New Camaro SS 1LE owner and new forum member with a good story to tell.

RedHotAtl · 08-27-2017, 01:40 AM

Hi everyone I am new here to the forum and a new first time Camaro owner. Actually I am completely new to the whole muscle car scene.

How I got here is a tale worth telling so I hope you enjoy it and have the patience to read it.

I grew up in Germany because when I was 13 my mother was sent there to work as a nurse at a army hospital in the city of Augsburg. We ended up living there for 10 years in the 80s and the entire time I was in high school. This was the time when the first VW GTI came out and Audi was showing everyone on the rally circuit the power of Quattro all wheel drive.
I wad always fascinated by cars and would buy this German magazine called Auto Motor und Sport every month and pour over the articles and new cars they covered in the magazine.

Well this being Germany and a German magazine the were somewhat biased towards European cars lol. So naturally once I started driving I gravitated towards European makers and since I had a modest budget to start my first car was a pretty pedestrian French car that was never sold here in the US a Renault 21 I bought from a Renault mechanic at a dealership. He had hooked up this 4 door hatchback up with a racing block motor and carb setup which he somehow failed to mention when I bought it from him. How much HP I have no clue but it was a 4 cylinder 1.7 liter motor and normally in that car made I believe 90 HP. Well mine would scream past the 6000 rpm red line right up to 8000 without batting an eye. Once I discover that I was bitten by the speeding and fast cars have been in my life since. What have I owned since then? Here is a list.

Next car was a Alfa Romeo spider followed by a Ford Escort Cosworth then a F Body 5.0 Ford Mustang Convertible (my only other American muscle car) which I only had a few months before getting totaled by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel. Then came my Japanese phase and I started with a Isuzu impulse RS Turbo and I got a mitsubishi eclipse in 96. My only truck was next a Chevy 1500 step side with a Z-71 package and a 302 under the hood (not sure if that qualifies as a muscle car). Next a Cadillac STS with the 4.6 North star and then came the Europeans again because now I could afford them. I started modest with a half baked euro American Chrysler crossfire which was built in Germany and basically a Mercedes and followed that up with a Porsche Boxter S, Audi Q5, VW GTI 5th Gen., Audi A3 2.0 T, and finally I got the car I had dreamed about since I was a kid in Germany lusting after the Audi Quattros killing it in the rally races. I bought a fully loaded Audi S5 Convertible.

Here is where my story takes a strange twist and turn then ends up with me owning a Camaro SS 1LE.

The Audi S5 I loved, took care of, and enjoyed for 4 years was gettin too familiar. Most cars I swap out ever 3 years or so and to keep one 4 was already unusual, even more so because I decided to spruce her up a little and keep her another year. It only had 60k miles and had no issues the entire time. So I go and get some new black 20 inch rims. Take the front end off the car and blacken the grill. Put some laser projector door lights in that shoot S5 down on the ground when the door opens and a hand full of other little mods to change it up and make it feel fresh again. Oh almost forgot I got a European vanity plate for the front that said "kcufsaekorb" with the German .. Over the u and the o. It was written so some one looking at it in their rear view mirror could read it. In other words it's written backwards... Kinda felt right given the pricetag of that audi had been right at 70k.

As soon as I'm done with all this some POS steals my car right out if my driveway at home. Apparently they can boost the signal of your car key in your house and open the car and start it up and drive right off with it. 24 different models of cars are susceptible to this including the A4 / A5 audio which the S models are based upon. Had no clue about this and it came as a rude surprise.

To add insult to injury they stole my Audi 4 days before my birthday. Hell of a birthday this year. So I call state farm my insurance company report the theft as well as the police and state farms tells me I get $25.00 per day for a rental car while the claim is processed so I hop online and start looking at what a whopping 25 a day can get me.

At Avis I score a full size impala for 27.50 a day so I figure close enough to 25 and I'm not having to drive a Kia soul or something like that. I head over to Avid and start chatting with the girl at the counter and tell her what had happened she takes my licence for the rental and sees my birthday is in 3 day and takes pity on me.

Next thing I know she's talking to her manager and they upgrade me to a camaro she says.

Hey I'm ecstatic that I have something sporty assuming I'm getting a base camaro maybe a V6 version if I'm lucky and when I'm signing the rental agreement I see that the daily charge is 22.50 a day.

I head over to pick up my rental and basically just get in without taking a close look at this thing. Its in a parking garage, and not all that much light. You can image my surprise when I push the start button and there is a health roar of a V8 starting up.

Man I tell you I jumped right back out of that car and took a second look at it and sure enough its a 2017 SS with 14k on it in red hot.

Insurance claim is processed, and a couple weeks later I'm car hunting. I have had a good time with the Camaro but I'm all about the Euro cars now for a number of years so I'm test driving a Audi S3, Golf R, Audi TTS, Mercedes GLA 45 AMG and after each one I get in my rental Camaro SS and drive off. Each time I drive off I realize that for one reason or another I like the Camaro more.

Not knowing a lot about Camaros and the current muscle cars I figured I would see if there was an even better handling version so off to Google I go and type in: "better handling 2017 Camaro" ; and up pops some info on a Camaro SS 1LE package so without any further research or investigation I popped that info into autotrader. As it turns out there is one at a dealer down the road from me.

So off I go and drive to the dealer walk in and tell the salesperson I came to drive the Camaro SS 1LE they have. She kind of looked me up and down and started to tell me it was sold and so on. I was dressed in some raggedy shorts an old tee shirt and flip flops at the time so I probably didn't look like a typical customer for a car like that lol.

Anyway after a little discussion she walks me over to a gorgeous car that was sitting on the showroom floor. A little while later after coordinating some help to get it out to the street I was off on my test drive.

I instantly fell in love with the handling and I had forgotten how much I loved driving a stick. I think my sales person found god durring our test drive or at least attempted to make contact on more then one occasion.

When we got back I announced that I loved it and I would take it. Done.

I haven't used checks in years and don't even own any everyting is more convenient electronically. To complicate matters worse I only use my credit union to finance cars so basically after telling them I was taking the car I also told them they weren't getting any money that day either lol. Oh and if that wasn't enough not financing with them and they couldn't run a credit check either. To their credit they took me for my word filled out all the paperwork and put the car away while I worked out the details. A couple days later the handed off my new Camaro SS 1LE in Red Hot to me without so much as a dollar changing hands yet and told me to bring them the check whenever it came in.

Its a long story but unique enough I felt compelled to tell it. Of all the weird strange turns that life takes you on, you never know where exactly it will lead you. I probably would never have bought a camaro if it hadn't have been for my car getting stolen and the wonderful girl at avis who took pity on me and rented me a SS. BTW I went on their web site and I think I got the biggest discount and upgrade in the history of discounts and upgrades. They rent those Camaro SS's for some serious rates.

I love my Camaro and it changed my perspective completely. I have never been a badge snob I just like great driving cars that put a smile on your face and you look forward to driving every day. It helps when they can go around corners and stop and those kind of things as well and those were the European cars until now for me. Now I grin every time I fire up my Camaro and think to myself how lucky I am that they came and stole my car and how great of a birthday present I got this year by getting my Camaro! Amazing how things change in the course of a couple weeks. I hope you enjoyed my story and I didn't spend all this time writing it in vain.

I'm trying to figure out how to post some pictures I think my resolution is too high so I have to do some tweaking but they are coming shortly.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o2...Z3Ae4Zo5MVRDOA

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vU...5LrjtDCBEa2MXA

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mS...jqMM_2S9tthxBg

https://drive.google.com/open?id=129...cKQdqEiML4tD6A

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_G...0c0V2mJIOXu6wQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lp...wT08T3atfqCrqQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v8...bdFMeC0hnrYfjQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=10H...-tnKoLEUVJ-SNQ

CamaroBody · 08-27-2017, 02:17 AM

Avis got you into a Camaro that's awesome

.

Soleil · 08-27-2017, 02:25 AM

Herzlichen Glückwunsch
and welcome. It is a nice story. Probably you don't know.......but ......

Ops, CamaroBody was faster.��

Gunsmokez · 08-27-2017, 02:54 AM

So, basically. Owned a Audi, then got a Camaro.

Glad you like it

RedHotAtl · 08-27-2017, 04:39 AM

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o2...Z3Ae4Zo5MVRDOA

Trying to post pictures but I cant seem to get it to post.

talon90 · 08-27-2017, 07:22 AM

Congratulations on the new ride. Welcome to the forum. Great story to read and beautiful car. Enjoy!

Soleil · 08-27-2017, 08:16 AM

Looks awesome

Did I miss something. Did you install the splitter and side Rocker by your self?

redcoats1976 · 08-27-2017, 09:05 AM

nice car. i tend to wear old shorts and tank tops so the salesman was a little surprised when i bought mine too.

John20162SS · 08-27-2017, 09:23 AM

.

BrianL · 08-27-2017, 09:44 AM

She's a beauty! Good story as well.

viewska · 08-27-2017, 10:05 AM

Congratulations man!!

I had a similar experience with a 2015 convertible rental, it was the previous year v6 convertible. I was in love with German cars (had a markII VW; E46 BMW; E60 M5) was looking at the golf R and possibly considering lease on an M3, but popped into chevy (right next door to vw) and all the little "irritations" had been fixed in the gen6 and it was such an improvement in EVERY WAY compared to the rental I had been thouroughly enjoying for over a month at that point. Bought it that day.

In a year or two I plan to get into a 2nd hand ZL1 convertible... alpha chassis is SUCH a great platform

Congratulations again, and welcome home brotha!!

RedHotAtl · 08-27-2017, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soleil

Looks awesome

Did I miss something. Did you install the splitter and side Rocker by your self?

No I didn't install anything its a 1LE so it came that way stock.

RedHotAtl · 08-27-2017, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by viewska

Congratulations man!!

I had a similar experience with a 2015 convertible rental, it was the previous year v6 convertible. I was in love with German cars (had a markII VW; E46 BMW; E60 M5) was looking at the golf R and possibly considering lease on an M3, but popped into chevy (right next door to vw) and all the little "irritations" had been fixed in the gen6 and it was such an improvement in EVERY WAY compared to the rental I had been thouroughly enjoying for over a month at that point. Bought it that day.

In a year or two I plan to get into a 2nd hand ZL1 convertible... alpha chassis is SUCH a great platform

Congratulations again, and welcome home brotha!!

Thank you. I totally agree this chassis is fantastic and when they added the extra bits with the 1LE package it really comes together.

In still (cautiously) exploring the full capabilities of the performance it can deliver. It takes some nerve to push it to where its actually on the edge of what its capable of. That's just in the standard settings I haven't even tried the performance settings yet lol. I am wondering how its going to behave in track mode with the traction management in sport 1 or 2.

One thing I noticed in a heavy Georgia rain storm is that it can get pretty squirmy when there is a lot of water on the road. Feels like its starting to hydroplane relatively quickly. Made me drop my speed down because I was worried it would break traction at any moment. Probably due to the wide tires with not many grooves to shed the water.

RedHotAtl · 08-27-2017, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianL

She's a beauty! Good story as well.

Thanks. Little long I know but thought it was worth telling. Not everyday something like that happens and sends you down a different path.

If my car hadn't been stolen and the avis rental girl hadn't given me that SS to drive I would have probably missed out on owning such an epic car.

08-27-2017, 01:40 AM	#1
RedHotAtl 2017 Red Hot SS 1LE PDR Drives: RedHot 2017 SS 1LE Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Atlanta Georgia Posts: 19	New Camaro SS 1LE owner and new forum member with a good story to tell. Hi everyone I am new here to the forum and a new first time Camaro owner. Actually I am completely new to the whole muscle car scene. How I got here is a tale worth telling so I hope you enjoy it and have the patience to read it. I grew up in Germany because when I was 13 my mother was sent there to work as a nurse at a army hospital in the city of Augsburg. We ended up living there for 10 years in the 80s and the entire time I was in high school. This was the time when the first VW GTI came out and Audi was showing everyone on the rally circuit the power of Quattro all wheel drive. I wad always fascinated by cars and would buy this German magazine called Auto Motor und Sport every month and pour over the articles and new cars they covered in the magazine. Well this being Germany and a German magazine the were somewhat biased towards European cars lol. So naturally once I started driving I gravitated towards European makers and since I had a modest budget to start my first car was a pretty pedestrian French car that was never sold here in the US a Renault 21 I bought from a Renault mechanic at a dealership. He had hooked up this 4 door hatchback up with a racing block motor and carb setup which he somehow failed to mention when I bought it from him. How much HP I have no clue but it was a 4 cylinder 1.7 liter motor and normally in that car made I believe 90 HP. Well mine would scream past the 6000 rpm red line right up to 8000 without batting an eye. Once I discover that I was bitten by the speeding and fast cars have been in my life since. What have I owned since then? Here is a list. Next car was a Alfa Romeo spider followed by a Ford Escort Cosworth then a F Body 5.0 Ford Mustang Convertible (my only other American muscle car) which I only had a few months before getting totaled by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel. Then came my Japanese phase and I started with a Isuzu impulse RS Turbo and I got a mitsubishi eclipse in 96. My only truck was next a Chevy 1500 step side with a Z-71 package and a 302 under the hood (not sure if that qualifies as a muscle car). Next a Cadillac STS with the 4.6 North star and then came the Europeans again because now I could afford them. I started modest with a half baked euro American Chrysler crossfire which was built in Germany and basically a Mercedes and followed that up with a Porsche Boxter S, Audi Q5, VW GTI 5th Gen., Audi A3 2.0 T, and finally I got the car I had dreamed about since I was a kid in Germany lusting after the Audi Quattros killing it in the rally races. I bought a fully loaded Audi S5 Convertible. Here is where my story takes a strange twist and turn then ends up with me owning a Camaro SS 1LE. The Audi S5 I loved, took care of, and enjoyed for 4 years was gettin too familiar. Most cars I swap out ever 3 years or so and to keep one 4 was already unusual, even more so because I decided to spruce her up a little and keep her another year. It only had 60k miles and had no issues the entire time. So I go and get some new black 20 inch rims. Take the front end off the car and blacken the grill. Put some laser projector door lights in that shoot S5 down on the ground when the door opens and a hand full of other little mods to change it up and make it feel fresh again. Oh almost forgot I got a European vanity plate for the front that said "kcufsaekorb" with the German .. Over the u and the o. It was written so some one looking at it in their rear view mirror could read it. In other words it's written backwards... Kinda felt right given the pricetag of that audi had been right at 70k. As soon as I'm done with all this some POS steals my car right out if my driveway at home. Apparently they can boost the signal of your car key in your house and open the car and start it up and drive right off with it. 24 different models of cars are susceptible to this including the A4 / A5 audio which the S models are based upon. Had no clue about this and it came as a rude surprise. To add insult to injury they stole my Audi 4 days before my birthday. Hell of a birthday this year. So I call state farm my insurance company report the theft as well as the police and state farms tells me I get $25.00 per day for a rental car while the claim is processed so I hop online and start looking at what a whopping 25 a day can get me. At Avis I score a full size impala for 27.50 a day so I figure close enough to 25 and I'm not having to drive a Kia soul or something like that. I head over to Avid and start chatting with the girl at the counter and tell her what had happened she takes my licence for the rental and sees my birthday is in 3 day and takes pity on me. Next thing I know she's talking to her manager and they upgrade me to a camaro she says. Hey I'm ecstatic that I have something sporty assuming I'm getting a base camaro maybe a V6 version if I'm lucky and when I'm signing the rental agreement I see that the daily charge is 22.50 a day. I head over to pick up my rental and basically just get in without taking a close look at this thing. Its in a parking garage, and not all that much light. You can image my surprise when I push the start button and there is a health roar of a V8 starting up. Man I tell you I jumped right back out of that car and took a second look at it and sure enough its a 2017 SS with 14k on it in red hot. Insurance claim is processed, and a couple weeks later I'm car hunting. I have had a good time with the Camaro but I'm all about the Euro cars now for a number of years so I'm test driving a Audi S3, Golf R, Audi TTS, Mercedes GLA 45 AMG and after each one I get in my rental Camaro SS and drive off. Each time I drive off I realize that for one reason or another I like the Camaro more. Not knowing a lot about Camaros and the current muscle cars I figured I would see if there was an even better handling version so off to Google I go and type in: "better handling 2017 Camaro" ; and up pops some info on a Camaro SS 1LE package so without any further research or investigation I popped that info into autotrader. As it turns out there is one at a dealer down the road from me. So off I go and drive to the dealer walk in and tell the salesperson I came to drive the Camaro SS 1LE they have. She kind of looked me up and down and started to tell me it was sold and so on. I was dressed in some raggedy shorts an old tee shirt and flip flops at the time so I probably didn't look like a typical customer for a car like that lol. Anyway after a little discussion she walks me over to a gorgeous car that was sitting on the showroom floor. A little while later after coordinating some help to get it out to the street I was off on my test drive. I instantly fell in love with the handling and I had forgotten how much I loved driving a stick. I think my sales person found god durring our test drive or at least attempted to make contact on more then one occasion. When we got back I announced that I loved it and I would take it. Done. I haven't used checks in years and don't even own any everyting is more convenient electronically. To complicate matters worse I only use my credit union to finance cars so basically after telling them I was taking the car I also told them they weren't getting any money that day either lol. Oh and if that wasn't enough not financing with them and they couldn't run a credit check either. To their credit they took me for my word filled out all the paperwork and put the car away while I worked out the details. A couple days later the handed off my new Camaro SS 1LE in Red Hot to me without so much as a dollar changing hands yet and told me to bring them the check whenever it came in. Its a long story but unique enough I felt compelled to tell it. Of all the weird strange turns that life takes you on, you never know where exactly it will lead you. I probably would never have bought a camaro if it hadn't have been for my car getting stolen and the wonderful girl at avis who took pity on me and rented me a SS. BTW I went on their web site and I think I got the biggest discount and upgrade in the history of discounts and upgrades. They rent those Camaro SS's for some serious rates. I love my Camaro and it changed my perspective completely. I have never been a badge snob I just like great driving cars that put a smile on your face and you look forward to driving every day. It helps when they can go around corners and stop and those kind of things as well and those were the European cars until now for me. Now I grin every time I fire up my Camaro and think to myself how lucky I am that they came and stole my car and how great of a birthday present I got this year by getting my Camaro! Amazing how things change in the course of a couple weeks. I hope you enjoyed my story and I didn't spend all this time writing it in vain. I'm trying to figure out how to post some pictures I think my resolution is too high so I have to do some tweaking but they are coming shortly. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o2...Z3Ae4Zo5MVRDOA https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vU...5LrjtDCBEa2MXA https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mS...jqMM_2S9tthxBg https://drive.google.com/open?id=129...cKQdqEiML4tD6A https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_G...0c0V2mJIOXu6wQ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lp...wT08T3atfqCrqQ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v8...bdFMeC0hnrYfjQ https://drive.google.com/open?id=10H...-tnKoLEUVJ-SNQ Last edited by RedHotAtl; 08-27-2017 at 04:52 AM. Reason: corrected a few typos added picts hopefully

08-27-2017, 02:17 AM	#2
CamaroBody Drives: Hyper Blue 2SS Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: CA Posts: 1,163	Avis got you into a Camaro that's awesome . __________________ 2SS, Hyper Blue, 8-Speed Automatic, NPP Exhaust, Magnetic Ride Control, Sunroof, Navigation, 5-Spoke Low-Gloss Black Wheels, Black Bowtie Emblems, Cargo Mat/Net Mods: XPEL - Hood, Bumper, Headlights, & Side Mirrors JWM - Side Markers ZL1 Addons - Deluxe Rock Guards & Red Lift Pads GM - Dark Tail Lamps MRR - Gloss Black M017s

08-27-2017, 02:25 AM	#3
Soleil Drives: Camaro 50th anniversary edition Join Date: May 2017 Location: Europe Posts: 2,203 View My Garage	Herzlichen Glückwunsch and welcome. It is a nice story. Probably you don't know.......but ...... Ops, CamaroBody was faster.�� __________________ Soleil _____________________________________________ A car is fast enough, if you fear to unlock it in the morning." (Walter Roehrl)

08-27-2017, 08:16 AM	#7
Soleil Drives: Camaro 50th anniversary edition Join Date: May 2017 Location: Europe Posts: 2,203 View My Garage	Looks awesome Did I miss something. Did you install the splitter and side Rocker by your self? __________________ Soleil _____________________________________________ A car is fast enough, if you fear to unlock it in the morning." (Walter Roehrl)

08-27-2017, 09:23 AM	#9
John20162SS Drives: 2016 2SS Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: New York Posts: 200 View My Garage	. Attached Images

08-27-2017, 02:54 AM	#4
Gunsmokez Drives: 1LE Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: earth Posts: 94	So, basically. Owned a Audi, then got a Camaro. Glad you like it

08-27-2017, 04:39 AM	#5
RedHotAtl 2017 Red Hot SS 1LE PDR Drives: RedHot 2017 SS 1LE Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Atlanta Georgia Posts: 19	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o2...Z3Ae4Zo5MVRDOA Trying to post pictures but I cant seem to get it to post.

08-27-2017, 07:22 AM	#6
talon90 Drives: 2017 Red Hot 2LT RS Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Titusville, FL Posts: 76	Congratulations on the new ride. Welcome to the forum. Great story to read and beautiful car. Enjoy!

08-27-2017, 09:05 AM	#8
redcoats1976 Drives: LT W/2LT,blue metallic Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: central florida Posts: 5,029	nice car. i tend to wear old shorts and tank tops so the salesman was a little surprised when i bought mine too.

08-27-2017, 09:44 AM	#10
BrianL Drives: 2016 2SS, Red Hot, NPP, Nav, M6 Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Eagle Creek OR Posts: 783	She's a beauty! Good story as well.

08-27-2017, 10:05 AM	#11
viewska Drives: Red Hot Vert Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 134 View My Garage	Congratulations man!! I had a similar experience with a 2015 convertible rental, it was the previous year v6 convertible. I was in love with German cars (had a markII VW; E46 BMW; E60 M5) was looking at the golf R and possibly considering lease on an M3, but popped into chevy (right next door to vw) and all the little "irritations" had been fixed in the gen6 and it was such an improvement in EVERY WAY compared to the rental I had been thouroughly enjoying for over a month at that point. Bought it that day. In a year or two I plan to get into a 2nd hand ZL1 convertible... alpha chassis is SUCH a great platform Congratulations again, and welcome home brotha!!

User Name		Remember Me?
Password