jimsfastls1

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Not all 19 year olds are ricers...this kid has talent. I hope Bob Lutz
makes it so.

Jimmy

--------------------------

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/fea...ifth_Reloaded/

"Popular Hot Rodding first brought young designer Kris Horton to the
attention of PHR readers back in the September 2003 issue with his
eye-popping rendition of a fifth-generation Camaro. Adorned with
Hugger orange paint and a wild pair of SS stripes, then stuffed with a
modern fuel-injected Gen III powertrain, Horton's imaginary future
Camaro quickly turned into the most talked-about PHR story in recent
memory.

"The biggest reason for the popularity of Horton's Camaro design is
the simple fact that after a checkered 35-year history, Chevrolet and
General Motors have walked away from the Camaro. The aftermath of this
decision has left legions of Camaro (and Firebird!) fans
simultaneously saddened and enraged. Among the disenfranchised was a
19-year-old art student from Ridgecrest, CA--who has a serious jones
for a new Camaro.

"We're not going to regurgitate the original story we ran in
September,

(I will...here's the link...
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/fea...09phr_5camaro/ :Jimmy)


"but we will expand on the original concept with input received by
readers via the Internet. Our original story called out to readers to
critique the design and to channel their thoughts concerning Horton's
design--via the PHR web site--to the folks at Chevrolet. The response
was overwhelmingly positive (you can check out some of the email
responses here), but there were also some strong and valid criticisms
of the design.

"Quite independently of our requests, Horton began working on a more
evolved version, based on the one appearing in our September 2003
issue. You can see the changes by comparing the updated car (in green
livery) with the original Hugger orange version. (Those unfamiliar
with the original can log onto www.popularhotrodding.com to see
September's complete story.)

"As Horton began to get feedback, we also began to get e-mail. Within
days, we received more than 500 e-mails--all of which were read and
filed. Surprisingly, there were almost no complaints regarding the
concept's retro styling. The strong resemblance to the
first-generation model ('67-'69) was widely applauded, but there were
some tweaks suggested by some.

"Almost as an afterthought, we decided to include in our original
story one of Horton's early renditions, which featured hide-away
headlights. This turned out to be high on the email wish list. (You'll
note that Horton included hide-aways in one of the updated images
shown here.) The other most frequently requested change was to the
rear fascia--although reader feedback was a little more vague about
what exactly should be done here. Readers generally thought the rear
of the concept was too close to the current Corvette or to a
Barracuda. (In fact, the intent for the rear was to evoke the early
second-generation cars from '70-'73, but that apparently didn't
happen). Rather than scrap the rear entirely, Horton went to
Chevrolet's current styling lexicon and borrowed the horizontal
brushed aluminum bar and topped it with a prominent Bowtie emblem. The
license plate cove was then moved from its central Corvette-like
location and moved below the bumper where it was last seen in the
Camaro's final iteration.

"Besides the experimentation with hide-away headlights, Horton has
also made some subtle, yet important changes to the front. A heritage
cue--in the form of a brushed aluminum horizontal bar--has been added
to the Bowtie emblem (as seen in current Chevrolet products) and the
grill has been laid back to give the design some much-needed
aerodynamic help. This important change not only improves the looks,
but also gives the Camaro a fighting chance of working in the wind
tunnel, thereby improving fuel economy and high-speed stability. The
ROH R/T wheels were left alone (they're bitchin'!), save a liberal
dipping in chrome.

"So what does GM think about all this? So far, our contacts at Chevy
are tighter than a clam, but you can rest assured Kris Horton's
original design has been seen by the brass. To top things off, this
issue of PHR is being distributed en mass at the SEMA Show in Las
Vegas--a venue known for its attendance by Detroit's big-three
automakers. In fact, in recent years the top brass have all attended
SEMA in support of their huge displays and concept cars. We can only
hope GM will awake from its performance coma and see the light which
Kris Horton has so charitably shone on Chevy's performance icon.

"A NOTE FROM THE DESIGNER

"I opened up the old Camaro file and took some time to clean up some
of the areas on the body that needed attention. I took into
consideration that this would be a follow-up on the previous design so
I made some changes, which are hopefully an improvement on the past
design.

"Of all the responses that I read, the ones that stood out the most
were those suggesting a bit more modern treatment of the front end.
Many loved the retro headlights, but thought the front of the car
could be more modern. What I did was give the front fascia a bit of a
rake with a different grill. I think this type of design would be easy
to work with in future models and not require an entire redesign.
Since the '67-'68 RS looked like it had one large grille going from
one side to the other, I tried to capture that look on my model. The
headlight doors work in the same manner as those on the first-gen
models yet would probably not be vacuum operated. I hope you like the
changes!
Thanks,
Kris Horton

"VERSION ONE --THE READERS SPEAK OUT

"This is only a small sampling of the hundreds of emails we got on the
PHR Web site. Yeah, we liked Kris Horton's Camaro too, but we thought
we'd get at least a trickle of negativity. In fact, the negative
comments were so exceedingly rare (perhaps one out of fifty), that
we'll pass on printing them here. It will suffice to say that even the
negative comments showed a great passion for coming out with a new
Camaro, it's just that a modern aerodynamic shape was more to their
liking. As you can see from Horton's subsequent changes, this aspect
was addressed to some degree. (The image in this sidebar, in fact, was
from the original story we ran, so you can see the differences.) The
question is, can GM bring the Camaro back? Or do they even want to?
From the near unanimous feedback we got from readers, we can say the
resounding answer is "yes!"--Camaro should be reborn.


"That's an awesome-looking Camaro. I would buy one in a heartbeat!"
--Josh Lewis
"I hope there are more Kris's out there and they take over GM
design..." --G. Keith Smith
"It's beautiful. I'd cut off small body parts to own one..." --Bob
Tissot
"I think this is exactly what GM needs to build. It's perfect in every
way." --Saul Vela Jr.
"This car has all the right curves to set it apart from the other cars
on the road..." --Patrick S. Darling
"I like the retro look ... You can tell Chevy I bought a Subaru WRX
when they dropped the Camaro." -- Jeff Meixsell
"Just looking at that thing makes me want to go to a custom shop and
have one built from scratch." --Chris Lewis
"There are not enough 'o's' in smooth for how good this car looks!"
--Kevin Hamm
"Give me that car with an LS6 engine so I can wipe away the smile on a
Cobra owner's face." --Ryan White
"Imagine if there were more designers like him working for Chevy. Give
this man a paycheck and raise the bar." --Craig Sayers
"Maybe he should come up with a design for the GTO. I'm sure it would
look better than the no-excitement car being released next year."
--Mike Clayton
"When I saw the pictures ... my heart stopped. To hell with the SSR. I
want something like this!" --John Wojan
"Build it and I will buy!" --Scott Beauchene
"Even my wife likes the car, and she's all into Hondas and import
crap!" --Paul Macatiag
"Kris Horton's fifth-gen Camaro is awesome. That's what a Camaro
should look like." --Diane Prato
"GM should give this guy a job pronto." --Bruce Knight
"I love my [1969 Z/28], but I have room in my heart, and my garage,
for this beast." --Barry Hitechew
"All I need to know is, where does the line form?" --Mike Pozzi
"If that Camaro was real, I would have one in my driveway. That kid
has some awesome talent." --Jason Sani
"This thing crushes the new Mustang coming out!" --Raul Quintero
"I just can't fathom why a 19-year-old can foresee what the future of
the F-body should be, but the GM execs can't grasp this..." --Byron P.
Smith
"Even though I am more a Ford Mustang fan than a Camaro fan, I thought
it was beautiful!" --Alex Coleman
"Keep the price under 30K fully loaded and you'll have a winner."
--Brian Ferrell

--------------------------

larry durst

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That's hot as hell.

--
You make fun of what you are really afraid of... and thats us......

2002 Dodge Viper Venom 1000 Twin Turbo by Hennessey Performance Engineering
( www.HennesseyPerformance.com )

Power Output: 900 - 1300 hp

Tested Acceleration: 0-60 in 1.85 sec., 1/4 mile in 8.93 sec. @ 150+ mph
(AND that's only with the optional auto transmission and drag tires).

fbr

Snipped

I like the orange/red originals from the second link. The green one looks
like crap. Of course the 2004 Mustang is going in the same direction
(retro).

weland

I like the second design better; there's no way GM would consider a design
that looks more exotic than the Corvette (GM's current marquee performance
car).

IMHO, this is all just wishful thinking, like TV show fanfic.

~w~