know the early Camaro is now associated with a boy-racer image, the result of just about every surviving one being turned into a little hot rod. Not a problem with that in my book, but it distorts somewhat the historical record.
Even if the Camaro didn’t sell in the numbers the Mustang did, many took to its charms in non-racy form. And nowadays I sort of prefer these cleaner-looking Camaros. After all, what can I say? Look at this lady, she certainly looks rather sharp with her Camaro.
The red one above with the white stripe and hubcaps – I knew a girl in high school with that exact car, restored because it was over 20 years old even then. She was cool.
For some reason, I just liked the early Camaros better than the Mustangs. Maybe because I was a GM kind of guy. Back then, anyway!
Ahh, a red 1967-1968 Camaro! Perfection in my eyes! My favorite styling on an American car ever! Just beautiful.
I thought *everyone* thought of it as “Chevrolet’s Mustang”! Having seen the Mustang, and the later-generation Corvair, the styling of the Camaro was about what I expected.
Today’s pictures reminded me of the gap between the base car and one with all the trim options (much less the performance features). Reading this options list makes me wonder if Camaro offered even more than Mustang; someone else can address that, I suppose:
Two quick-ratio steering boxes. As a trade-off, the Mustangs were available with 3-speed automatics of which Camaros never got. It’s puzzling that Chevrolet didn’t make available the Turbo Hydramatic with dual-pitch converter for the top end SS model
The 396 Camaro had the THM400 optional. Chevrolet restricted THM400 availability throughout its lines. The THM350 didn’t come til 1969.
Courtesy Chevrolet. Still doing business on Camelback Road in North Central Phoenix. As for the Camaro. A good answer on the part of the General to Ford’s Mustang. However, Its corporate cousin, the Firebird, got my attention as a soon to be driving 15 yr old., Fords, cousin, the Cougar, also. A good freind in High School loved the Camaro, but then, his Father was an exec in the local Chevy plant.
There used to be a Courtesy Chevrolet in the LA suburb of Thousand Oaks too.
On the sign urging you to “follow this truck..”, Courtesy is spelled “Cortesy,” which has a whole different meaning (not sure what it is, but it sounds like something a ‘Co(u)rtesan’ would practice…
Looking back, it is odd that even in my GM-centric world, the Mustang made a far bigger splash than the Camaro ever did. I don’t think I can recall a single early Camaro anywhere up or down the street where I grew up, but can recall probably 3 or 4 of the first two generations of Mustangs (in addition to one each of a Firebird and a Barracuda).
I certainly do not dislike these, and find their styling to be attractive. But I guess in my heart I am a Mustang guy.
Same here; maybe because Mustang was first? And maybe the name was just better. I don’t know what folks in 1967 would think of the word Camaro.
The 1964 Mustang was 1956 Elvis Presley–a unique, inspired product that reached a huge unserved market for a while.
“The Camaro was born to do just one thing: eat up the Ford Mustang’s market share. It is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car, which has also been much more affordable than most German cars. Chevrolet launched the first Camaro in the year 1966. However, many journalists back then were already speculating that a Mustang competitor, code-named Panther, was in the making. In June 1966, about 200 of them were invited to an “important SEPAW meeting,” where Chevrolet launched the original Camaro. According to Chevrolet, the name Camaro means “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs,” for obvious reasons.”
I read it on the internet, so it must be true!
Link:
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/the-1969-chevrolet-camaro-was-designed-to-eat-the-ford-mustang/
Folks with any proficiencey in Spanish would have thought “shrimp”, if an n were to follow= “el camarón”
could just be the pic; the lady’s red Camaro has “curiously dark”, tinted windows.
And no door lock!
I remember Mustang fever, but not Camaro fever. Another thing – all the Camaro drivers I knew were girls, starting with my own mom. She loved her Camaros for the size and style. As a kid, I remember cleaning up the oil leaks on our driveway from my mom’s cars. She’s still driving, but not a sports car anymore – a Titanium Focus. The Camaro made her switch from big family cars to small cars. She was never a big car driver and always grabbed our Valiants or Duster when her Camaro was being worked on. The quality wasn’t very good on those cars.
Final thing – I know a big guy about 6’3″, 240lbs that bought a new Camaro this year, but traded it in within the year because it was just too small for him. I wonder if that’s a reason we saw more women drivers?
Vanilla dude, the current Camaro has about as good outward visibility as a Lamborghini Countach. And about as much interior room. That was the big complaint about the 5th gen, then they doubled down on the same styling theme for the 6th gen. Managed to get even worse visibility and less room than the 5th gen car.
I do miss my 4th gen Camaros though. Both were the Z28 with the ls1 v8. Hauled ass and looked bitchin. First one was a t top/automatic. Sold it and missed it that I bought a really nice 1998 z28 ragtop with the manual. 2nd run down the dragstrip ran a 13.7@105 spinning off the line. Didnt know you had to have a roll bar and got booted off the track lol
Am I the only one wondering what was pulling that trailer? Something DD powered I hope.
The 67/68s are my favourite Camaros, the plain white cars on the truck and the red car with the lady still look nice, not all cars look so good in their most basic form.
I meant to say also, The wheel covers on the other red car do it no favours at all.
Mustang was still king in 1967 with 472,000 sold, compared to Camaro’s 221,000. In fact, Mustang outsold Camaro in most of the years they were both produced, even back in GM’s heyday. Not really sure why Camaro wasn’t a better competitor.
Not really sure why Camaro wasn’t a better competitor.
Same reason Ford’s Elite and Thunderbird couldn’t catch the Monte Carlo; it got there first, in that category.
The Mustang was a cultural phenomena. There was no way the Camaro was going to catch it. It’s the key advantage to identifying a new product niche and then being lucky when it explodes, in your favor.
I like the base model Camaros .
I briefly has a 327 powered RS 1967 Camaro, the A.I.R. pump had warped all it’s valves it was unsellable for $125 in the late 1970’s .
-Nate
I sit in a 68 camaro in 1970…since then…I own a 69 camaro. And 4 other camaros..yep…at 67….I’m a camaro guy to the last day..rj