I picked this up on Ebay recently....it's an article from the October 13, 1980 edition of AutoWeek and has an article on some "spy shots" taken of the all-new 82 Firebird and Camaro. The Firebird pictured is an early prototype - note the side mirrors and wheels. I've submitted this to the webmaster for inclusion in their articles section. Enjoy!



Joe

 

THAT IS SO FREAKING COOL!!!!!!!!!! wow they do not look much diffrent the camaro look just like the production but the firebird looks a little diffrent... I wounder what they built the prodotypes off of

 

UPDATE: This article can now be found here:

AutoWeek Scan

Joe

 

I also own the article, and really other than the mirrors and the headlight covers on the Firebird they look pretty much like they came in 1982.

The Wheels were obviously dontated by a 2nd gen...

John

 

Thats awesome. Im surprised they are not covered with that black film or whatever it is like all other cars these days.

 

Thanks for sending us the article. As you posted, I added it to our Multimedia section last week:
https://www.thirdgen.org/autoweek198...camaro-preview

 

I suspect they may have been driving them at the GM prooving grounds...

JOhn

 

Maybe its me or the photocopy, but the Camaro looks dirty and faded like most 3rd gens after 20+ years. LOL

Nice find. Keep the article safe.

 

How about those wheels on the Camaro. Aren't those Monte Carlo SS wheels??

 

what is that on the firebirds passanger side front fender?

 

The magazine is on newsprint, its looks faded because the print quality was never good to start with, thus why there are almost no newsprint magazines left.

John

 

any one have the June 30th Auto Week article there talking about?

 

Who is talking about a June 30th Article?

June 30 of what year?

John

 

the article that firebirdta84 scaned talks about it. it says
"Pontiac's Firebired for 1982 pictured in these exclusive photos bares a distinct family resemblance to the '82 Chevy Camaro previewed June 30 in Autoweek as well the sporty Camaro Z28."

 

that's a cool article. These cars sure aren't considered "slim and trim" today. I've never seen a 3rd gen with 2nd gen mirrors like those ones have. not too bad looking actually. It's also interesting that the firebird has a 2-tone paintjob along the middle body line like the Daytona pace cars ended up getting.

 

IMHO third gens are still sleek and sexy, I do not see anything that has ever looked so good in the past 20 years. I would venture to say that the style of the Firebird is as good as any Ferrari for style and design... If it was not for the lack luster performance of the first several years they are darned near perfect cars from the get go...

John

 

If you were replying to what I said, i think there was a misunderstanding. I agree 100% that they are sleek and sexy.... when i said they aren't considered slim and trim, I was referring to their overall size (particularly length) and weight. At the time, they were alot lighter than the 2nd gens they replaced and lower too. but compared to current day cars, they are long and overweight.

 

where is that car now ?
maybe its somewhere !

 

Either GM still has it in the Wharehouse, OR its crushed, very unlikely that it was sold.

 

and this was 1980...interesting

 

Why is this interesting?

Development on the 3rd gen F-body started back in the mid 70's as the F-bodys sales were declining, gas prices were rising and there was an oil embargo going on... As development kept on getting pushed aside for the downsizing of the larger cars and to increase efficiency the F-body project got pushed back again and again. Initially Chevrolet and Pontiac had their own designs, In the end each car is a mix almost 50/50 of the original designs, Obviously Chevrolet got the Small block Engine, Pontiac got the V6, The Pontiacs 301 Turbo was to be used initially but as GM was trying to streamline production and keep things as consistant across the two lines the Pontiac engine was ended in 1981.

Intially the release was going to be 1980, but as sales of the 2nd generation were increasing, there was no push to go with the new design to market...

Essentially they had it all done, but as the project continued and Fuel efficency to meet CAFE requirements were looming they continued to tweak the design unil it was released in 1982...

THats if I understand it all correctly.

John

 

okfoz, do you have or know where to find any pictures/drawings of these original chevy and pontiac designs you speak of? I'd love to see them

 

THere are 2 books that I would recommend if your interested in the beginnings of the 3rd generation F-body:

The first I would recommend is "Camaro, the third generation," by Michael Lamm. Because it was made in 1982 there is no info on the later cars, however it gives a great amount of detail into the development of both the firebird and Camaro.

The second I would recommend is "Pontiac's Third Generation Firebird & Trans-Am" by Martyn L. Schorr. Although not as in depth, and again made in 1982with the two books together you can piece a clear picture of the development of the cars and why things were done.