My journey officially began back on November 19, 2008 when my local Chevy dealer called to let me know I could place a preorder on what would be the 2010 Camaro. I had given them a check about six month to a year prior so I could be placed on their waiting list. My initial build was going to be a 2SS/RS Inferno Orange with a Hurst short-throw shifter on order. You may be asking, but wait, Bee is clearly Rally Yellow so what happened? And yes, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The truth is selecting the options for me was pretty straight forward, I knew I wanted a 6.2 with a manual transmission, the halo headlights, and leather interior. Due to the way the trims were bundled, selecting the 2SS/RS was the easy part. The challenge was then picking the correct color. I knew I wanted something bright, and in my mind I was picturing Inferno Orange to be like the old Hugger Orange from the 1st Gens. While trying to find other GM vehicles in orange, I came across photos of Pontiac Solstices and Hummer H3’s and realized it wasn’t quite the color I imagined (it’s certainly nice, it just wasn’t as bright as I had hoped). So while I was trying to locate a car at another dealer’s lot to go see the color in person, the Chevy dealer calls to say the Hurst shifter went on constraint so I could either wait until the constraint was lifted, or I could have them remove the option. It was at that point that I asked them to change the color to Rally Yellow (and remove the Hurst shifter), and in doing so brought the creation of Bee.
Bee was officially born on March 24, 2009 and was number 1026 off the assembly line. However, two weeks later he was caught up in what later become known as Area-51. There he would stay for what felt like an eternity, but was really just a long two months. Camaro5 was my lifeline, and I am forever grateful for all the information that everyone was able to gather and share during that time. But like all dark and stormy days, this too would come to pass and on June 23, 2009 Bee finally made his way to his new home.
Funny story about this picture…later that night, I’m looking through pictures (because that was the only way I could bring myself to not spend all night out in the garage), I came across this one and thought, the turn signals are the day running lights and the lower lights are my fogs. The next day I go out trying to find the fog light button only to realize the lower lights aren’t fogs. Turns out, this picture was taken a just the right moment when the hazards were flashing…such a newbie!
