A Review of the 1969 Camaro

Today I'd like to look "back into the future." What I mean by that is to look at the past, and try to decipher what that could mean for the future. Good thing Chevrolet have already done that with the new Camaro. But has it recreated the Camaro enough to be retro?

For me, the '69 Camaro is still the greatest car of the past. It's muscle and elegance combined. I look at a good Camaro in perfect nick, and I go wild. It always takes my breath, and holds it there as long as it's in sight. I think I'm not the only one who shares this opinion about the old Camaro. But today's Camaro is a bit different, because while nobody argues about the old Camaro, some think the new one is way ugly! I personally think it's beautiful, but it's no match for the daddy.

There's originality in it. Such originality, that it's hard to recreate. Taking an old car and recreating it is a bit of a hassle and a lot of work. First, there are a lot of laws and regulations that govern the automotive industry today that didn't exist decades ago, so things are a bit different. I do think that GM has done a brilliant job though. Not as good as the old one, but better than Mustang and Challenger.

So, why are the keys to the future in the deep past? Well, I think it's simplicity. The old Camaro was rather simple in design, and mechanics. it was crude, raw, and rugged. Although if you preserve the looks, simply beautiful. It's that simplicity, I think, that drives the automotive industry. Many cars these days are designed and engineered with technology that most of us can't even dream of, and yet today's cars are mostly rubbish!

I do concede that Europeans managed to make their cars look better recently, but in America it's not so, especially with muscle cars. Every-day cars are fine, but muscle cars are different. They need to be simple. But how could it be simple if now, every car is required to have an airbag, it's socially acceptable to have ABS, and power steering, and all sorts of computer management that makes a car easy to live with. But should muscle cars be easy to live with?

I think it's not so hard to figure out. European supercars - they're not exactly easy to live with. But then again, they're made that way. Muscle cars should be treated, in America, like super cars. And if American automotive industry survives, I think they should look back a little more often for clues to their next high-performance vehicle.