1999 gto concept and camaro

[notmidlife]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Concept car. Very few are works of pleasing art.

This car, it seems to me, heralds the return of the GTO: the car is orange, just like a tiger ("put a tiger in your tank" from the old Esso ads was also associated with the GTO, today you might see stuffed tigers on GTOs at shows). Also the gray horizontal lines on the front and fenders suggest the tiger's whiskers. This motif is repeated on the back, for symmetry.

The split grille is a Poncho hallmark, and the narrowing edges suggest a mean countenance for the car. The rear lights suggest the 1966 GTO rear end treatment.

All of those things link the past to the present for the concept car.

But, in general shape and plan, this car does more than suggest ancestry of the Gen 5 Camaro: it screams it.

[2SS 2011]

That's wild!.. It's basically the same car..

[Evergreen6]

The similarities between the two vehicles are pretty striking.

From what I can tell, the GTO concept's designer (Jay Bernard) and the Camaro lead designer (Sangyup Lee) had very little, if anything, to do with each other.

Interesting to note that neither of the men really had any prior knowledge or passion surrounding the vehicles they penned.

Last I heard, Sangyup Lee had moved on to VW/Audi following a 10 year career at GM, and is now chief designer at Bentley.

Interesting to note, Sangyup also did the 50th anniversary Stingray concept, and his influence is seen in the front end of the new Stingray today.