GM to discontinue the Pontiac Trans Am and the Chevrolet Camaro!

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001

Answers

My favorite Camaro story:

On a trip to the mountains of NC, I happened to stop at a gas station -- this was in the mid 70's, before the days of convenient marts on every corner -- and struck up a conversation with a fellow who was driving an immaculate 1966 Camaro, royal blue, not a scratch on it.

Turns out the guy was a preacher. We talked for several minutes; he told me that he really didn't need the car anymore -- it was from his younger (and, I gathered from the gist of the conversation, somewhat ... erm, wilder[g]) days, and he would consider selling it.

"How much would you want for it?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "I dunno ... $600?"

Six hundred dollars! If I'd had it, I would have bought the car on the spot!

I DIDN'T have the money, so I hastened back home and told a friend of mine, a wild-eyed fellow named Crazy Earl, about the car. Ten seconds later, we were in HIS car, headed back to Pinehurst.

I didn't even know where the preacher lived! We managed to find him, though, and Earl whipped out six $100 dollar bills. After some hemming and hawing, the preacher took the cash, handed the Earl the title, and he drove it back home (I drove his car).

Within a couple of months, Earl had redone the car, complete with mags, hood scoop and turbocharger. I got into the co-pilot's seat and we headed out on US401.

The accelaration was phenomenal. It was only a 6-cylinder, but he'd managed to make that thing howl.

Ah, memories. :)

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001

My memories of my 1968 Camaro are not so hot.

1)-The seat was very uncomfortable. For long drives I always jury-rigged a bunch of pillows.

2)-That year, GM experimented with a V8 that had a cast iron camshaft. After 80000 miles, the lobes wore down and the car gradually ran worse and worse til it quit. I didn't want to rebuild the engine so I bought a '75 Nova (another sad story)

3)-The radio had an irritating intermittant failure mode where it would abruptly turn off. Sometimes it would turn back on but it might take a half hour. The dealer never could fix it. I finally gave up. I came to appreciate the sounds of silence.

Some years later, I heard the inside story on this problem when I transferred to the GM division that made the radios. It had been a wide-spread problem. Customers were pissed. Dealers were pissed. The factory couldn't find the problem. One weekend, the Chief Engineer required the entire radio group to stay at the office until the problem was solved. It was finally traced to a new circuit board feature that had been introduced that year called "griplets". The griplets were a crimped mechanical element intended to connect circuits on opposite sides of the board (this was before plated-through hole technology had been perfected for mass production). Anyway, the griplets turned out to be unreliable in the vehicles and caused intermittant open circuits. I don't know if GM ever satisfied the customers. I had long since unloaded my Camaro when I heard this story.

It was a sexy looking car however.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

Lars,

I guess I should look at the bright side. At least in this case, GM is going to let the classic go out with a bang. In the case of the Nova, they slowly forced it to look more and more like a Toyota Corolla before finally dropping it from the line without further ceremony.

The problem with print-through holes on double-sided PC boards wasn't limited to car radios. GE turned out a whole series of televisions back in the 1980's with that problem. Newer (and better) PC boards have the holes plated through, rather than using the grippie things.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

Sad news. My '71 has done 182.312 at El Mirage dry lake in SoCal. Never took it to Bonneville. Numbers sound skimpy to drag racers but remember we do ours on the dirt.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

Poole:

I can sympathize with your feeling of lost youth. GM cars may have not been well made back then, but they would really go. It seems now-a-days, they do neither. I have rented two [7 days each] in the last year. The first was an Alero. It had 8,000 miles on the odometer. I spent 7 days replacing the stuff that kept falling off. Not important stuff like the motor. E.g., every time you closed the front door, the whole, very long, arm rest fell off; as did the trim piece on the bottom of the door. Let’s not talk about the mirrors. Seat quit working; and it goes on and on. The second was a Monte Carlo [sp. ?]. The worst designed car that I have driven in years. On the bright side, nothing fell off of it. At least nothing that I noticed :) I have never had these kind of problems with the Ford, Mazda or Volvo [same company] cars that they have provided. I rent from Hertz a lot. I now have entered in my file: NO MORE GM CARS

Best Wishes,,,,

Z

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

The Trans Am is already long gone. The Firebird and Camaro were essentially the same car, except for some minor sheet metal differences.

But somehow I doubt these will stay gone, at least in name. Like the New Thunderbird, the names will return but probably plastered onto some kind of overpriced retro-styled, underpowered (but still not affordable) non-muscle car. No more than 5 years, I'd estimate.

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2001

Flint:

One difference that I see: The Thunderbird was never really meant to be anything other than a pretty little car for sale to bored suburanites. It had no performance pretentions. They just kept making it uglier and uglier until they defeated the orginal purpose. The new Thunderbird and Cougar are probably the best that have used those names [my guess on the bird because I haven't driven one, but it wouldn't take much to improve on what they made before].

If they reuse the name Camaro, it isn't likely to be placed on a car that fits the purpose of the original. Of course, I could be wrong.

Best Wishes,,,,

Z

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2001