You may have read in one of my earlier posts where I had mentioned that the common sports cars I saw around the neighborhood I grew up in were Camaros, Firebirds, and Mustangs. So naturally, I aspired to own one of them. I was 18 years old in 1985, which meant I had possessed my driver’s license for 2 years, so it was time to get a sports car.

There was a kid, probably a couple of years older than me, cruising around our neighborhood in a 1981 Camaro Z-28. It was light blue, with contrasting blue stripes on the side. Now I know many think that light blue might be somewhat of a feminine color, but not me – I thought it was gorgeous! It had t-tops, and was in immaculate condition. It was a rare color to see a Z-28 in, which really made it stand out. It also had a 4-speed manual transmission – another somewhat rare item. Anyways, this car became for sale when I was 18. I had to have it! I’m pretty sure my parents made a contribution to me getting this car, I really don’t recall the details, but I did buy it. I was so excited!

I drove it over a few blocks from where I lived, where 3 very good friends of mine lived. One of these friends, Rick, saw it, and decided he had to have one of his own. Very shortly thereafter, he bought a black 1980 with a custom stripe on it. I don’t recall if he bought it already modified, but he sure added his own modifications to give it some extra punch. I kept mine bone stock, except for the exhaust, where I had the catalytic converters removed to give it ta proper sound. Not much thinking green back in those days! Sorry to all of the environmentalists who may be reading this.

Anyways, I kept my Z-28 for about 3 years, until I stumbled onto a 1980 Corvette that I had to have, which I will write about more in another post. I sold the Z-28 (got back almost as much as I had paid for it) and bought this Corvette.

Not so for my friend Rick. He continued to carry the Camaro torch, and over the years, had owned an example from pretty much every generation. And that includes the most current 6th generation of today. We live about 500 miles away from each other, but last weekend met up at about the halfway mark at a good mutual friend’s house, to surprise our other good friend for his 50th birthday.

Rick decided to drive up in his brand new Camaro SS. Now I had driven a more current Camaro not too long ago, in 2011, where I got a 6-cylinder convertible for my rental car when I was in California a few years ago for Ferrari product training. I’ll be honest when I say I didn’t pay too much attention to the car, as when I was behind the wheel of it, I was probably driving down the coast in Monterrey, where the product training was taking place, at the Laguna Seca race track, so I was much more interested in taking in the California coast line, as I had never been there before.

Rick’s newest Camaro is an electric blue coupe SS. It sounds very much like what a muscle car should sound like. You know it is packing some serious power just by the sounds of it. Sadly, as we age, the desire for a manual transmission tends to fade, and Rick opted for the truly wonderful 8-speed automatic this time. Upon checking the car out closely, Chevy has been doing a wonderful job in preserving styling cues from the past, yet keeping the car looking very modern. Its funny to think back to our 1st Camaros, mine rated at 190bhp, and Rick’s having been an ’80, rated at 180bhp in stock form. His newest one has well more than double the power!

Of course, I had to drive this new iteration. It was in my buddy’s rural neighborhood, so I really couldn’t do anything stupid, but I certainly made sure to get a small taste of the power. There’s no doubt that it packs more than enough power to have whatever fun one would care to have on public streets. What really struck me is how much of a refined car the Camaro has become. It felt as solid as any car I have ever driven, and was completely docile and driveable when you were just loafing around in it. I came to believe that the 5-hour trek he had made to get where we were must have been quite pleasurable and effortless.

My, we have come a long way. I can only imagine what the ZL-1 version feels like. Quite frankly, I think the SS would be plenty. It sure got me to thinking…….!