Website design By BotEap.comThe simple origins of the venerable 1960s muscle car line, the “Chevrolet Camaro,” may seem surprising to many. The Camaro began life as little more than makeshift fairly standard Chevy II automobiles.

Website design By BotEap.comIt was the lesson of the Ford Mustang: to make a car relatively inexpensive and easy to build, using “off-the-shelf” products already in the production runs of Chevrolet and General Motors – that of a “volume” family car. Product planning and production considerations led to an available goal: Chevrolet’s “Mustang fighter” was to be closely related to the Chevy II automobile product line. Interestingly, the Chevy II was not originally a bestseller, compared to the Ford Mustang’s sister product, the Ford Falcon. However, after a major redesign and reengineering in 1968, this was not the case.

Website design By BotEap.comThe development and launch of the Camaro product was not the work of one person, but a precursor to what it would become: the chain of command extended through various levels and departments. On the other hand, the initial product released as the Camaro shared the problems of the design committee: too many people involved and a great limitation on styling, since the basis of the car was the first essential nature of the product: sharing car components with others. Chevrolet and General Motors products. What the Camaro designers ultimately produced, as the first generation, was called the “F” car. In the mid-’60s, GM’s emphasis on styling was what became known as “fluidity”—smooth, round lines that just “flowed.”

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, there were a number of design and advanced engineering decisions that set the Camaro apart even then. First, a critical engineering decision was made early on: use a front subframe in combination with the “unit” construction of the Camaro car product. Eventually too, this was seen as having such merit that the practice was also introduced on the 1969 Chevy Nova. Having this setup was a pretty unique approach in that the subframe was isolated from the car body by rubber inserts or what Chevy engineers came to know as “cookies.” This technique had previously been perfected on more expensive European unit-body cars, including several Mercedes-Benz models and the larger GM Europe Opals. However, the Camaro was the first application of engineering for a low-priced American car.

Website design By BotEap.comWhy was this development so important for the vehicle? First of all, it can be said that the compromise was very effective. Unit construction techniques allowed for more space for passengers and luggage than compared to a car body designed for a separate complete chassis. The relatively exotic rubber mounts, for their time, gave a much smoother and quieter ride than cars and models that had subframes mounted directly to the main body shells. An example of this type of automobile engineering and production practice was the Chrysler products of the early 1960s.

Website design By BotEap.comAnother interesting engineering “trick” used on the Camaro project was the use of what GM called “shaker shakers,” meaning harmonic dampers located at each end on Camaro convertibles. Its purpose was to control torsional vibration, which GM product testers found and detected in early running prototypes.

Website design By BotEap.comWhile most of the Camaro’s product development was well chosen, there were some hiccups and problems, which had to occur when the basic demand was the use of off-the-shelf parts and products developed for and destined for other GM automotive products. . Chief among these was the choice of single-leaf rear suspension, borrowed from Chevy II and Old Toronado products. What turned out with big V-8s was considerable “shaft wander” under hard acceleration.

Website design By BotEap.comAlong with these issues was the sales department’s insistence on smaller 14-inch wheels to “lower the car.” One might expect the real-world result of Camaro owner driving and vacationing to be what became known as “bottoming out from behind under heavy loads.”

Website design By BotEap.comStill, for a product that began life as little more than a series of makeshift “volume family cars”—the Chevy II—the platform had potential. The Camaro provided a solid, well thought out and designed platform on which “The Camaro” evolved and developed. The classic “Muscle Car” of the 1960’s lives on in the hearts and memories of many, many “car guys” and fans.