How did your Camaro Dream come true ?

[AK Mike]

Wow, these are great stories! I never ceased to be amazed about how cars become an extension of who a person is and that an 'inanimate' object can mean so much...and I'm no different! My wife and I are in our late 50's...and have owned 20+ GM cars/trucks/vans including four Camaros previous to our 2010 SS. (I worked for a GM dealer for many years)...anyway, we live in a town you can't drive out of (no roads); have to take a ferry - 3 days to Seattle or a day to Haines and then a 4-5 day road trip through Canada. We already own a decent SUV (2003 Trailblazer - low miles!) and "OUR 51", a 1951 Chevy pickup I bought her as a surprise for our 25th anniversary (that was 12 years ago...). Anyway, having survived a very serious accident with a 1200# moose and a brain tumor, my bride has a sense of humor sharpened by reality...an old family joke was that when we got old/senile, we'd get a hotrod and drive 35 mph in the left lane and back up traffic until they took our lisences. Last summer, I did something dumb and she asked me if I was getting senile; I replied, "Is it time to order the car?"...yep, got a IOM SS/RS M6 two days before last Christmas. When summer rolls around, you'll find us putting along in the left lane at 35....with stupid permagrins!

[Phoenix328]

Well my story is this; Ever since i was 16 (1994) I have owned firebirds/transams/camaros. The problem is everyone that i have owned it was preowned and somebody else took the liberty of beating the $hit out of it, so by the time I got it i was just throwing money at it just to keep it running reliably. On top of that every one that I owned I would always sacrifice one thing for another for instance:
My first firebird was a 1991 and it had T-tops (wanted that) but and automatic transmission(did not want)
next was a 1997 Camaro had a convertable (wanted) but V-6 motor and automatic trans (did not want)
next was a 2001 firebird had manual trans (wanted) no T-tops(did not want).
next was a 2001 trans am had the options i wanted, but fell apart very quickly and had to sell it. I bought from a seedy no name car lot (never do that again!)

So I go to the annual chicago auto show in 2006 and I can remember the first time i saw her sitting on the revolving platform. There was a large crowd of people around her and also a pretty woman standing right next to the car, but she was just getting in the way of seeing the Camaro.

Anyway the moment I saw the concept I was in love. The car had the two things i was looking for: it looks like a 69 Camaro (one that I have always wanted.) and it has all the modern conveniences of a new car. I thought to myself This is the car i am going to have and I dont care how much it is.

Fast forward to 2009 and I go to the dealer, order every option that i want in the car (IBM 2SS/RS M6 Sunroof) and then wait 61 painstaking days till it arrives at the dealer.
I go to the dealer on September 2 2009 and pick her up. I have been in heaven ever since!!! I finally have a muscle car ordered to my specifications from the moment that it is new so I know exactly where its been and down the line I wont have to worry about break downs because I know that I have taken care of my baby.

Sorry for the length of the story, but this is my passion. Funny side note while waiting for the car to be built I was bothering my wife every single day with camaro ponderings or things off of this side she got mad at me one day and told me to shut up i am too obsessed with this car! well that is now what i have on my license plate

Cheers everybody enjoy your Camaros I know I am!

[2010 SSRS]

I went to the dealership back in April 2009 and sat with my salesman for about 3 -4 hours and we built my Camaro on the computer, and it was one of the best days of my life.

[Tysen]

I had purchased a 2009 Civic Si after returning from a deployment in Iraq. I just wanted something quick to drive that I could mod as a hobby. Well, being in the desert for a year, I didn't know the Camaro was available to order, or I would have bought one at that time. My Si was already sitting at the dealership when I got back. It was a nice car, and it was fun to drive.

Anyways, I went to see some buddies in my hometown, and we went to see Transformers 2. On our way out of the theater, the local Chevy dealer had placed a yellow 2LT/RS in front of the theater. That was the first time I had seen the vehicle in person, and I instantly fell in love. HATED my Si, lol.

Around this time, I was getting medically released from the military due to injuries I sustained throughout multiple deployments. They gave me a fairly large severance package, which would have paid for a 2SS outright. But, at the time, my family needed a larger vehicle, so we bought a truck from our Honda dealer. While I was there, I asked how much they would pay me for my Civic Si. They offered a little more than what I owed on it, so I made a deal with the wife. I would sell the Civic now, and save up for the Camaro. She was dead set on not getting anymore loans, so I agreed to not order the Camaro until we had enough to pay for it all at once.

I was out of the Army now, and was getting a lot of offers to go overseas for a year as a contractor doing IT. I was going to go for one year, and pay off the house and save whatever was left over. Well, right before my in-processing was scheduled to begin, I found out the color I wanted, ABM, was going to be discontinued. I was really bummed. My wife gave the ok to order it, since we would have no problem paying it off with my overseas contract. I ordered the car on October 22nd. I was a little sad that I wouldn't be home when it arrived, but was still stoked that it was finally on order.

I left mid-November to Dallas to start in-processing, and was tracking the Camaro's progress daily. Everything was on track for me to deploy early December, until I visited the dentist. They told me I had to have two wisdom teeth removed before I could deploy. So, I told my company that I was going to get the dentist work done back home so that I could spend more time with my family. It took longer than I expected, but I'm glad it did. My car arrived on December 11th. I got a good 2-3 weeks to drive it before the dentist cleared me for deployment.

So now I'm sitting in Afghanistan, killing the time by ordering parts for my new car. My wife said there's already a stack of boxes in the garage waiting on me.

[ddunerider]

I wanted a challenger at first ,,,My buddy at work was all about the camaro!HE even has a sweet 68 but all he did was talk about this camaro and when the numbers started to show about permormance i said to my self...Do I really want to spent 52000 and get beat!! So One day me and my went down and orederd at the same time!!! The sale man was like two at one time....the rest is history now at work on fridays the is a SIM 2SS and a ABM 2ss sitting outside .....thanks ric!!

[~Stacy~]

I wanted a Camaro since October. I asked my sales manager in October if you get in a black camaro give me a call. A few months past I kind of gave up! I got a post card in the mail from my gm card they topped off my earnings from $31 to $2009.83. Called up the sales manager the same day told him I was ready to buy. I want a black camaro with roof, 6 speed and heated leather and under $30,000. Well a week passes by and he calls me back he found one in Green Bay. Well another week rolls by I get approved by GMAC, my 15,000 lien on my 08 G6 GXP I currently have is getting taken care of and I'm not in the negative hole with it either and the following week I have my new Camaro. I never got to test drive one or see my future one before I bought it but it made a bigger suprise for me at the end

[hair10]

Got out of college had no job and no car (my Celica had just died a few months before). Moved in with the GF (now wife) who had landed her job a year earlier. She helped me (OK, she bought me!) my first Camaro... an '84, used an about 8 yrs old at the time. Used that car to help find a job and drive to work.

Fast forward 15+ years and I'm now on my 5th Camaro. Probably would have waited until spring of this year to buy but then GM announced the Transformer Edition. The geek in me took over and I ended up ordering back in October to make sure I got one.

[Ruffian118]

I was 11 years old in 1969. The '69 Camaro was a car I fell in love with but never had. Money was always tight for our family, and the big cars were always "sold" to one of us kids. Husband and I bought our first brand new Chevy in '78 - Silverado Big 10 pickup. Then a used '82 Camaro that we had to sell when the kids came along. I never ordered a brand new vehicle in my whole life - until now.

My dad was a Chevy man his whole but since there were 4 kids in our family, a 2-door coupe was never going to work. He worked like a dog his whole life supporting us, putting kids through college, etc. and owning a Camaro was always "someday." Unfortunately, someday never came - he passed suddenly in 1988 6 months after he retired from construction. The lesson I took from his life was don't wait. So, now I'll live the dream for him.

I was going to wait for the convertible - but, no more putting it off. "Spirit" should be delivered in about 3 weeks (fingers crossed) and I can't wait for her arrival!

[Ohten]

Mine turned into a horror story,after only 600 mi. the engine developed a lifter tick at start up.It does it more often than not,but if you take it to the dealership they cant get it to happen.Why after all the hype and delay would GM use a engine with a known defect,this only happens in the A6 w/AFM.

[RogueSS]

I guess this goes back a long way. Always have loved powerful, fast cars. Out of college I wasn't in the position to buy anything expensive, so I started with a Grand Am GT. Fun car, and one I could afford (I don't believe in that whole debt up to your eyeballs thing)

Paid that off in 2003, but I had some job issues and wasn't making any money other than to cover my bills. I really loved the new GTO's, but there was just no way I could afford one. Of course, as I keep not making much money, all the muscle cars start to disappear...the only thing I had even really though about was a G6 GXP, as it was sort of a logical replacement for my car.

When I saw the Camaro in association with Transformers I fell in love with it. It happened that I was starting the police academy 5 days after Transformers came out.

Now almost 3 years later I'm able to afford one. Graveyard pay, plus several part time jobs, plus tax refunds etc have made the car a reality.....well almost, it's sitting at Osh waiting to be shipped...but it will be a reality here in a couple weeks. Still have the Grand Am, glad I do, that $1,000 will be a nice plus. I've put 92,290 miles on that car. I ordered it from Pontiac and it was the first 2000 model year Grand Am delivered in the US in September of 1999 with 5 miles. Been a good car. The SS will be even better.

[Dave Coyle]

Mine started back in, I believe it was 2006 when I first saw the Camaro at the Detroit auto show. I just knew I had to have one, it has that power over you you know! Any way, I started saving every penny I could while I waited for GM to start producing them. Once my wife realized that I was in fact going to buy one and seen the money I had saved, she said that the only way I could get it would be to build her the addition to the house that she had wanted for some time. As much as I didn't want to part with the money I had saved for the down payment, I knew that she was right, we did need the bigger area. Sooooo, plan B came to play. I took ALL of the money (almost $20,000) and built the 20X20 new livingroom and redid the "old" livingroom into the "new" dining room and built a large deck around the new room. Most of the work was done by myself with some help from family and friends when I need the help. Unfortunantly for me, the housing market was down and once I got the house appraised it was only worth $14,000 more than before the addition was done. Any way, I did refinance the house to get back most of my down payment on the Camaro and both my wife and I are VERY HAPPY.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!!

[Bryancadc05]

My story started a year ago when it was getting close to my graduation day( I graduated in december 2009). I wanted to give a gift to myself after going through hell getting my bachelors in Engineering, so I figure I will get me a brand new car. To my surprise I noticed that the camaro started rolling out of production, instantly I knew I had to get it, and fair enough I graduated and went to look at them at the dealership, It was do or die; I went for it, but the bad news came in, I may not be approved for the credit, I was starting to get pissed off, I was thinking: I ain't gonna drive a toyota!!. but I was relieved when they told GMAC approved the credit and I was all good to get my brand new camaro LS.

can't describe to you guys the joy of owning a camaro after coming to this country 8 years ago, with nothing: no house no English and what not... it makes me feel that I am living the American dream

[CloudXTC]

nice story...

who is justin beeber?

[sen10l]

Originally Posted by BLIZZARD_2010_SS

After hearing in Person about "prima-donna's" Story firsthand I had to make this Post.
It started in 2006 with the unveiling. I absolutely loved the design, details, idea, and if nothing more , Chevrolet's in general.
Living in Chicopee, Mass. at the time, I owned a '99 Monte Carlo and dreamed of having the Muscle car of the future.
At the time i was commuting 6hrs to Maine to spend time with my then girlfriend and vise versa. (She owned an Impala) . After about a year of that I ventured to say thats enuff, I made a bold move and left a great job to move to Maine and be closer to her and her son.
3 months prior I posted a resume on Monster just for Shts and giggles to see what was out there. I was living in a 2 bedroom condo , no job, 4 people, little money in the bank and no hopes of ever getting a job that was ( excuse the arrogance I may display ) worthy of my abilities and skill.
5 days prior to starting a job at $13 dollars an hour to have a paycheck coming in, I get a call from a Head Hunter via Monster posting .
He had 4 positions I would qualify for , 1 in Colorado, 2 in NY, 1 in Florida.
I chose Ny because it was driveable. I visit the company, view some of their work, clients, ( Movie stars, music, VERY WEALTHY ) NYC residents.
I loved the idea of having my works of art placed in the biggest city on the planet. But I was a skeptic about the pay, moving, basicly being alone in a new state. I was almost at my breaking point.
Ring Ring Ring..... Its the owner of the company I went to in Long Island City. He wants me to relocate, and work for his company. Offers me moving expenses, and a great opportunity to enhance my skills. To boot if after a year I am in good standing with the company, the money doesn't have to be repaid. I couldn't say no. I took the offer, moved, girlfriend , son and all to Long Island.
Worked in excellent standing thru today and still dreamed of the camaro in my driveway, but never quite having the guts to venture out and do the deed.
Having met my current g/f on Long Island after the move was too much to handle for the prior's son and herself. virtually a year after they left, I found myself with a wonderful woman (Current g/f Monica). 5 months after meeting her, we decided to purchase a house.
Big step 1 , both of us were inseparable for the entire time up to this point.
One evening at my apartment, prior to moving to the house, she gets a gander of the Camaro concept and melted. She said "Thats gonna be our next car". The eternal skeptic I am I say , "I wouldn't know what to do if that happened" ( screaming like a little schoolgirl at a Justin Beeber concert ) maybe.
Well , weeks went by, the move into the house went thru, driveway expanded, Holidays passed, dream still flourishing.
Fast forward to November 2009. Thanksgiving day. Browsing the net and drooling over the 2 Transformers movies constantly. I say Lets go snoop at the camaro's. Next thing you know I am the proud owner of a 2010 SS. The dream is realized. (Thank you Monica) Without you I would be driving my silverado Dreaming ever so much about the Finest creation since 2002.
Footnote: When we moved into the house our accounts for cable etc. All screenames were 2010camaro based. ( 2 years Prior to this purchase)
Living the dream and going after them is the most priceless thing you could possibly do in life. Dream big , Go big, they do come true.

In closing, I appologize for it being so long winded, But Thanks to Donna, I had to at least start a new thread about this and see where it brings others to in their Camaro Dream.
Thank you , and God Bless Camaro5 members, all of our Soldiers, and most of all my family in Maine, Cali, Oregon, and my Extended family here in NY both thru my g/f and Thru NY5THGEN / Camaro5. I love everything about this car, country , and the people with Big dreams that achieve them.
Cudos to the designers, builders, those that think outside the box. The camaro is a success even if in my eyes alone.

please punctuate next time. you wrote an essay in two paragraphs! Giving my eye-strain.