Transformers and the New Camaro
A flicker from the distant past brings a glimmer of hope to our near future!
Most people do not remember a whole lot about the Decepticons, Megatron, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. But to be quite honest, I doubt it will really matter, as the main stars of the Transformers movie were the awesome cars… and in particular the smooth-lined yellow concept Camaro.
Even Jon Voight, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro and Shia LeBeouf had to take a back seat to the awesome Transformer machines.
Of one of the most talked about rivalries in the car fanatic forums was between Barricade, the Ford Mustang Police Pursuit vehicle…
*photo courtesy of jalopnik.com
…and Bumblebee, the yellow/orange Chevrolet Camaro!
*photo courtesy of michiganclassics.com
The battle between the Mustang and Camaro has been fought since the late 60’s and now with the new Camaro set to resurface, they definitely made the obvious choice for sworn enemies!
In the past, Bumblebee has always been depicted as a Volkswagen Bug…
*photo courtesy of Peter Borner
So the thought of using the New Beetle must have ran through the mind of Michael Bay at the onslaught of this idea. But just imagine the battle that would have entailed; a very small and round friendly looking yellow bugster against a rather menacing and beefy looking Saleen mustang.
It is clear to see why Michael Bay chose the Camaro, and you can also bet that Chevrolet was probably pretty keen on the idea to receive a little free advertising from a summer blockbuster movie. And a summer blockbuster hit, it certainly was.
To many of the real car fanatics that went to see the movie, you could probably expect them to remember as much as it was called the ”whats-a-ma-call-it’s” and the battle of the “who-sa-ma-trons”… but the yellow Camaro, yeah, they probably remember that one by name!
The Camaro was born in 1966 and faded into the distance in the early 2000’s. The plan to focus on their average line of sedans and SUV’s was brilliant, as that is actually where the brunt of most car manufacturers make their real money. Everybody looks at and raves about the “kewl†cars, but very few actually go out and buy one.
After 7 years… which will be approximately the wait we have had for the New Camaro’s unveiling, they are expecting to rival Ford’s success with the new Mustang, and are currently right on target with their plan. They have certainly been known to do this a time or two in the past.
Chevrolet hasn’t let too much out of the bag about the Camaro, but we do know that it should have a V-8 engine rated around 400 horsepower. At best guess, it will be the 2008 Chevrolet Corvette’s 6.2 Liter LS3. The V-6 is going to be no slouch either using their 3.6 Liter V-6 out of their Holden Commodore. The V-6 will have about 275 horsepower, which is 65 more than the platform Mustang to date…
Ford better up the anty, or they will be at a loss come the first quarter of 2009 when the Camaro Concept is expected to launch its attack… on the showroom floor!
