The Camaro, a Car Enthusiast Car
From its inception, the Chevrolet Camaro had one mission, to compete with the Ford Mustang, and many times, it succeeded. It has beaten out the Mustang in various categories over its lifespan. Now, after 55 years, the battle comes to an end with Chevrolet discontinuing the Camaro. It has gone through six generations with six different body styles, all sharing similar design cues, but still unique. Here is my ranking:
4th Generation
The 4th generation Camaro ran from 1993 to 2002. The 4th generation is one of the least liked because of its look. It’s been nicknamed the Catfish Camaro because the front end looks like a catfish.
Don’t you see it? Personally, I really like the look, it’s still the worst looking one, but I actually like it a good bit. It’s an underrated look that gets too much hate. One of its redeeming qualities is that the LS engine came in this car. This generation of was introduced when General Motors was introducing the new LS V8 engine, which is now revered as one of the best engine platforms to build with. The most powerful 4th gen Camaro was the Super Sport. It pushed a modest 325 horsepower.
6th Generation Camaro
The sixth gen Camaro is the current generation. It has some nice looks that still carry design cues from the 5th generation, but it’s hindered by the awful visibility you get when driving, and the front end look is controversial.
The 6th gen has a lot of different looks for the front end, but it also comes with a beefy 6.2 Liter, supercharged V8 engine in the ZL1 1LE package. The Camaro ZL1 1LE pushes an impressive 650 horsepower, double the power of the 4th generation Super Sport. The 1LE is the ultimate track weapon. It is built to be ripped around a race track and pushed to its limits. It revs up to 6,400 rpms.
This is the final iteration of the beloved muscle car. It will be discontinued in 2023, ending the 55 year run it had.
5th Generation
The 5th generation Camaro was a grand return. After an eight year hiatus, it returned in 2010 with a refreshed style. A concept of this car was actually shown in the movie Transformers in 2007. It was an updated take on the 1st generation, taking a lot of cues such as the headlight design, high hips, and wide stance. It’s an aggressive look that will always be a favorite of mine.
This generation had the ZL1 package. It came with a 7 Liter, flat-plane crank V8, and put out a vicious 500 horsepower. It is a car built for the track. These cars range from $45,000 to $80,000 used. A true collectors car.
1st Generation Camaro
The 1st generation Camaro is pure American Muscle, and is arguably the greatest looking Camaro, but it is not my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I love the look. It’s tied with the second generation, but the 2nd gen just has something about it that I love.
The first iteration, the Mustang killer. It was GM’s response to the Mustang, which was the first pony car. It has a beautiful coke-bottle shape, low profile, wide hips, and an aggressive front end. The 1st gen Super Sport produced 295 horsepower, with other variations pushing closer to 330 horsepower. It became a hit, but wouldn’t start outselling the Mustang until the mid 70s.
2nd Generation
The 2nd gen Camaro changed a good bit from the 1st generation. It pushed the headlights outside the grill and the tail lights changed from one solid piece to two tail lights. The 2nd generation had a minor body style change part way through its run.
The earlier body style of the second generation ran from 1971 – 1973. Under the hood of a special edition Super Sport was a 6.5 Liter V8 pushing 408 horsepower. This body style varied greatly from the 1st generation look, only taking minor design cues such as the headlight design. The later look of the second generation ran from 1974 – 1981.
Near the end of the 70s, the oil crisis was happening, so the once powerful 5.7 Liter V8 was only producing a measly 245 horsepower. I personally love the look and think this later look specifically is extremely underrated.
3rd Generation Camaro
The 3rd gen body style is my favorite body style for the Camaro. It just screams 80s. The third generation spanned from 1982 to 1992.
The 80’s also introduced a special edition Z/28 package known as the IROC-Z. IROC stands for the International Race Of Champions. In the 80s, Chevrolet joined IROC.
This special edition ran from 1985 to 1990 because Chevrolet pulled out of the International Race Of Champions. The IROC-Z is the creme de la creme of 3rd generation Camaros. It pushed around 225 horsepower from the 5.7 Liter V8, so it had some get-up but nothing special. The 3rd generation Camaro stood out because of its handling. It could grip the road and stay tight in the corners like none other.
What’s Next?
Well, there it is, my rankings of all six generations of the Chevrolet Camaro. It’s sad to see it go, as it was one of the most beloved cars for car enthusiasts. At the beginning of 2023, General Motors will officially end the Camaro nameplate. It was an amazing 55 year run. Though the Camaro has been killed off and brought back before, so all hope is not lost. There is speculation that they may bring the Mustang Killer back as an electric sedan, which to me sounds awful, that’s not what the Camaro is. We saw how that turned out for Ford with the Mustang Mach-E, which was, in my opinion, one of the worst decisions Ford has ever made. But, to celebrate the run the Camaro had, we’ve created a Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z Shirt!
The Shirt
The new IROC-Z shirt is now in stock! Buy it now!
