2009 Chevrolet Camaro

I saw today that the plant in Oshawa, Ontario will be producing the Chevrolet Camaro, which will reappear for the 2009 model year. Here's what the new Camaro will look like:


It's kind of cool, I guess. However, I wouldn't be mentioning it if I didn't have a complaint, right? Like the current Ford Mustang, it obviously takes styling cues its namesake from the 1960's. Here's a 1969 model:


Now, I suppose I could ask how you can have a Camaro without a Firebird, but I won't. Instead, it seems like history is repeating itself. In the 1960's, the Camaro was a late response to the popularity of the Ford Mustang, which debuted in 1964; whereas the Camaro's first model was for 1967. Now, maybe it's just me, but I think the early Mustangs were a superior-looking car.

It seems obvious to me that GM is targeting the '09 model at "old people". By this, I mean specifically people who remember the '67 to '69 Camaros, and maybe drove one. Thus, it's probably aimed at empty-nesters and recent "baby boomer" retirees. "Kids" won't be able to afford one. While this may make business sense, I think it's a stylistic mistake. As I said, current Mustangs take obvious styling clues from the Mustangs of the 60's and early 70's. GM seems to be again using the Camaro as an answer to the popularity of the Mustang.

Maybe it's because my mother drove a '66 Mustang for a while (I remember being able to see the road through the holes in the floor), but I remember the 60's and early 70's Mustangs much more fondly than Camaros of the same time period. But there was an era when the Camaro was unarguably the better-looking car. That's from 1982 until 1993. That's the Camaro that I remember, and that's the Camaro that I'd like to see brought back!

Here's a 1990 model:


(Caveat: I've never owned a sports car, and the odds are that I won't for a long time.)