Growing up in Michigan, I was one of those kids who would wear shorts to school on the first day it was predicted to reach sixty degrees Fahrenheit. It didn’t even matter sometimes if it was just one of those fluky days in late April with a one-day spike in temperature where there were still a few patches of snow on the ground. Sixty degrees seemed close enough in my mind to seventy degrees, the point at which I usually wouldn’t wear a jacket. That first day of the year of wearing shorts was an annual rite of passage and a harbinger of the legitimately warm, sunny summer days to come.
As an adult, a similar thing for me has traditionally been my first full immersion into Lake Michigan not too long after the beaches open. Even by mid-July, there’s no guarantee that the water in the southwest corner of vast Lake Michigan here in Chicago is going to be warm and pleasant. I’ll admit that a goofy part of me likes the thought of shocking onlookers on the sand by taking that first plunge, as I pretend to be nonchalant about wading back to my spot on the sand out of water that has sometimes still been so cold that it has felt like a tourniquet around my calves. “No big whoop”, as they say. But then, once I’ve been in that cold water for the first time, each time after that feels a bit more normal and natural.
Summer in my neighborhood of Edgewater is festive and fun, full of nature and cultural goings on. This season often feels like that type of party guest who mixes well with everyone, lights up the room, seems genuine, and improves the shared atmosphere. Summer is that friend whom you don’t want to leave, firstly because you waited so long to be able to see them (after an often brutal winter), and secondly because you know the moment they walk out the front door, other folks are probably going to disappear shortly after. I do love fall. There’s something unique about all the seasons that I like. But because summer vacation always had signified a break from school and homework, I will probably always associate it with freedom, and for that reason, it’s probably my favorite season.
Letting go of summer is hard, so as fall progresses further toward winter, a miscellaneous warm day or two has been known to beckon me back outside or to at least open all of my windows at home. On the Saturday on which I had spotted our featured car back in November of 2009, it had reached a high of fifty-four degrees around Noon, just five days before Thanksgiving. This may not seem that incredible to some readers in other regions, but to put this into perspective, it snowed 3.4 inches last year on Halloween (October 31), setting a Chicago record.
I was snapping away with my point-and-shoot camera when the owner of this Camaro returned to his vehicle. I’d just like to briefly say that as ugly as some interactions between strangers can be, sometimes even with grave consequences (another reason I’m usually careful with deciding whether or not to attempt interior shots of my vehicular subjects), I also want to like people and to feel good about being a human being. It has been over a decade since I took these pictures on one of the main streets in my neighborhood, but the car had California plates, and the gentleman who owned it had stopped to talk with me for about five minutes or so about his Camaro and cars in general.
Five minutes may not seem like that much time as a number, but for any of us who has ever had to deliver a timed speech or give a presentation, a five minute exchange between two people, especially when one of them is running errands (as the owner was), is not an insubstantial amount of time. After our exchange had ended, I remember him even asking me if I had all the pictures I wanted of it. He seemed like a genuinely good guy, and I felt better about my day for us having crossed paths. (Is this sense of camaraderie more specific to, and a hallmark of, car culture?)
A first-year example of any car is always going to interest me, regardless of where it had originally fallen on the continuum of desirability. The genesis of the original 1967 Camaro has been covered at Curbside by Paul Niedermeyer, back in 2015. What I tend to forget, though, is that the Plymouth Barracuda, though not a new nameplate for ’67, was given a proper redesign that year into a much more attractive machine that looked a lot less like the Valiant compact on which it was based.
The fall of ’66 must have been an exciting time for young adults with money to spend on a new, ’67 version of this novel type of compact sport coupe, as the Detroit Low-Priced Three all offered new or refreshed designs that year, including the Ford Mustang, all of which had base prices that started within less than 1% of each other for the most basic versions, before options. About 221,000 Camaros were sold in its first year, compared with 472,000 Mustangs and 62,500 Barracudas for ’67.
The various permutations of option packages for these Camaros had long confused me. As it turns out, the RS package, by itself, had nothing to do with the car’s performance. Instead, it was an appearance package that added hidden headlamps, backup lamps that were moved from within the main taillight housings down to below the bumper, and exterior identification. What’s more is that the RS package could be had even on the six cylinder cars, or combined with any other available package. How’s that for a la carte?
This RS featured the optional 295-horse 350 V8, as indicated by the front fender call-out. This engine was also standard with the SS performance package, which also featured an upgraded suspension, hood vents, stripes, and other exterior identification, but this car is not an SS as indicated by the “rs” badge which would have read “ss” otherwise. One source stated that of the ’67 Camaros, about 64,800 had the RS package, but what I couldn’t determine was how many of those cars were convertibles, as only about 25,000 ’67 Camaro soft-tops were produced in its inaugural year.
I’m guessing that not a lot were made to begin with, and that even fewer existed at the time I took these pictures over ten years ago. I also realize that it’s entirely possible that this one could have been a “tribute” vehicle, but I am not that guy who is going to try to deflate another person’s enjoyment of his or her pride and joy simply to sate my curiosity.
Real or fake, it was a beautiful car, and I don’t really need to know if its numbers match. What would I do with that knowledge, anyway? There’s something to be said for the use of imagination. On this unusually warm day late in November, it was easy to imagine it was two months earlier, right after fall had just started. This car’s California plates combined with its top-down state contributed to the sense of the day’s warmth, which would turn out to be fleeting. Why wouldn’t the owner be getting a little extra sun and fresh air on a gorgeous day like this? Anyone who has lived through a winter in the Midwest knows how sunlight is in short supply during the colder months. The owner of this Camaro was simply seizing that which was left for the year, and in so doing proved to be a man after my own heart.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, November 21, 2009.
Brochure photo as sourced from www.oldcarbrochures.com.
Print ad as sourced from the internet.
Nicely done. I still get a little bit of a funny feeling at the end of summer, which I attribute to years of dreading the start of school after Labor Day. It remains with me even though I have had to work all year for decades now.
I never really understood Chevy’s approach to the hidden headlights on these cars. I had never been around them to notice the pattern that they were part of the RS package, which could be combined with a whole bunch of other packages and options, it seems.
It is really kind of amazing to me that the Mustang outsold these 2:1 in an era when Chevy regularly outsold Ford with many other models.
The Falcon outsold the Corvair by about that ratio. And the ’55-’57 T-Bird outsold the Corvette by an even higher ratio. And the Econoline outsold both the Corvan/Greenbrier and the first Chevy Van by a big ratio.
It’s all about the product.
The Mustang was red hot, and having had no competition from Chevy for two and a half years, it had massive momentum. But not for much longer.
All good points. Still, each of your examples involved a Ford that hit a market bull’s-eye and a Chevy that missed the sweet spot. In this case the Camaro hit the market dead-on (albeit a couple of years late) with a great product and there were a lot of people who were diehard GM buyers back then which should have added some easy sales for Camaro.
But they certainly roared back in the next generation.
Die hard GM buyers? They had been snapping up Mustangs since day one.
If you didn’t live through the Mustang Mania, it’s hard to describe. Not unlike Beatlemania at the time. No one cared less if it was a Ford or whatever. It was simply the hottest socio-automotive phenomena ever. And the buyers came from any and every brand. I think brand loyalty tends to be over-stated, especially here. I can think of all of the people in my neighborhood and acquaintances, and there was very little brand loyalty. Maybe some old farts.
Mustang Mania went right through 1967 before really cooling off. The ’67 restyle gave it one last kick in the butt. It was a very effective re-style.
The Camaro was a bit anodyne in comparison to the Mustang. Typical GM: excellent overall sculpturing, but too clean and smooth. The Mustang bristled with very unique and obvious styling details. Absolutely everyone instantly recognized a Mustang (and VW). Not so with the Camaro. It was handsome, but simply lacked the utterly unique and characteristic elements that so defined the Mustang. The Camaro shared quite a bit of overall design concepts with the ’65 Corvair, which watered down its impact too.
I found the ’67 Camaro a bit disappointing, stylistically. I think the front and rear ends are way to bland and simple, and look like they ran out of money, which obviously isn’t the case. The ’69’s front end is much better, and gives it some genuine character. Oddly, the clays for the ’67 showed a ’69-like front end. Maybe it was too expensive to tool?
The enormous popularity of ’67-’69 Camaros in more recent decades is actually something of a surprise to me, given its impact on the market at the time. I think it’s just a phenomena that took off. The same thing happened to the E-Body Barracuda and Challenger. Retrospectively, folks have decided that these are the cars that represent that era, despite the Mustang being the one, actually.
Another related example: the T-Bird handily outsold the Riviera, despite it being a stylistic gem.
I vividly remember Mustang Mania, as a kid of almost 5 when they came out, and knew they were the coolest thing going. I was kind of assuming that I didn’t remember the Camaro coming out because Chevy was not well represented in my neighborhood or extended family, so I wasn’t around them and didn’t follow them closely. I do remember the 67 Mustang because I was not quite sure about those taillights that were innies instead of outies, but I soon came around. I remember the 67 Barracuda and the Cougar too.
You raise in my mind that maybe it was less my implicit bias (that I was trying to correct for) than the fact that the 67 Camaro just wasn’t that memorable. 🙂
Thanks, JP. My friends and I have joked for years about how adults no longer get “summer vacation” – unless you’re a teacher.
The thing that shocked me when I cracked upon my automotive encyclopedia to the Plymouth chapter was that the Barracuda sold such a tiny fraction of the numbers the Mustang and Camaro were pulling in.
The Barracuda notchback / non-fastback didn’t really have the short-deck look of the Mustang or Camaro, but I always thought it had terrific style. Especially the fastback. Save for the upright, Valiant-sourced windshield, which I can’t unsee after reading Paul’s previous post about that generation of Barracuda.
The ’67-’69 ‘notchback’ Barracuda is fascinating because it’s a none-too-subtle copy of the 2nd generation Corvair. Unfortunately, the Corvair comes off much better looking. I guess Chrysler’s hope was the notchback ‘Cuda would gravitate to the same single women who snapped up so many Mustang hardtops but, sadly, it just didn’t happen. The Barracuda, despite having both economic (slant-six) and performance (340) chops, just never found a niche like both the Mustang and Camaro. A real shame because the 2nd gen A-body Barracuda was really a decent, all-around car (although it was mainly the fastback).
You sure its not Guy Fieri’s car and he’s filming somewhere?
Guy Fieri’s Camaro is a 1968 (the 1967 in early season episodes was leased by the producers). It has a lot more engine than a 350, and does not have the add-on rub strips on its sides.
Fieri is a real car guy, and he also did TV commercials for Flowmaster, a muffler manufacturer, then in his home town, Santa Rosa, CA. Search Google for “Guy Fieri Flowmaster” for a couple of YouTube videos.
Wonderful review. Some see cars as facts and figures, but you perfectly capture the essence and feeling of why this car exists. I’m glad that the owner was gracious and enjoying his rolling smile factory; I hope that he is still.
Thanks so much, Ed. I also figure many car people know so much about the early Camaros, so there was nothing a writer like me was going to be able to add to that sort of thing. 🙂 Here’s hoping for warm temperatures that last as long this year.
Another great piece Joe, and nice photos to go with it as usual.
“(Is this sense of camaraderie more specific to, and a hallmark of, car culture?)”
As a person who likes to start up a conversation with just about anyone, I really think so. It seems especially so in car culture, although one could argue anything of passion with which we share commonality with someone will cause this.
I personally think it’s cool. Here, you have a guy that’s obviously passionate about keeping his car nice. He sees a guy taking pictures of it and reacts in the right way… not freaking out, but striking up a conversation with an obviously like minded individual.
I’ve seen this with Mustang guys as well. Guys with high dollar Shelbys willing to talk to a guy like me with a lowly V6, just because I keep it nice.
I really saw this kind of camaraderie between like minded individuals on August 21, 2017… the day of the last Total Solar Eclipse to cross the US. Complete strangers all getting along like best friends. As a society, we really could use more of this, IMHO.
Thanks, Rick. Your comment has me thinking that most of my car-based interactions with strangers (filtered through time / my memory) have been positive ones.
When I had my ’88 LX back in the ’90s, I had joined the local Mustang club. Those were a group of mostly friendly guys and gals who were proud of their classic Mustangs and liked to talk / listen about various aspects of ownership.
Even if I knew nothing about headers, exhaust systems, transmissions, etc., it was great to be around people who had such obvious and contagious enthusiasm for their Mustangs.
Only the SS was available with a 350 in 1967.
Indeed, my understanding is that the SS and RS packages could be combined, so I would guess this is one of those SS/RS cars. I don’t think they’re all that rare, either.
Except it’s clearly not an SS. If it was, the SS badges and the bumblebee stripe would be there.
One cannot assume anything about Camaros and so many other popular pony-muscle cars of the era, in terms of their originality, unless they’re still sporting their original paint job.
Too bad there isn’t a shot of the hood. If there weren’t any SS louvers, it would virtually confirm this as a non-SS car, and the inconsistency of SS-only front fender engine callouts being explained as owner-added to match a transplanted engine.
This would be a serious contender for The Official Car of Summer. Seeing this car in a Chicago November must be like seeing a bird that forgot to migrate.
Regarding talking to folks whose cars you’re photographing, I’m not much of a social person, so I try to avoid it, but last week I was photographing a Dodge Dart, and the owner came out. Like your Camaro here, he was glad to talk, and the detail he provided will be helpful for my eventual article on the car.
As for swimming in Lake Michigan, I guess you know you’re a Michigan native when you don’t mind swimming in cold water. My mother-in-law is from a rural part of Michigan, north of Saginaw, and grew up swimming in cold lakes. To this day, she enjoys swimming in cold water — water that’s usually too cold for anyone else.
Oh, and your final shot here — black and white, with the red taillights — is outstanding.
Thanks, Eric. I’d like to think that owners enjoy it when others take interest in their cars, which is probably the case most of the time. I’m going to put my own Dodge Dart find on ice, because I’d rather read about yours. 🙂
Feel free to go ahead and write up your Dart — I move glacially slow on these articles!
The one I found is a ’73 Dart Custom, and the owner had bought it two weeks earlier.
I lived in MI for 22 years. Shorts and a hoodie is the official outfit of Spring.
Linking your memories of Summer to those photos of the convertible Camaro is what the old car hobby is all about. While hard core, gear head, enthusiasts might care about compression ratios and rear end gearing, most of the general public are more concerned with the memories that the cars elicit. Just recently I’ve started to notice nostalgic comments from onlookers about my ’96 Mustang convertible! I guess that is what makes a car, “vintage”. I think that most of us relate older cars to the times of our lives when they were new. And of course, there’s always the guy that “had one just like that!”
Jose, just the other day, I saw an early SN-95 Mustang – a ’94 or ’95, by the taillights, and it made me remember how much I loved them when I had first seen them! Your ’96 had the refreshed taillamp lenses with the dividers that went the “correct” way – vertically. LOL I remember much being made about that. I still love the early SN-95s. I may even still have a dealer brochure in a box somewhere.