Lemme just add one thing: I think Ford struck gold with the new Thunderbird. That thing is beautiful. My prediction – no less than 15 rap videos with one of those outfitted with hydraulics in the next year.
And am I the only one concerned that when the German designers went to GM they came up with a sports car with Nazi-era styling that has “SS” in the name? Do you think it suddenly gains 20% more engine power if you drive it into Poland? Do Peugeots surrender to it as it drives by?
You’re right though edwino; that new Thunderbird is a nice looking car. Fast and classy.
Oh, yeah. The new Thunderbirds are things of beauty and I would love to own one.
Maybe one day.
Folks, I positively hated the new Thunderchicken when I saw pictures of it, but having seen them in person (for some odd reason there were six of them in Nashvegas a couple of months back), I have to say that Ford’s done something right for the first time since they introduced the 'Stang back in the '60s! They look soooooo much better IRL than they do in pictures. Those of you who have liked the photos should be positively orgasmic once you see them in the flesh!
At the risk of being beaten up by the guys in high school who used to drive across the street at lunch in their Camaros to smoke cigarettes in the skating rink’s parking lot…
For a similar cost, you could drive a BMW M3, a vehicle that would smoke a Z28 in most, if not all, performance parameters, with a much higher level of luxury and reliability. Now I say this realizing that many people cannot afford a $40k plus car (I can’t). My point in mentioning this is that when looked at from a value perspective, buying a Camaro (new, at least) is not a good financial choice, IMHO.
Before you flame me, go to Autobytel.com and compare resale values for similary equipped vehicles. Perhaps a Honda Prelude VTEC is a better comparison that the BMW.
I bring this up because my brother got really burned buying a loaded V-6 Camaro. When he traded it in after about 4 years, he got positively screwed on the resale value.
Now, I am a car guy, and I lament the fact that one of the last great musclecars is being discontinued (even temporarily). I do not lament the loss of a cramped, outdated, unreliable (at least in my admittedly second-hand) experience. Maybe my brother just got a bad one, but on his Camaro, the power windows were going dead, the T-Top leaked, and many of the interior plastics looked terrible.
Just my two bits. I anxiously await your rebuttal
http://www.4adodge.com/world_of_dodge/concept/index.html
Dodge Charger makes a comeback! Looks like an awesome amalgam of the Viper and a classic charger. 325 HP supercharged 4.7Liter V8, rear wheel drive. And all on compressed natural gas! Cheaper fuel, MUCH cleaner emissions and should run like a cheetah chasing bin Laden for dinner.
O
I will mourn for the Camaro/Firebird!
Actually, the local police station was across the street from our high school. Upshot: disapproving looks from EVERY SINGLE ADULT AUTHORITY FIGURE that passed us! We were thrilled! Rebellion on the cheap!
But I digress.
If luxury and reliability were a primary concern, we’d all be driving buzzy little Nazi slot-cars.
A Camaro with a supercharger scoop sticking out of the hood screams ‘testosterone’. Put your foot down on the happy burble of eight idling cylinders, and it emits a roar like God getting kicked in the balls. Ever see that old black-and-white video of the test pilot in the centrifuge with the skin on his face pulling back in a maniacal, shit-eating grin from the G’s? It’s like that, but in color.
Put your foot down on a Beemer, and you’ll know where Singer sends their surplus sewing machines. The supercharger scoop is, obviously, right out of the question.
It’s a purely visceral thing. It’s not about fiscal responsibility or cushioning one’s ass on hand-stitched leather seats.
You don’t buy a Camaro with the intention of reselling it. You buy a Camaro with the intention of terrorizing stoplights and picking up loose women; and the back seats of a Camaro, while small, are far better-suited to the latter activity than those of either a Honda or BMW.
That’s because car dealers tend to think a Camaro was probably driven hard and fast, for a long time, with minimal maintenance. They’re probably right, too.
I can’t argue with the fit-and-finish complaints in the rest of that paragraph, but I just couldn’t pass this one up. BMW and Mercedes interiors ALWAYS looked shitty, IMHO; cold, hard-edged, nothing flowing or organic about them. I always felt like I was in a dentist’s waiting room.
American cars, particularly GM and ESPECIALLY Pontiac, take it too far the other direction. Anyone remember the big Bonneville redesign in the early 90’s, with the HUD and the radio buttons clustered in the middle of the steering wheel and the 220-way power seats*? Bleah.
The Japanese are way ahead of the power curve on this one. Like the little bear’s bed, they’re juuuust right.
[sub]* slight exaggeration, but not much.[/sub]
Hey Dalovindj- I just sold a 1970 Olds Cutlass Supreme convertible about 2 months ago. I had it for 9 years. It was a great car.
Bravo! Bravo! Miestro! LMFAO!
I like that view even better than the one Syzygy posted earlier. Well-designed rear end.
Y’all might have noticed I obssess over the rear end of cars. That’s because given the shitbox I drive, the rear end of a go-fast is about all I ever see of 'em. 
I’ll believe that when I see it. The availability of LNG is gonna have to go WAY up for that to be a rational move on Dodge’s part. I only know of one gas station around here (Kansas) that has it, though it might be more common elsewhere.
Fuck all those F-birds, Camaros, and Irocs. I’ve got no love for them, but the 1965 Pontiac LeMans is quite possibly the most beautiful car ever made. See for yourself.
