[Paintslinger16]

I grew up a gear head, took my road test on a stick. I learned to drive on my mom’s 1967 Chevrolet Malibu with a 283 and power glide. My Dad and grandfather where huge into dirt stock cars, my father at 77 still travels the circuit watching races.
My youth was all about dirt bikes and BMX. But I loved my moms Chevelle, bought new in ‘67 she drove it right until the energy crisis of ‘79 while I was still on a permit.
First time ever my parents were both driving Mazda’s instead of American.
When I got my own place and married, muscle cars where cheap, I bought a 1966 Chevelle SS 396 for $1500.
I had a blast with that car but found a deal on a Harley in ‘98 and sold it for $6000 in hurry thinking I will just get another Chevelle because they are still pretty cheap. Boy was that the wrong move!
So not only were the cars unaffordable you can’t even find them up here any longer.
I stayed on motorcycles having as many as 5 at time, got my son into enduros while I was drag racing one of my Harley’s.
Then in 2015 I deployed as a civilian to Afghanistan, got wounded in a rocket attack with caused damage to my back.
Getting back I bought another bike, this time a indian chieftain and every year it was getting harder to manage my back was in pain and in 20 minutes I was in spasms.

My wife said to me last June, don’t be mad at me but I think you are having a hard time controlling your motorcycle and I am thinking you should probably think about getting a car again.
She then prepared for the argument she thought I was going to put up.
I actually agreed with her right away after 45 years on motorcycle it was getting to painful to be enjoyable.
My first thought was straight to muscle cars, I was leaning towards a 1967 Camaro.
But the reality of finding a good one set in after about three days of looking online, first off you really can’t compare any thing unless you go to one of the many online brokers down south.
When I said you know, we can just buy a brand new Camaro, and had her meet me at the Chevrolet dealer after work.
She balked at the 47k on the 2019 2SS, which was a manual car, I test drove and she loved it, and I said you realize I have 55k wrapped up in our 3 motorcycles right?
That got her on board with the new one, but I realized on the test drive that the manual was gong to be a problem with my back and knees.
I really liked the previous year Hyper blue so I started to use car gurus app searching for a 18 SS in that color. I wasn’t finding anything in 100 miles.
My wife just googles 2018 hyper blue and gets a hit 150 miles away, and sends me the link.
It’s absolutely perfect, and I bookmark it at bedtime. The next day July 1st behind my back my wife is on the phone with dealer putting together the deal.
On 3 July I am on leave and we had a plan to go out to breakfast at Denny’s, as soon as we put our order in she gets out my 35 year old hot rod jacket and tells me I will be needing this later on today.
She proceeded to tell me that she had been negotiating with the dealer for two days and had rented a car for a one way trip to pick up my 2018 Hyper blue SS if I wanted it.
Only catch I absolutely had to sell off all the motorcycles.

So I don’t have any bikes but I put 5000 miles on that Camaro and my back is in much better shape not being on a bike but wrapped in a leather cooled seat.

[LT4Greg]

Paintslinger, you hold on to your wife because she is truly golden supporting your car interests! You are very fortunate! Enjoy your Camaro.��

[gchu]

Felt that the C7 Corvette was too low to get in/out on a regular basis.... The price of combining bad knees with getting older LOL

[Fraxum]

My Car passion story starts with my Dad teaching me the name of all the cars on the road at four years old. I am sure I was standing up on the front seat. Oh the horror!

The original car nut!

Me and my dad:

At 9 or ten I read every car and motorcycle magazine cover to cover. This lead to a few small CC motorcycles and culminated at seventeen when I decided to do a build on my inherited 6 cylinder auto Falcon. I swapped in a Windsor 351 and 4 speed top loader. Of course with a Hurst shifter. With that car I could hunt the more respected GTOs and Chevelles. But met my match against a 440 GTX. I would say in those days 440 GTXs and L78 Camaros and Chevelles ruled the street. I never tracked it but I think that Falcon would have run high 14s with tires. About as fast as my current V6 RAV4! That was fast in those days. My last street race I found myself running away from the police. I grew up that night and decided street racing was very, very stupid in so many ways. And I was only 18!

With that Falcon I discovered my love for a stonking V8 up front with a manual Transmission. And much later did a few more builds but all were more expensive than that first $1,800 build.

Later I discovered tracking and found I really love Test and Tune Drag Racing

Here is my fun car list so far:

• 1965 M4 351 Windsor Falcon
• 1973 340 M6 Duster
• 1969 auto GTO
• 1969 M3 351 Cougar
• 1986 Mustang M5 GT
• 1989 Mustang M5 GT
• 1990 auto Lincoln MK 7
• 1990 Nissan M5 ZX300
• 1996 M6 LT1 Z28
• 1997 M6 WS6 LT1 Firebird
• 1998 M6 Camaro LS1
• 2007 M6 335i Sport (4 door)
• 2011 M6 SS Camaro full bolt on
• 2013 M6 SS 1LE Twin Turbo
• 2015 M6 ZL1
• 2016 M6 SS full bolt on
• 2018 A10 ZL1
• 2020 M6 LT1 (ordered from Becky)

After owning all those car I realized my favorite was the 2016 SS. But when I found out about the new LT1 I was hooked. I could load it up with all of my favorite options and barely crack $40K. Just about what I paid for my 2011 SS. All that’s missing on the LT1 is track cooling and better back brakes. IN exchange for those items I have the lightest V8 Camaro. Lighter even than my 335i, another favorite. I really appreciate the relatively lightweight engineering of the Camaro driving in the mountains and the solid and communicative chassis that speaks to you.

I also car loved the A10 ZL1 but in the end I wanted a lighter car and a manual.

[LT4Greg]

Hey Fraxum, I wish I had that VW your Dad owned! Looks to be a ‘56 or ‘57 with the small oval back window!

[L8Apex]

Perfect combination of looks/performance and best bang for the buck out there.

Also, I've had enough vehicles in my life to know which ones are special and that I will regret ever selling, and this is definitely one of them.

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by LT4Greg

Hey Fraxum, I wish I had that VW your Dad owned! Looks to be a ‘56 or ‘57 with the small oval back window!

I think that Bug was a rental. My Dad bought cars like a '64 Nova station wagon with no radio. But once on my advice he bought a Peugot 504 with M4 on the column. Interesting car with super disc brakes. The High School basketball players like to stand on the passenger seat with the sun roof open waving and chatting up the girls while cruising the town. We were (still are?) such idiots.

[Craig]

Was the ultimate mustang fanboy in my teens and twenties, would not be caught dead in a Camaro. When the newness of my 98 GT vert wore off and I realized what a slug it was, no faster at all than any of my fox bodies stock for stock, i test drove a used 99 Z28 out of boredom and it was a revelation. Bought a new 01 Z28 and it’s the one car I wish I never sold. My life got blown up along with the economy in 09 and I had to skip the 5th gen altogether. I planned for a long time to find the lowest mileage 4th gen and fix it up, but in the end what I wanted to do was way more money than I could justify putting into a 20 year old car. On a weekend trip I rented a V6 sixth gen and could not believe how well the car drove and performed for the price. The fourth gen idea was history after that. I’m waiting to see if they might offer one last last MCE in 21 or 22 before I get myself a ZL1 to keep forever.

[Fou]

I am too tall for the C7 and use my 2016 SS has a daily driver in the summer

[crab]

Lying there recovering from prostate surgery in august, my wife told me I should get a Camaro if I wanted it... She hates Corvettes and anyone who drives one for some reason, and while I was looking at the Camaro's I fell in love with everything about the 1LE package. (I had been saving for a C7)

[KirkH]

Camaro was my first car. In 1981, when I was 16 my mom won a 1981 Z28 from her company in a sales contest. It wasn't very good for driving clients around so I ended up driving it. It was metallic charcoal with silver pinstriping and silver vinyl interior. It had the "air induction" hood scoops that would open up when you accelerated. I raced it on a flat strip of pavement outside of town that became an industrial park and only 1 car in town could beat it- a built 1969 Camaro.

[JROC]

I got my Camaro because Alpha is better than S550.

[dbvettez06]

I’ve had many performance vehicles in the past 45 years but this is the best. 650 / 650 😊

[Jfowler81]

I had an 84 z28 when I 20. Met my wife in that car. 18 years and 2 kids later I could finally get another one. Tbh I didnt even look at the 6th gen until this one popped up. I'm glad I jumped on it because this car is a blast. One day I will have another 3rd gen tho. Might have to give this one to the wife to get it too. Lol.