Last call for muscle car fans with the Camaro Final Edition
The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (TCCCI) just announced its last call for owning a piece of an American nostalgic muscle car legend. Last March, GM announced that the sixth-generation Camaro would have its final edition available in certain markets as it plans to roll out the last Camaro by January of 2024. Thankfully, the Philippine market is one of them. We have a great history with this nameplate that started back in 1966 on local soil.
Here are six fun facts you probably may not know about this muscle car legend.
Fun Fact 1 – The first-generation Camaros were built in Manila
After World War II, the Yutivo Corporation became GM’s assembler and distributor here in the country and began operations with a factory located in Paco, Manila back in 1953. The Camaro started being built for the 1967 model year and only had one variant that had a low-compression 250ci 6-cylinder engine. The engine came either with a 3-speed manual or a 2-speed automatic Powerglide gearbox and produced a total of 288 units until 1969. The reason for the engine choice was because of the higher displacement V-8 engine carrying a much higher duty. Production stopped because the government wanted to reclassify it from a 2-door coupe passenger car into a sports car, raising the duty to 250 percent.
Fun Fact 2 – From bug to bee
The original Bumblebee character from the 1980s incarnation of the Transformers film was a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. But movie director Michael Bay transformed it into a Chevrolet Camaro because the Beetle reminded him of Herbie of the Love Bug movie fame, which, turned out, the decision couldn’t have been better. In the 2007 Transformers film, it came to live on the silver screen as a 1976 second-generation Camaro, as well as a 2006 Chevrolet Camaro Concept.
Fast Fact 3 – The Yenko Camaro
At the debut of the Camaro, GM had an edict that capped the engine displacement up to 400ci (or 6.6 liters) only for its V-8 engines. This puts the Camaro on the losing edge over other competitors like the Ford Mustang, Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda for buyers who wanted a bigger engine car. So, Chevrolet dealer and race car driver Donald “Don” Frank Yenko came up with a high-performance version of the Camaro and created a huge cult following by working around this limit. In the movie 2Fast 2Furious, a 1969 Yenko Camaro SYC was built as a replica of the original Yenko Camaro.
Fun Fact 4 – Camaro name wasn’t the first choice
In 1965, rumors abound that GM was creating a new nameplate to rival the Ford Mustang, the hottest car in the US market at the time. It was code named the “Panther.” On a live conference held that year on June 28, GM held a press conference and called the project “XP-836”. The thinking at that time was all the popular Chevrolet models begun with the letter “C,” so the new name became the Camaro.
Fun Fact 5 – Camaro’s Italian influence
The second-generation Camaro was said to have been largely influenced by Ferrari’s classic lines. In 1963, when Ferrari introduced the Lusso 250 GT, the limited production Italian sports car became the inspiration for the C2 (second-generation) Camaro. If you look at both cars side by side, it isn’t difficult to see the resemblance. The C2 was the first generation to have a convertible variant and was well received in the US market.
Fun Fact 6 – This is your final call
TCCCI was given a special opportunity to bring in a limited quantity of the final edition of the sixth-generation Camaro, which will be considered a future classic and collector’s car. With its interesting history in the country and our penchant for American muscle, the resurgence on collectible American cars has never been so strong. The final edition of the sixth-generation Camaro retails for an SRP of P4,266,888, and Chevrolet Philippines is now accepting reservations in all 19 dealerships nationwide.
