From my first car to my dream car...

[MissingtheMrs.]

I put in my order on 8 Sep 09! I couldn't have made the decisions necessary for my purchase without Camaro5! Thanks to all the members for their pictures and insight! After reading for months, becoming a member, and finally ordering my '10, I am about to fall out of my chair with excitement. If you are up for my story, read on, otherwise I offer a simple “thank you” for any and all contributions!
My Story: I have owned one car since I was 16 (I'm 23 now). It was a 1998 Black Honda Civic coupe. Let me tell you, punching that pedal to the floor, feeling that 1.6L in-line 4 meow to life… What a rush. You get a mild thrust from the scintillating 4 speed Auto transmission flooding the front 15” wheels with 106 hp. In the next 8-10 seconds, you have time to change a CD, adjust the room-temperature A/C and check the mirrors only to see an SUV fly by you and onto the interstate. My foot is still on the floor and I have yet to reach 60mph (or a place of dignity and respect). I am a proud person and completely obsessed with cars, so this experience was humbling to say the least. But I think my parents had the right idea for my first car. I learned to appreciate EVERYTHING about a car. First and foremost, I learned how INCREDIBLE the word “AUTOMATIC” was when applied to anything and everything EXCEPT a transmission. My civic was all-manual, all the way… except the one place that means fun: my transmission. Thus I realized that a standard was my #1 requirement on my next car. And so I began building my list of necessities for my next car... my first dream car. The Civic was a great “first car.” Her first license plate began with “MRS” so her name became “The Mrs.” I have since rolled past 100,000 and she hasn’t skipped a beat. After 7 years, multiple cross-country trips, and the simple freedom that comes with a car in our great country, it turns out that I couldn’t have asked for anything more from my first car. Sure, some more hp, better handling, or larger displacement would have been nice, but “The Mrs.” only made me appreciate those things more.
Skip ahead to the current day, and I have graduated college and commissioned into the Air Force. I have a few more months until I report for Active Duty and begin pilot training in Mississippi. So of course, I look into buying my “dream car.” I understand some peoples’ idea of a dream car as being that one car you have stared at since you could stare, but for me, it’s just the idea of a car I fall in love with… should I go E46 BMW M3 (a fantasy of mine since I was 16)? Vintage American muscle (who can resist this amazing piece of our nation’s history)? Japanese roadster (fairly cheap, and super-easy to toy around with)? I began my search, test driving, researching, talking to dealers and reading forums; and honestly there was just something about the Camaro. I don’t know if it was the history, the horsepower per dollar, or maybe just the out-of-control good looks, but something hit home with me and shouted “you found it!”
My order and reasons:
2SS/RS (Go big or go home! And I didn't want to be jealous of someone else's car)
Black (had to see them all in person to make a decision... but this is just perfect, I LOVE a black coupe)
Beige interior (looked at everyone's pictures for hours before I landed here… it just looks classy)
6M (as explained above)

I want to keep this car for years, and maybe someday give it to my kid. The idea of a 16 year old getting their dad’s 25(ish) year old Camaro with a 426hp V8… how cool is that? But then again, maybe by that time I will follow my parents’ decisions. Maybe I will want my kid to start from the bottom. To truly understand (as I now do) what a great car is and how to appreciate it, whether it be “The Mrs.” or a classic muscle car that screams at every other car on the road, “you ain’t got nothing on me!” But those are decisions left for another time; for now I will spend the last few weeks, before my Camaro is delivered, enjoying the simple pleasures of manual windows, a suspension reminiscent of a waterbed, and all the memories of owning my first car. I will Miss the Mrs., but she helped me gain a larger appreciation and respect for all cars and for that, I thank her.

[JustAGuy]

What a great post! Congrats on the order.

[Juvix]

congrats on the order, nice story. AND when you get to Mississippi for training you should hit me up. I live on the gulfcoast and i assume keesler is where you will be headed.. cheers

[All-Or-Nothing]

Glad you got what you wanted

[Yellojacket]

The cars I have owned in order from very first to current are:

86 Chevy Sprint (3cyl)
87 Chevy Sprint (3cyl)
92 Geo Storm GSi (4cyl)
01 Saturn SC2 (4 cyl)
06 Mazdaspeed 6 (4 cyl Turbo AWD)
98 Dodge Dakota (just bought last week to run during the winter)
and in a few weeks my brand new 2010 2SS/RS IOM. CAN"T WAIT!!

[Skyblu]

My first car at 16 was a 71 chevelle malibu, My first hot rod. I miss the car but having the Camaro makes me miss it a lot less!

[Camaro509]

LOL - great story!

My first was a 65-66 (don't remember exactly) VW bug, hand-me-down from my older brother. Baby blue in color with a manual transmission.

My oldest's first vehicle is a barely running, 89 Chevy C1500 with a 350/4L60 underneath with a real bullet hole in the tail gate

[Oneday]

Nice read and congrats with your order

[ljustin293]

welcome to the site

[cab2g]

Your story sounds a lot like mine except I haven't ordered yet! I'm still driving my first car that I got when I was 17... Well it's technically a truck, but with 150HP it tows like a car! Anyway mine's all manual including the windows and mirrors, but your Honda one ups mine because I have to roll down the windows to adjust the mirrors (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the civics have a joystick inside the cabin). Believe me, it's mighty hard to adjust the passenger side mirror w/o assistance. park, unbuckle, hop on arm rest, unroll window, push mirror, hop back in driver's seat, check alignment, repeat (never right on the first try).

I also love cars. Everybody who knows me knows that I am always talking about something automotive related. 90% of the time I have some sort of motor vehicle on my desktop at work. You can't stop dreaming, you know?

I hope to be in your boat next year and ordering a new 2SS RS 6MT. My plan would be to keep the car as long as humanly possible as well. That is, unless they come out with another Camaro that smokes the doors off of the current generation. I might not be able to resist!

[levi1922]

the 5th gen camaro will be my second car as welll. i am going from a 1995 black camaro LT, with 160 horse power and auto 4. its kinda cool that i am getting a 2010 camaro LT (2LT RS auto). they are both the top of the line v6, with a difference of 15 years. they are both Have black leather, power windows (10 has two express up/down, 95 has 1 express down), seats and mirrors(10 has heated/dimming). they both have keyless entry. both have premium audio system( BA vs Bose).

[jnewberr2ssrs]

Wow we have very similar stories...

I too am about to graduate college (in May ) and like you I'm going to commission into the Air Force...I also decided on a black 2SS RS 6M (but with black interior)...

Great story and congrats! I just got my car last month and it's awesome! You're going to love it!

["prima"Donna]

Congrats on ordering the Camaro...the car that all these forum members have truly "fallen in love" with........

God Bless You for choosing to serve and protect this fine country and may you stay safe...

[LikaRokBowTie]

Former Air Force here,nothing more appropriate than future fighter pilots driving a low slung SS Camaro around an AFB,I assume you have prior flying
experience,and if you do how many hours have you flown?Anyway good luck
in the good ol' USAF and prepare for your initiation boy's.