Get your black armbands prepared due to the fact Chevy has killed off the Camaro. The final sixth-generation bowtie pony automobile rolled off the line on December 14, and even though the Camaro name will virtually definitely return, it is a lot more most likely to be on an electric crossover than a two-door V8 coupe. So now’s a excellent time to spend our respects – and our disrespects – by seeking back at the ideal and worst moments of 57 years and six generations of Chevy’s personal pony automobile.

1967-1969 – 1st Generation

Related: Camaros Don’t Get More Menacing Than The Last 2024 ZL1 Collector’s Edition

There’s no doubt about it: GM was caught on the backfoot by the phenomenal good results of the Ford Mustang, which smashed its one hundred,000-unit annual sales target 4 occasions more than in 1965. So Chevrolet and Pontiac rushed via plans to spin their personal pony automobile from the platform of the upcoming second-generation Chevy II Nova, supplying each huge- and modest-block V8s to compete with the reskinned ’67 Mustang, which would also introduce its personal huge-block motor choices. The Camaro launched in the fall of 1966 with the Firebird arriving the following spring.

Performance highlight: Between the higher-winding (up to 7,000 rpm) Z28 and sheer brute force of the SS 396 (up to 375 hp / 380 PS), Chevy dealers seemingly had each functionality angle covered. And you could go even additional if you knew which dealers to ask, optioning a Camaro with a cast-iron 427 (7-liter) V8. Sixty-nine examples, like the automobile above, went a step additional and got the now-legendary ZL1 code, signifying a lightweight aluminium V8 intended for drag racing. Producing about 500 hp (507 PS), the ZL1 engine alone expense as a lot as a base Camaro.

Worst moment: Although the Camaro was a good results for Chevy, and won the more than-two.-liter class in Trans Am racing two years operating, the Mustang effortlessly outsold it each year among 1967 and ’69.

Coolest style detail: The semi-hidden headlights on 1969’s RS package.

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1970-1981 – 2nd Generation

A new decade brought a beautiful new physique for the Camaro that appeared to borrow heavily from Ferrari’s early 1960s V12 coupes. Worries about prospective rollover guidelines meant there was no convertible, and by the mid 1970s, functionality wasn’t on the menu either. But the Camaro soldiered on into the early 1980s lengthy soon after rivals like the AMC Javelin, Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Cuda had kicked the bucket.

Performance highlight: The Z28 lost its screaming quick-stroke 302 for 1970 due to the fact the Trans Am series now permitted engines more than 305 cu-in (five-liters). But the strong-lifter five.7-liter LT1 that replaced it was a far greater street motor that created a lot more energy (360 hp / 365 PS gross), a ton a lot more torque and could be paired with A/C and an automatic for these that wanted it.

Worst moment: That it lived for twice as lengthy as it ought to? That 1974’s downsized, anaemic Mustang II (observed above) outsold it two-to-a single? Or that functionality took such a hit in 1975 and 1976 that Chevy dropped the Z28 altogether? Take your choose.

Coolest style detail: You’ll locate a lot of adore for the ’70-73 extended nose that came with the RS package, but we’ve got a soft spot for the ’74 Z28’s optional hood and tail decals, which helped make up for the detuned 350 and ugly bumpers.

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1982-1992 – 3rd Generation

By the time the geriatric second-generation Camaro died in 1981 it was slow, heavy and out of step with the new generation of fuel-effective Japanese coupe competitors. The all-new F-physique aimed to repair that with sleek, aerodynamic styling, a stiffer unibody structure, sensible hatchback and a 500-lbs (227 kg) diet regime.

Performance highlight: From a significantly less than auspicious start off, the Camaro III’s functionality grew via the decade with the addition of models like 1985’s 215 hp (218 PS) Tuned Port Injection five.-liter V8 and 1987’s 225 hp (228 PS) five.7-liter 350.

But the true functionality heroes are the modest quantity of vehicles fitted with the 1LE package (pictured above) created to support the Camaro accomplish good results in SCCA Showroom Stock racing. Consisting of goodies like uprated brakes and suspension, an oil cooler, baffled gas tank, aluminium driveshaft and heavy-duty rear axle, they brought Chevy racing glory then, and are really collectible now.

Worst moment: The base third-gen got Camaro’s 1st ever 4-cylinder engine, a two.five-liter ‘Iron Duke’ slug that created just 90 hp (91 PS). Mind you, the early Z28s weren’t excellent, either. The ’82 vehicles topped out at a feeble, fuel-injected 165 hp (167 PS), and if you wanted a manual with that you got a carburettor and lost 20 horses. Performance was so poor that when the Camaro paced the 1982 Indy 500, Chevy had to create a a single-off five.7-liter automobile to make certain it could in fact keep ahead of the racecars due to the fact the five.-liter buyer versions didn’t have the beans.

Coolest style detail: 1987 didn’t only mark the return of the (comparatively) huge-cube 350 to the Camaro lineup, but the 1st official convertible given that 1969. And what a excellent-seeking conversion it was, thanks to the efforts of ASC (American Sunroof Company), who had constructed up a strong reputation amongst automakers by delivering low-volume projects like the Buick GNX that OEMs had been also huge to deal with.

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1993-2002 – 4th Generation

If GM’s plans had come to fruition, this section would study really differently to how it does. Because the fourth-generation Camaro was going to be front-wheel drive till the proposed GM80 platform failed to meet its weight targets and floundered in crash tests.

So Chevy stuck with a attempted and tested recipe for the ’93 F-physique. But this was no mere facelift. The front suspension was redesigned (even though the back retained a reside axle), there was rack and pinion steering, anti-lock brakes and a gutsy new LT1 V8.

Related: The GM-80 Project Almost Became The First FWD Chevy Camaro And Pontiac Firebird

Performance highlight: V8 Camaros had been robust performers proper from the fourth-generation car’s 1993 debut, but issues took a defining turn in 1998 when Chevy dropped in GM’s new aluminium LS1 V8. Though detuned slightly from the Corvette’s 345 hp (350 PS), the 305 hp (309 PS) it did provide matched the output of the Mustang Cobra’s fancy DOHC V8 but without having the expense and complexity.

But collectors gravitate towards 1997’s SS 30th Anniverary (pictured), a pre-facelift specific that riffed on the ’69 Indy Pace automobile. In addition to the virtually-1,000 normal anniversary vehicles made, one hundred hotter ones had been constructed for the U.S. marketplace with the support of SLP, and came equipped with a 330 hp (335 PS) LT4 V8.

Worst moment: We could have picked the hideous two-spoke airbag steering wheel fitted to all but the most current vehicles (which graduated to an also-hideous, but-4-spoke version), but that is a mere blip compared to Chevy’s choice to drop the Camaro altogether at the finish of the 2002 model year, citing slow sales.

Coolest style detail: Not everybody likes the ‘catfish’ Camaro’s styling, with its lengthy overhangs and (early model’s) sunken eyes, but you cannot hate on the SS version’s hood bulge/intake combo.

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2010-2015 – 5th Generation

Talk about deja vu. The 1st Camaro was inspired by the phenomenal good results of the original Mustang, and precisely 40 years later GM and Dodge had been scrambling to resurrect their pony vehicles to snatch sales from Ford’s rejuvinated, retro-style machine.

The Australian Holden platform gave the fifth Camaro an independent rear finish (which the Mustang didn’t have), and even the base 304 hp (308 PS) V6 created virtually as a lot energy as the Mustang GT’s V8. So with the 426 hp (432 PS) six.two-liter SS only a tick away it is no wonder the Chevy outsold the Mustang for its 1st two years.

Performance highlight: The horsepower count went crazy in 2012 when Chevy launched the ZL1, total with a supercharger and bonkers 580 hp (588 PS) rating, plus a strip-only COPO Camaro with a number of engine configurations for drag racers. By 2014, there was one more hardcore Camaro alternative in the kind of the resurrected Z28 that channeled the spirit of the 1960s original by pinching the Corvette Z06’s higher-revving 7.-liter LS7 to provide 505 hp (512 PS), which was mated with a specially tuned chassis equipped with Multimatic spool-valve shocks.

Worst moment: Trying to see actually something going on outdoors the automobile from the driver’s seat. Those narrow windows appear cool but the visibility is lousy.

Coolest style detail: The retro gauge pack ahead of the driver, and the secondary bundle on the console that appears just like a ’69’s – and is each bit as badly sited.

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2016-2023 – 6th Generation

What looked like a facelift was in fact an all-new automobile primarily based on GM’s Alpha platform and massively lighter than the Camaro it replaced. Four-cylinder energy returned to the menu for the 1st time in a lot more than 30 years, but alternatively of 1982’s 90 hp (91 PS), 2016’s 4-banger created 275 hp (279 PS) – as a lot as a V8 Z28 had accomplished on its debut in 1993.

Performance highlight: There was no Z28 this time about, but who cared when the ZL1 with the 1LE package was this excellent? For this incarnation the supercharged six.two-liter V8 lifted from the Corvette sent 650 hp (659 PS) and an equally epic 650 lb-ft (881 Nm) to the rear wheels via a decision of six-speed manual (yes please) or ten-speed automatic transmissions. The hardcore 1LE alternative added a number of aero devices, stiffer springs, trick spool dampers and a lot more.

Worst moment: 2019’s disastrous redesign. The mid-cycle facelift moved the bowtie emblem from the grille to a new black panel under it that split the upper and reduce grilles. It was universally panned and each attributes had been rapidly ‘fixed’ in time for the 2020 model year.

Coolest style detail: The canards, splitter and the Batman boomerang that passes for a rear wing on the ZL1 1LE, which with each other offer 300 lbs (136 kg) of downforce at 155 mph (250 kmh) and are a single of the factors the 1LE package saves 13 seconds about the Nurburgring.

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There have been a lot of highs and lows in the Camaros 57-year-lengthy profession, but they do not get a lot worse than being aware of we’ll by no means once again be capable to get a new, cost-effective Chevy coupe with a V8 in the nose, a manual transmission and a pair of rear tires that are just begging to be vaporised.

Many of you will have a defining Camaro memory – a neighbour’s ’86 broke my V8 cherry when I was 17, but perhaps you owned a single, crashed a single, or just lusted soon after a single parked down the street. Whatever that memory is, let’s see it in the comments section under.

Image credits: GM, Mecum, Bring-a-Trailer