Camaro SS Limited Edition Ordered!

[Big MAK]

WooHoo! Convertible. Only 3,000 SSLE's total being built.



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It'll only see a few thousand miles a year -- if that much! This babies goin' in the garage under a tarp most of the time. Gotta get my piece of American muscle car history before they're gone (Camaro's been discontinued). And doing my patriotic best to support the good 'ole USA during wartime too!



The Cummins is the daily driver... this is the Sunday, fair weather, top down, cruisin' machine.

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Is it worth the time?

Don't get me wrong, I am a musclecar fanatic

myself, having owned a few. . 70 1/2 Camaro Z28,

1993 Camaro Z28 (bought it new when the new

body style came out, and I had the first 6spd

in the state of NC; all the Mustangs in the

county wanted a piece of it! ... ), 1990 ZR-1

Corvette. All of them were cherished, never

driven in the rain, kept in a garage under a

cover, lots of wax, TLC etc. Hundreds of hours

cleaning, polishing, vaccuuming, driving and

enjoying them as much as I could, weather

permitting. I wish I had a garage like Jay Leno

so I could have kept them all.

What has happened to them? The '70 Z28 is a pile

of junk; a kid bought it and ragged it out in only

a few weeks. The '93 Camaro Z28 was bought by a

lady and now has 100k miles and dozens of door

dings and grime from dirt roads; the ZR-1? I sold

it to a nice middle aged gent that kept it in a

garage, lots of wax & TLC. He was driving it

last week to get a speaker fixed and on his way

home, only a couple blocks from his garage, he

got broadsided by a little old lady in a

big Lincoln Town Car. Now the ZR-1 is sitting in

an auction yard, no back glass, no left rear tire,

no drivers side door... shame shame!

I bought it 2 years ago with 12,000 Texas miles,

no rain, not even a chip in the original paint;

It even had the original Gatorbacks on it. Now

it is a parts car.

Basically, I am not buying any more nice, rare

cars.

Yes it is worth it, I love the satisfaction of

having a rare car; I'd love to have a '70 442 W30

or Buick GS Stage 1 or GSX, or newer turbo GNX.



Only to have Granny hit it and then it will never

be the same. . the guys that have millions to spend

(ie, Reggie Jackson) can put them in a huge garage

and show them but then the building burns

down! That's even worse! Several rare cars

lost all at once! Egads!



Enjoy that Camaro, Mark! It looks like a fine

ride. Too bad GM is killing the F-body. But when

you look at their track record, I'm not suprised.

Seems like they kill it as soon as they get it

"right", after millions is spent on development

and the car is truely nice they kill it. Like

the B-body (SS Impala/Fleetwood/Roadmaster), Buick

Turbo cars, Fiero, Syclone & Typhoon, etc. The current Corvette is

too "female friendly" and GM needs to redesign the

rear end before I start looking at the C5

seriously.

The other thing about GM, they are making a

fine musclecar in Australia and selling the Arabs

the Holden line of RWD V8 cars that would sell

like hot cakes in the US if GM would get a clue!.



Post some pics of it when it comes in.



Are you going to the assembly plant and watch

them put it together? If not, then I'd be at the

truck when it rolls off at your dealer to make

sure the salesmen don't put a few "break-in"

miles on it before you take it home!



Cheers,

-Chris

 

[Big MAK]

I hear ya' Chris...



Decided to buy a used one I found; low mileage 2000 still with warranty. Pewter '00 SS. Awesome fun to drive and a higher fun factor then the LE since I'm willing to drive it more.



Been in 2 accidents already... . dealer lowered their garage door on it and put a nice deep scrath across the spoiler and sprung the hatchback so it won't shut square. Then last night a teenager nailed the passenger side while it was parked way out by itself in a grocery store parking lot. Those fiberglass fenders popped out really nice but the paint is really screwed up. Spidered a bunch and left some deep scars. There were witnesses but none caught the plate numbers.



Insurance companies consider these cars high risk. It's no wonder. They causes accidents even parked. I'm looking for a sign on it somewhere that says "hit me".

 

[Bud Fox]

Chris ,thats what insurance is for . I dont know how rates are in your area but we pay the highest rates in the country and as soon as bought my GN I got it appraised just in case of a misfortune. I personally dont see the fun of "looking" at cars in my garage. Cars are made to be driven and enjoyed,lifes too short

 

[Matt S]

Mark,

You decided not to get the anniversary edition after all?

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Hate to hear that

Mark, that sux! At least you didn't get a new

LE and have all that happen to it.



Here is a photo I took in March of '93. I had the

'70 1/2 from '82 thru 95. It was an original Z28

360HP LT-1, the usual goodies. . solid lifter cam,

Holley 780, 4 bolt mains & steel crank; I found a

set of "angle plug" Bowtie heads and put them on

it. Made changing sparkplugs easier with the

Hooker headers I had on it. The transmission was a

Muncie 4 speed and it had a 12 bolt rear with

3. 73 posi. Awesome car! I never ran it at a 1/4

mile dragstrip so I don't know what it was capable

of.



The '93 I bought new off the showroom floor. I

later found out that both cars came from the

same dealership when new! That's cool. The

'93 was a 6-speed LT1, 3. 42 gears and had the

option (I forget the code) that got the 150 MPH

speedo and some other goodies. I think it was

called "performance axle ratio" option. That was

a fun car and every Mustang driver had to have a

piece of it! The best I could do at Rockingham

1/4 mile was 14. 01 @ 99. 9 MPH. Not that great

compared to the current Z28's and SS's. Part of

the problem was traction. I'm sure with DOT drag

tires it would have been a mid 13 sec car. I did

put in a Hypertech chip and skip-shift eliminator.

 

[Big MAK]

Decided against the LE; canceled the order. For $15k less I have a car I'll have more fun with. Looks exactly like an '02 but not red with the LE badging of-course. I got to thinking I couldn't have a car I'd be too self conscious about to drive. I'm still keeping the one I bought in show quality ... if I get the paint fixed.



If only I could keep people from messing it up...

 

[RobG]

My '86 Corvette has been hit four times, all four times duirng the first year I owned it, and all four times in parking lots when it was sitting still.



My '98 Z28 has been hit once... somebody backed into the nose and put a small mark on it. I'm lucky it wasn't worse. There are plenty of stone chips all over the hood to make up for it though.



The Z doesn't get driven much... it'll roll 32k miles soon and I've owned it since new, ordered it just the way I wanted (non-SS, non-T-Top, non-leather, etc). With the exception of the 17" wheels and Borla exhaust and being lowered a little (I redid most of the suspension), nobody has any idea that a 540 hp supercharged monster lurks beneath the hood.



Rob

 

[WOWZY]

A friend of mine who for 20 years since I've known him, has always been a cheerful guy till his dream car was totaled.



About 10 years ago he patiently searched for a showroom condition '81 Z28 and his patience paid off after 5years of searching. He started dating a local gal and found out that her Grandfather had purchased an '81 Z28 but sadly died 2 years after he bought the car new in '81 and her Grandmother still had it in the garage at her house. She had refused to sell it because of the sentimental value it posessed, but now was willing to get rid of it because it reminded her too much of his death (had a heart attack while changing the oil) instead of him enjoying it.



He called me up and we took a ride out to look at it. Man was it ever beautiful!! It was silver and had silver interior. It had only 16,000miles on the odo!!



Well to make a long story short he hit a deer going about 75mph and totaled the car. It was a total on the interior as well. The deer literally exploded and the guts and alot of deer blood came in through the T-Tops and soaked the interior and himself as well. Luckily he wasn't hurt, but it was the worst deer wreck aftermath I have ever seen in my life.



I believe it has affected him for life as he isn't the same cheerful guy anymore and never talks about cars. Poor guy.

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Hey Mark, check this out!!

35th SS Camaro



Looks sweet. .

 

[Matt S]

I think that guy isn't breathing all the O2 he should be. Sticker of $33,900 but you can buy it now for $37,900? Has he lost touch with reality or what?

 

[HDH]

Hey Chris

I have a 1973 Z28 with the Split nose that i have been restoring for 10yrs on and off, Nothing is original on it due to the fact I bought from a Wrecking yard,(Saved from the Crusher). But it has Brand new OEM fenders,hood,upper and lower valance,endura nose,subframe,new door skins,and quarter panels.

I had lost intrest in it about five yrs ago, But now have started in on it again. Classic Industries loves my Charge card!



I have a L88 427 crate Motor i Bought back in 1982 before i went into the USN, I still have it, Never been assembled. I am thinking of droping that into the Camaro with a 6sp and 2. 50:1 rear gears in the 12bolt. for a high speed car.

What do you think?

The Car cost me $200. 00 in 1990, And I have 10k in parts in it. Go Figure!

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Sounds neat, a big-block '73!

I think that it would make a great street car with

a big block (street/strip). Making a top end car

will take a lot of money in safety equipment as

well, but since you are not messing up an original

car, go for it and put in a full 6 point cage (or

is it 8 point nowdays because of rules?). It

would also be fun to run the ORR events!



-Chris

 

[Max340]

Re: Is it worth the time?

Originally posted by Chris N5CWM

The other thing about GM, they are making a

fine musclecar in Australia and selling the Arabs

the Holden line of RWD V8 cars that would sell

like hot cakes in the US if GM would get a clue!.

Thats not true, unless the price is considerably less than the F body.



Mopar phased the RWD out because of MPG/CAFE concerns, Ford cut all but the Crown Vic and the 'Stang for the same reasons, and GM has followed the same path.



Only difference between the Ford and GM marketing on the pony RWD is the GM prices are higher and Ford doesn't have another pony in the stable.



Think about this: the average pony car costs $20k or more if its in Z or Boss/Cobra trim. The market that will want a car like that is 16-25 years of age, single, and male. The market that can afford the car payments and the insurance is 25-45, married, has a family, house, and possibly other large bills.



Cars are cheaper for the small sporty ones, so the young crowd goes after those. The crowd that can afford the ponies need SUV's and minivans. Unfortunately, the market for RWD pony cars is all but gone. The specialty cars that are selling are the retro styled stuff, and if it hauls a family, thats even better.