So, what's this blog all about, anyway? With a rather odd title like "zzoottland", one might rightly ponder that question. I indend to blog here about all things zooty - like automobiles, motorcycles, boats, aircraft, and other such fun stuff, and maybe more.



For today's blog, I'll be talking about the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro - the direct site is http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro/ - and it is quite the looker. I've been a Camaro fan since my sister came home from looking at cars - she bought a Volkswagen Beetle then, back in 1967 - http://www.vw.com/ - but she also brought home a 45 single of Paul Revere and the Raiders - http://www.paulrevereraiders.com/ - with "Camaro" on the A side, and "SS 396" on the B side.



I still have that 45. Let me know if you want to hear it. I'll put it up.



My first - and only - Camaro was a lime green 1967 hardtop coupe with the biggest wheels and tires one could imagine, right down to the red-striped sidewalls. However, as I was only six at the time, this was an original Hotwheels Camaro, the only one I could have operated at that tender age - see http://www.hotwheels.com/. I loved that Camaro - in fact, I still have that Camaro.



After that, the Camaro and I simply touched base from time to time - it headed into its second generation just as I was completing gradeschool and heading into junior high level. As the lean and painful mid-70's hammered away at all things zooty, like muscle cars and pony cars, things changed. The original pony car, the Ford Mustang - http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/mustang/ - had just transitioned to the Mustang II, and was now not much more than a Ford Pinto on occasional steroids. The Dodge Challenger was challenged, to say the least, and its sister, the Plymouth 'Cuda, was likewise on the wane. However, the Camaro soldiered on through the 70's, along with its near-twin, the Pontiac Firebird, with increasingly wheezy powerplants, right through into the later part of the decade, earning a full-on soft urethane front and rear cap along the way, until, in the early 80's, the Camaro was reborn in Generation Three.

The 1982 Camaro was new from top to bottom, with an ad program touting powerplants ranging from a low-powered four-cylinder 2.5 liter engine - a first for Camaro - all of the way up to a "Cross Fire Fuel Injected Z-28", with commercials chanting "Ca-ca-camaro, sh-sh-sh-shadow", sales shot up, heralding a new age for the venerable ponycar. My girlfriend at the time - later to become my fiance, my spouse, the mother of my children and the center of my existence (she paid me to put in that last line) - bought such a car just as she completed college and entered her profession and - you guessed it - we still have it in the garage, a loverly 1982 Camaro SC in 16L argent livery with the 2.8 carburated V-6 cranking out a stellar 105 hp.

As we all know, the Camaro was recreated again in 1992 as a 1993 model, after a decade of the Generation Three iteration, Generation Four introduced a smooth and silky body that morphed over time into something, well, less smooth and silky, and looking a little lumpy around the gills and face, Chevrolet buried it in 2002.

However, with the 2010 Generation Five model, Chevrolet - despite the wrecked economy and the difficult state of General Motors - http://www.gm.com/ - re-awakewned the venerable nameplate after nearly a decade of hibernation as a brand spankin' new pony car. This time around, it has the look of the first generation with all the technology of a new generation. This V-6 is putting out 304 hp - three times as much as the 1982 under cover in the garage - and it means business. Its hulking mass is, to be sure, nearly a half-ton more than the 1982 Ca-ca-camaro, but there's a lot of safety, high-zoot and other hoopla whizbang in the new package. And, it's safer. And, it gets better mileage. And, well, it's better.

On a quick 1,500 mile trip through Virginia, the Carolinas and North Georgia - mostly mountain routes, driving a Chevrolet Malibu 2LT www.chevrolet.com/Malibu (I'll talk about that in another post) - I happened to spend a fun little stretch with a 2010 Camaro SS on I-95. From every angle, nice, nice, nice to the eyes and ears. Chevrolet - nice job. Can't wait to put one alongside the 1982 sitting in the garage - it needs a new friend to share some old memories.

And that Hotwheels Camaro - and that 45??? Well, they'd look and sound just fine in the 2010 - and they'd feel right at place.