David Newhardt

The Complete Book of Chevrolet Camaro by David Newhardt will satisfy both the reader who simply loves cars (whether Camaro specifically or not) and the gearhead who wants to know some of the design details as well as the nostalgia.

I happen to belong to that first group, I have owned three Camaros in my life, one '68 RS that I sorta inherited, a '78 Z28 I bought new and an '81 Z28 I bought new. But the extent of actual work I did on my cars was limited to changing oil, and a brake job once with the help of a knowledgeable friend. I mostly liked driving and appearances, of many cars in addition to Camaros.

To read how cars came into existence is fascinating even if you think of cars simply as things to get you from point A to point B. What market trends were they responding to? Were they following a trend or trying to forge a new path? What features were dropped between the initial concept and the final production model? And how many of those dropped features made it, in some form, into later models? We tend to take cars almost as if they were just single inspirations that got made rather than steps in a process that doesn't end just because a model has gone into production.

With all of the wonderful pictures, especially some of the older ads, this is also a trip down memory lane. Maybe you owned one, maybe your friend, or maybe you didn't care for some models until well after they were replaced. I not only remembered my cars but also thought of friends I had almost forgotten about, such as the old Navy buddy who helped me with my brakes.

This is a fun book for those who want to revisit the past half century of models and a great resource for those thinking about collecting cars for fun or profit.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mer)