A long response to fbodfather's question...

[Ravirn]

First off, please forgive my "novel". I felt it was time to tell my own personal story about the Camaro, and as every story does... it needs to be told right. If reading isn't for you, please move along. Thanks.


Recently, in another thread, our very own fbodfather asked a question that took me off guard but opened a floodgate of memories...

Originally Posted by fbodfather

.......do you remember the first time you saw a Camaro or a Corvette? Those are 'defining' moments..........

Yep, I do. At the time, though, I had no idea just how important or defining that moment would be.

January 1st, 1974. I was four years old and my cousin, Kevin, drove up from Michigan to my home town of London, Ontario to visit us in his 1st Gen Camaro. I remember it being an AWESOME car... my parents remember me standing on the driver's seat grasping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white! I don't remember exact details, but apparently whenever they tried to remove me from the car I went supernova with tears and tantrums. I spent a couple hours in that car, playing with everything and laughing.

Fast forward to the summer of 1990. My cousin, Kevin, unfortunately and due to circumstances I don't want to go into on this forum, chose to take his own life. I think my whole family was in shock, at the time, and the funeral was... surreal. After the funeral and graveside visit, everyone met back at my Aunt's house in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a meal. It was then that Kevin's wife chose to approach me and say that she felt that Kevin would love it if I received his black '67 Camaro. I wanted that car soooo bad, but I couldn't accept it. I told her to store it, and sell it when their children were old enough to attend University, and that's exactly what she did. No regrets, as that was definitely the right decision.

Fast forward to November 13th, 2006. I sat down to sign the papers, starting the whole process of building a new home in a small town 10 minutes south of Calgary, Alberta. I work in north Calgary. I looked at my wife and said, "Remember, I build you the home of your dreams, and you let me get whatever car I want to commute to work". (It's anywhere from 40-60 minutes to drive to work). She laughed and shook my hand and said, "Deal!". I signed the paperwork.

Two days later I saw an article online about the Camaro Concept vehicle and that it wasn't going to be a concept anymore, but actually produced. My heart stopped. To my great surprise I started crying. The flaring "hips" of the new Camaro reminded me of Kevin's '67 Camaro. It was... a very emotional response for me. I printed out a picture of the new Camaro, walked into my wife's den/office and put the picture down on her desk. She turned away from her computer (she works from home) looked at the picture and froze. Her response? "Oh, Jason... is this your car? This has to be your car!". All I could do was nod.

March 1st, 2008. We moved into our new home. A lot of costs are involved in building a new home! No regrets! My wife loves her new home!!! However, there were so many things we needed to save money for. Grass, developing the basement...etc...

November, 2009. My wife walked into my "man cave" and saw me looking at online reports of the new Camaro. She then told me that it was "time". ???? Time for what? "Time to follow through on my end of the bargain." ??? What bargain? "Your car, silly!" Oh!
One week later I'm sitting in a GM dealership with my wife, going over what I wanted for my Camaro with her and a sales rep. When he asked if I wanted the V8 or V6 version (I can drive the V6 version in the winter... hmm...) my wife cut off conversation with a, "He'll take the 2SS, please". I was more than startled... I didn't even know that she knew what the different models were. Apparently she had been doing her own homework. At the startled look from my salesrep, she repeated, "The 2SS. V8. No sunroof, but with the RS package." The last question asked was... what colour? I said, "It has to be black". Really? Black cars are hard to keep clean, you know. "Yeah, it has to be black". Afterward, my awesome sales dude leaned over to whisper, "That's the first time I've seen a guy's wife override him and insist on upsizing a vehicle. Wanna trade wives? *laugh*" Not on your life, buddy. Not... on... your... life.

February 25th, 2010. I got "the call", and my wife drove me to the dealership. And there "he" was. My car. My cousin always insisted that the driver never chooses the car, but the car chooses the driver. Yeah, it sounds corny... but for some reason I was so nervous I didn't say a word when we drove there. Kevin was a mechanic, by trade (he owned two companies that serviced cars) and my memories of him were very strong that day. We drove into the parking lot, and noticed a crowd of 8 people or so around a black car. No sunroof. No stripes. Just mean and lean and full of f***ing attitude! When we got out of our beater, our sales rep met us and pointed at "him". "People have been driving in all day to look at your car! It's the first Camaro we've sold that doesn't have stripes or a sunroof. *he laughed* What an awesome look!!!" Yeah... I totally agreed. I loved the reverse mohawk!!! But I was still so nervous I didn't even go over to look at him, but walked in and went over the paperwork. Signed on the dotted line and then "the moment" arrived.

We walked outside and our sales guy yelled out, "Okay, everyone make way for the owner of that FINE vehicle!" *laugh* People walked over to us and I thanked them for their compliments. I still hadn't moved to see him up close. My wife pushed me and said, "Go introduce yourself, silly!!!" Then she grabbed our sales guy by the arm and started to ask him questions about the new Equinox. I got the hint. Yeah, I know... I can be "slow" sometimes. Sales guy diverted, crowd diverted. I have never felt so nervous about something that is so... everyday. Hey, it's a new car. No big deal, right? Yeah... no. It turned out to be a big deal for me.

I walked over to "my" car and just looked at "him". Which is when I discovered that while most vehicles in my mind are "female", this Camaro was male. With attitude in SPADES! While walking around him and staring, one of the spectators in the lot yelled out, "That's one sexy car, man. There's some black magic going on!" Everyone laughed again and I approached the driver's side door and opened it. Then I laid my hand on his roof and said, "Hi. I'm Jason, and you are..." ...and I waited, but only for a couple seconds.

Warlock, he said. I literally laughed and sat in the driver's seat. Close the door, put the key in the ignition.... turned it! And... ohhhh... my... word... black magic, indeed.

I remember putting my hands on the steering wheel (at the proper 10 and 2 o'clock positions) and said, "Hey bud... are we good or what?!"

We're better than good. We're f***ing awesome.

Put him in 1st gear, release the clutch and apply the gas while thinking "Please oh please oh please don't let me stall my car in front of everyone"... and promptly laid two rubber streaks on the parking lot of the dealership. People cheered!

Holy... hell, I thought. I laughed out loud. WHOA! A lot of horsepower there, buddy. And for the first time I felt my car smirk.

Pulling out of the dealership I was ecstatic. I FINALLY got my own Camaro. Not only that, but he looked a little like Kevin's Camaro!!! I left another rubber patch pulling onto the highway nearby. I was grinning like a damn fool, but didn't care. I knew... I *KNEW*... that Kevin would have approved.

I sighed, so happy! Then my car said...

Let`s talk about mods, shall we?

DOH!

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Very cool!! Not a long read at all. Thanks for sharing.

[shawn18]

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN!
I can only imagine the emotions!
Becky

[Frank in MD]

Awesome read. Thank you for sharing that story.

[super60]

Ravirn

Great story and your Litho & Letter (# 108 ) look great under the hood . Thanks again for supporting GM and Best Regards from YOUR Oshawa Build Team .

Mike
Super60

[mamaro]

Great story!! Thanks for sharing.

[Risquee]

I am seriously wiping a tear dude. Beautiful story AND car!

[blkngldbabe]

A fantastic story. I must be getting soft. I got all misty for you. I felt that when I saw my car sitting in the lot when I arrived for work. What a great feeling. Congrats for seeing it through.

[Taz_FL]

Great Story and beautiful camaro

[Ravirn]

Wow!

A special Thank You to those who've responded. I was quite nervous about posting that "novel"... and almost deleted it. Almost. But fbodfather asked the question, and I felt it was worth an honest reply.

Thank you for seeing beyond my personal emotion to the intent. It wasn't my intent to emotionally manipulate, but to tell my story of "The Camaro" from my own personal perspective. I'm so HAPPY that the 5th Gen Camaro turned out to be so f***ing AWESOME! It only adds to my enthusiasm! I never thought I'd be part of community of Camaro Believers who see the Camaro with such unbridled enthusiasm as I do... but here I am.

Jason

P.S. Hopefully you'll all be there in August at the Builders & Buyers Meet! Warlock and I will be driving out to say "hello" to the Builders. Well, *I'LL* be saying "Hello". Warlock will be saying, "Remember me?"

[mlee]

Very nice man..

[Tam's Cam]

Wow. Now that was an awesome story! Thanks indeed for sharing!!

[guiLT]

That was a good story! Thanks for sharing!