HORSEPOWER & HEELS

It's about time, Chevrolet. I mean, really.

When Larry Erickson designed the 2005 Ford Mustang, he set his sights on aging Boomers intent on driving a retro-look muscle car. The brisk sales of the Mustang (let's face it, though not really the king of the street performance-wise, they are pretty awesome looking!) led Dodge to pull the Challenger out of moth balls for 2008 with a strong whiff of the Seventies to the vehicle’s look and feel. It was only a matter of time until Chevrolet responded with a retro Camaro, a model retired in 2002, but set to make its re-appearance as a 2010, pulling design cues from the 1969 version as well as the Corvette. (Just HOW long have we been seeing that awesome looking concept-rendering?)

The new Camaro will be more modern-looking than either the Mustang or the Challenger, but it may be playing to a disappearing market in the face of two forces driving the car-buying world today: gasoline hovering around $4 a gallon and growing environmental concerns. Lets face it, its HARD to be a hotrod enthusiast right now. At a time when most people are trying to save money on fuel, insurance quotes, and car prices, it may be a case of the Camaro trying to swim upstream in a sea of less expensive, fuel efficient hybrids and sporty compacts. The Big Three are venerable players in the world of classic, fast, performance cars, but the Sons of the Big Three -- especially the late-to-the-game Camaro -- may have a short-lived revival tour.

The new Camaro will be offered as a V6 in LS and LT trim levels and as a V8 for the SS. The V6s are the newer 3.6-liter twin cam design with direction injection while the V8s will be the 6.2-liter Corvette engine (LSS version at 422 hp for the manual, L99 with Active Fuel management and 400 hp for the six-speed automatic.) Bob Lutz has made some noise about a possible turbo-charged four cylinder (wouldn't that be AWESOME?!?) as a response to high gas prices, but that wouldn’t show up until later in the production run if it does indeed become a reality.

At launch, the new Camaros will all feature four-wheel ABS disc brakes, traction control and stability control. The coupes will be outfitted with front thorax side airbags and curtain bags while the convertibles will probably use jumbo seat-mounted front side bags. The convertibles will indeed be ragtops in a bid to both affordability and tradition. Both the LT and SS models can be tricked out with an RS appearance package including HID headlamps with halo rings integrated, a rear spoiler, and 20-inch wheels. (The convertible will be available nine months after the coupes.)

Expect the V6 coupe to start in the neighborhood of $22,000 with the V8 at $28,000. Convertibles probably $28,000 and $35,000 respectively. The coupes should be on showroom floors by March 2009 and will, undoubtedly, outsell the convertibles. As far as collectors are concerned, however, neither car is destined to be all that desirable in the future. Their value will depreciate over time like any other volume-produced model. But, even though the 2010 Camaro isn’t headed for classic status, it should be a great performance car to drive and enjoy, provided you can afford to feed it. (And this all coming from a Ford girl!)