The word "camaro"

where did they come up with the name?

:lala:

 

It is a French word meaning 'Friend'. Looks like we have a Troll!

Jay

 

No not a troll

just lost my old password and my old e-mail doesnt work so Im just starting over...


and really who knew...?

PonyKillerZ was my old name...

It would be nice to get my old post count back to

Not just wanting to know what it means either...how they came up with naming the car that...


you had to ask somebody at some point to...

:lala:

 

a quick history lesson... GM came up with the idea for the Camaro just after the Mustang came out. The original plan was to call the car the Panther but that didn't work out too well. They wanted the car to be considered a friend so they patterned the name after a word similar to Comrade. Someone quickly figured out that Camero or something similar is a spanish word for a type of shrimp. But hey at least its not as bad as the Nova, Va being the spanish word for Go, and no in spanish means the same thing it does here, so Nova in spanish means... No Go. Didn't sell to well in hispanic areas as a result. Not to surprising, would you buy a new Ford Lemon?

 

LOL

 

Camaron (accent on the o) is the Spanish word for shrimp. Sometimes it's shortened to camaro. Boy I knew those Spanish classes would pay off someday.

 

try this, Oops that didn't work

 

BTW the Panther name didn't work out because of Fords or rather Mercury's Cougar, and the Jaguar... How about the other memorable cat-named cars... Bobcat (pinto), etc...

 

Actually Drew, the Panther was in the making before the Mustang. The below information came directly from Scott Settlemire.

The history of the name Camaro:

According to some within General Motors, a 4-seat sports car was designed in the
late 50s for a growing America......it would be the Turbo-charged Corvair Spyder
of 1962......additionally, Chevrolet unveilled the "Super Nova" at the New York
Autoshow in March of 1964.....a matter of weeks prior to Ford unveiling the
Mustang......and while the Corvair was restyled in the fall of 1964....and the
Turbocharged Spyder was renamed "Corsa," within 6 months, the sales figures for
Mustang convinced GM that the "pony car" market was more than just a flash in
the pan.

Work became more intense on a program called the "XP-836".....a four seat
sporty-type coupe that would share an all-new platform with the 1968 Nova
X-body. This new car was referred to as the "Panther" or "F-body." It would be
the first GM car where computers were used extensively in the development
process. The idea behind the car that would become "Camaro" was to offer a
great-looking sporty car that attracted attention, no matter where it went. It
would have the incredible performance attributes of the legendary Chevy
small-block V8. ("the closest thing to a Vette, yet!") Additionally, the car
must ride smoothly, but handle like a european sports car. It must allow the
individual to tailor the car to his or her needs and wants -- both from a
performance and appearance standpoint.....and it must do all of this at a
Chevrolet price. (I think you will agree that these brand attributes have been
kept for 35 years.)

According to documents dated June 10, 1966, and exhaustive search was conducted
for appropriate names starting with the letter "C." -- it should also be noted
that at that time in Chevy's history, all of the car lines started with the
letter "C".......Chevrolet, Chevelle, Chevy II, Corvair and Corvette.....( Bel
Air, Impala, Malibu, etc were models within the car lines....) Furthermore,
this stayed true until the fall of 1969 when the 1970 Monte Carlo was
introduced.....but I digress!

A short list was developed from a list of over 2,200 words starting with "C"
.....and then an even more massive search was done to ensure that the name
picked would not have any negative connotation.......

One word really stood out from the others....."Camaro."

In Heath's New French and English Dictionary dated 1932...the word "Camaro" is
defined as "Comrade, Friend, Mate, Chum, or Pal." Thus, the name "Camaro" was
chosen and blessed by then-General Manager Eliot M. "Pete" Estes (who would
later become President of General Motors.) When announcing the Camaro to the
press worldwide, Mr. Estes had this to say about the name: "Chevrolet has
chosen a name which is lithe and graceful....in keeping with our other car names
beginning with 'C.' It suggests comradeship of good friends, as a personal car
should be to its owner."

And so it was............and on September 29, 1966, the Camaro roared to life in
thousands of Chevy dealerships nationwide.

 

Sorry dude, I should have not have jumped to conclusions.

I always wondered too, I found out about 2 months ago from a trubute article to the Camaro in Details Magazine. Of all places huh!?

Jay

 

Thanks for all the info guys...

If theres more...keep it coming.

 

Well Scott, if you really want to get technical the developement of the Mustang was a spin off of the Ford Falcon, when was the falcon concept born?

Regardless, Ford had the first success with the genre. The market was captured first by Ford and they've held it longer than GM. Its not a pleasant fact for the diehard GM folks, but that doesnt mean its not true.

 

I always considered the Camaro the evil one...the bad guy..

the Mustang the good guy...

I don't think we could have one with out the other.

 

But GM started the whole musclecar thing with the GTO. Then came the M*****g. Then came the Camaro, and a few months later the Firebird and so on.

 

Actually the Olds 442 was released prior to the GTO.

Not certain, but I'm pretty sure that the Mustang was released prior to either of the GM intermediate offerings though. And it was for a totally different market.

 

I guess we find that again GM didn't lead the way but came up from the rear with the more powerful cars. How many times in history has GM followed the lead rather than set the pace?

 

Actually the GTO is the car that really set the whole thing off, AND the GTO was released before the M*****g.

 

Its funny how GM & Ford go back and forth trying to compete with each other.

The Corvette was born in 1953
Ford answers with the Thunderbird in 55
in 68 the T-bird came with a back seat
in 1963 The Riviera was a competitor for the T-bird, orinally designed to be a "Lasalle" for Cadillac.

now look at GM, there cancelling everything that does not have 4 doors, or they can make a killing on price wise. The new Cadillac XLR and the Corvette are the examples of that one.

'nuf said, this is almost off topic...

John