2010 Camaro

Did you know

• Motor Trend's first-ever Camaro-Mustang-Challenger comparison, posted March 27, 2009, ended in a photo finish that the Camaro SS won. The SS ran 0-60 in 4.7 seconds and stopped from 60 in 105 feet, three feet shorter than the Mustang GT, though the Track Pack Mustang beat it around the figure-eight, 25.5 seconds to 25.8. The magazine called the SS "priced to steal" at $30,995 (Mustang GT $28,845, Challenger R/T $30,945) and noted the Challenger outweighed it by 295 pounds.
• The first retail-production 2010 Camaro, VIN ending 100001, went under the hammer at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale in January 2009 for $350,000, every dollar going to the American Heart Association. The winning bidder got to specify the car, choosing color, V6 or V8, manual or automatic and trim packages, ahead of the start of assembly on March 16.
• The Camaro's wide rear quarters were, by chief designer Sang Yup Lee's account, the largest and most complex single piece of sheet metal his team had ever formed, and chief engineer Gene Stefanyshyn said the team nearly gave up before computer run number 113 finally worked. Lee was also proud of the roof's "reverse Mohawk" groove, an homage to the Corvette's roof channel that was left off cars ordered with a sunroof.
• Whatever wheel and tire combination you ordered, the fifth-generation Camaro's overall tire diameter stayed at 729 millimeters, so the gap between rubber and bodywork never changed and the car kept its slammed stance across the range. To get the long hood the design needed, engineers also shoved the base of the windshield about three inches rearward from where the Australian Commodore-based architecture put it.
• Calendar 2010 was the first time since 1985 that the Camaro outsold the Mustang over a full year, by one count 81,371 to 73,716, and Jalopnik noted the Camaro had already beaten the Mustang for much of its 2009 rollout. Chevrolet's own tally for the year is 81,299.
• Ordering opened October 13, 2008, at $22,995 for the V-6 LS and $30,995 for the V-8 SS, both including a $750 destination charge. The launch announcement still quoted 300 hp for the V-6 and 422 hp for the SS; the figures Chevrolet later published were 304 and 426.
• The 2010 Camaro made its Indianapolis 500 debut as the pace car for the 2009 race, driven by actor Josh Duhamel, the first Camaro pace car since the 1993 Z28. For the 2010 race the pace car wore Inferno Orange Metallic with white rally stripes that ran onto the instrument panel, a modern take on the 1969 pace car, with broadcaster Robin Roberts at the wheel.
• The Synergy Special Edition package added $2,060 to a 1LT: Synergy Green paint inspired by a similarly hued first-generation car and a 2009 SEMA concept, Cyber Gray rally stripes, door inserts with LED lighting, a rear wing, 19-inch wheels and the Convenience and Connectivity package. It was sold only until May 2010, and the green became a $325 paint option for 2011.