When the Camaro ended production in 2002, no, it wasn't hard to find a nice used Z28 or SS a couple years later.
It's not even hard now. You can still buy a practically new 4th Gen if you're willing to spend $35k on a 22 year old car which may or may not go up in value. Non-museum examples with low miles are cheap. $20k or under for a nice driver-quality SS with 25-50k miles.
There are about a million low-mile 5th gen SS for sale, and they're a bargain. I don't expect 6th gens to be rare for quite a long time to come.
That said, you're potentially overthinking this if you've been pondering it for a year, and are waiting another couple years to buy. Just do it. I hate to say it, most 6th gen SS are not rare or special cars, as much as we love them.
There are some sticky hands holding on to the last few new 2024's for sale. Should have done like I did in 2023 and bought well under MSRP
