Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008

Camaro's return to be late to race

By MARTIN ZIMMERMAN
LOS ANGELES TIMES
last updated: February 29, 2008 03:41:31 AM

The new Chevy Camaro would seem to have everything going for it: a genuinely storied tradition, a built-in fan base, even a starring role in a blockbuster movie.

But as they say at the local comedy club, timing is everything. And in that regard, at least, the Camaro can't seem to get its act together.

General Motors Corp. expects to have the new Camaro in dealer showrooms during the first quarter of 2009. That would be three years after a Camaro concept car was unveiled as GM's entry in the current muscle-car revival and well behind retro rivals such as the Ford Mustang and Chrysler's Dodge Challenger.

"I honestly don't understand what they're waiting for," said Dick Guldstrand of Burbank-based Guldstrand Motor Sports.

Certainly, fans of the original Camaro are eager to get a look at the new version. The last Camaro rolled off the assembly line in 2002 and the versions seen since have been concepts, including the yellow-and-black copy that starred as Bumblebee in last summer's popcorn hit "Transformers."

"That was pretty impressive, but I'm waiting to see the real thing," said Mark Bird, a 53-year-old member of the club Cool Runnin' Camaros of Southern California and the proud owner of a restored 1969. "As for buying one, I'll have to talk my wife into it."

GM knows that more than a few of its customers are toe-tapping with impatience. Designing the car around a new rear-wheel-drive platform -- rather than using an existing automotive architecture as did Ford and Chrysler -- is the main reason for the long lead time, GM spokeswoman Wendy Clark said.

"Maybe we showed the concept a little early," she said. "I know it feels like a long time, but it will be worth the wait."

Or will GM miss the "sweet spot" of the muscle-car rebirth? The trend began a few years back when Ford fielded a redesigned Mustang that mimicked the lines of the iconic late-'60s fire-breather but came with modern amenities such as fuel injection, air bags and four-wheel disc brakes.

The vintage look proved to be a big hit with baby boomers who recalled the muscle cars of the late '60s and early '70s, such as the Challenger, the Pontiac GTO, the Plymouth Barracuda and the Camaro Z28. Those cars, fabled as much for their dreadful handling and braking as for their straight-line speed, are the new stars of the collectible car circuit, with extremely rare and well-preserved models selling for millions of dollars.

The Camaro concepts seen so far have strong echoes of the 1969 model, considered by many to be the ultimate expression of the car, itself one of the gems of the muscle era.

"If you're not into it, it's hard to explain," said Los Angeles attorney Barry Freeman, 69, who owns two vintage Camaros. "It's a seduction that people of my generation have never escaped from, nor do I want to."

The first muscle cars were killed off by high gasoline prices, a weakening economy, new federal regulations and rising insurance rates.

Those same factors are threatening to choke off the cars' comeback before the new Camaro even reaches dealers.

"It's a tough time to be introducing cars like the Challenger and the Camaro," said Karl Brauer, editor in chief of online auto site Edmunds.com, noting that Mustang sales began to slide last year.

"The number of muscle cars in the market is a good barometer of how well things are going in the economy, and these cars are late getting to the party."

It doesn't help that the new fuel economy standards Congress passed in December will make it tougher for automakers to justify selling big-engine cars. (For example, the high-performance SRT8 version of the new Challenger, due in Dodge dealerships in May, boasts a 6.1-li