But your feelings won't come from the usual, come-hither automotive hype—the Camaro on another auto show turntable or featured on an umpteenth car enthusiast magazine cover.
This time the new Camaro will gather new fans—women just as likely as young guys—as an enchanting, golden yellow Autobot called Bumblebee in the Transformers movie opening July 4 from Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks.
Bumblebee joins other Autobots—also from General Motors Corp.'s considerable fleet of vehicles—to do battle with evil Decepticons when the giant alien robots come to Earth. (Any surprise that one of the prominent Decepticons is a Saleen Mustang? Ford, maker of the Mustang, is No. 2 in sales to No. 1 GM among Detroit's carmakers.)
The action-adventure movie is based on the 1980s cartoon television series where evil and good robots, in a hard-fought contest, are able to transform from unassuming, normal objects into clever personas—good and bad. (Maybe you remember the Transformers toys that were popular back then. They also transformed from one form to another, and Bumblebee at that time was a Volkswagen Beetle.)
But in the upcoming Transformers movie, the charismatic, handsome Bumblebee develops out of a lowly, beat-up, 1974 Camaro. This is much more than a simple "morphing" process. Actor Shia LaBeouf portrays a rather nerdy young man who owns the Camaro clunker—complete with worn leather seats and 8-track tape player inside—and meets his love interest, played by Megan Fox, who helps him fix up the car as today's sleek Camaro concept.
The casting of the Camaro—which surprisingly predated even the first public showing of the revived Camaro concept at an auto show in Detroit—couldn't be better for Chevy, its parent company GM and the new Camaro even if the automaker had taken over the writing duties for Hollywood.
For one thing, Chevy needs a way to keep up the excitement and anticipation of the coming new Camaro. While the Camaro was first shown as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2006, production Camaros won't be in showrooms until 2009. This is a long time to try to sustain buyer interest.
For another, the movie uses the latest graphic, computer-animated detail to visualize the old Camaro transforming into the Camaro concept in a way that no automaker press conference or ad campaign ever could. Talk about a powerful way to link the evolution of the upcoming Camaro to a Camaro of old and tie in the lengthy Camaro heritage. (Camaros, which originated as a competitor to Ford's Mustang, were sold in the U.S. from 1967 to 2002.)
Movie Details You Might Not Notice
With Michael Bay directing (he also directed and produced 1998's Armageddon and 2001's Pearl Harbor films) and Stephen Spielberg as executive producer, there's a lot of action in the movie.
So don't be surprised if you're not aware of all the changes in the Camaro that you'll see on screen. The sleek, shapely styling change from one era of Camaro to today is obvious. Here are some of the more subtle changes:
The car's wheels go from 15-inchers, which were standard in the '70s, to 20-inchers on the front of the Camaro concept and 22-inchers in back. Wheels and tires have been growing larger in diameter on production cars for decades. These days, the vehicles still wearing 15-inch wheels are some small cars like the base Honda Civic.
The yellow paint on the old Camaro is bright, cheery yellow—a lot brighter than many Camaro buffs might remember. But on the movie car of the '70s, it has seen better days, with dirt, rust and dents purposely applied. On the transformed Camaro, the paint is a richer, golden yellow that uses the best paint process and clear coat of today. And, of course, there are no dents or rust.
Gaps between body panels on the 1970s Camaro are as large and unsightly as they were back then. The old Camaro in the movie even has a trunk lid that's not well-aligned, reminiscent of the kind of quality Detroit became known for. But in the transformed Camaro, body gaps are minimal to present the kind of detailed, high-quality appearance that Detroit automakers strive for today.
The puny outside mirrors on the 1970s Camaro are accented with a silver color and look more like women's portable mirrors than mirrors for a sporty car. The transformed Camaro has sleekly styled mirrors that meld into the car with body color, not chrome.
The new Camaro also eschews the shiny, silver-colored trim that was around the old Camaro's windshield and rear window. It's a little too frou-frou now. Besides, that trim could get loose and even fall off on 1970s cars.
The old Camaro was fueled at the back of the car. A driver had to pull down the back license plate to get at the fuel filler cover. (Some people may remember how sharply the license plate could snap back in place and smack fingers.) In contrast, the Camaro concept has its fuel filler door in a prominent location—on a rear fender and outlined with a matte silver door.
The silver-colored, metal, front bumper with unsightly center black rubber bumper strip is gone. The new Camaro has a body-color front fascia that tidily hides the crash protection parts. And that hood scoop? It had exposed bolt heads in the 1974 Camaro but is seamlessly integrated into the hood of the new Camaro.
And, oh yes, the Camaro name is much larger on the new car than it was on the old one. This isn't just for the movie, by the way. The badging will be sizable when the new Camaro arrives at dealerships.
The dashboard inside the 1970s Camaro extends inside just a short way. The dashboard on the transformed, new Camaro is much more substantial.
There are head restraints for both front and rear passengers in the new Camaro. The 1974 Camaro had no head restraints in the back seat.
And the tall, silver-colored door lock pulls are visible at the top of the old Camaro doors in a needlessly prominent, old-fashioned way. They're handled more subtly in the new Camaro—just as they are in most other vehicles now.
Camaro Leads Other GM Movie "Stars"
While the yellow Camaro promises to be the eye-catcher in the movie, GM has three other prominent car characters in the film, making Transformers something of a GM coup for the big screen.
No one in the auto industry seemed to recall another movie where one automaker had so many vehicles playing major roles in one film. Remember, the Transformers in this movie are part and parcel of the story, not just used to cart actors around and provide background. And, in contrast with last year's Cars movie from Pixar, the major car characters are easily identifiable by make and model.
For example, in Transformers, Pontiac's Solstice has the role of Jazz, a gray hardtop 2-seat Autobot. Note that when the movie was in production, GM had only started selling the Solstice as a convertible. So, like the Camaro's Bumblebee, the Jazz Solstice is a car that still does not exist in showrooms.
Autobot Ratchet is played by a Hummer H2 that's modified to be a rescue vehicle. It's painted a fluorescent light green and has a winch and brush guard in front, shovels on its sides, and at least seven off-road lights on various light bars.
GM's other prominent character is Ironhide, played by a GMC TopKick pickup truck with Duramax diesel engine. The already tall truck is heavily modified with a winch, light bar and off-road, Extreme Terrain tires that are so large, they come to my waist when I stand next to them, and I'm 5 feet 4.
The "Scoop" Inside the Movie Cars
GM officials had not even decided whether to show a Camaro concept car at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit when movie director Bay was scouting for vehicles for the film in 2005.
But during a visit to a GM design center, Bay spotted a Camaro concept and was convinced it was the perfect vehicle to be Bumblebee. Indeed, according to GM officials, Bay was likely the first non-GM, non-industry person to see the Camaro.
Because the Camaro wasn't in running form, movie personnel used a Camaro concept that had the rear-wheel-drive setup underneath it from a Pontiac GTO. At the time, GM was importing a GTO from its Australian unit. This GTO ended U.S. sales in calendar 2006, and the upcoming production Camaro will use a different rear-wheel-drive platform.
In the Transformers movie, the cars are supposed to be driving themselves. So stunt personnel had to wear black, including black balaclavas to obscure their faces.
Who knew cops had a sense of humor? The movie's Saleen Mustang police car, complete with light bar on the roof and a push bar, bears some novel wording that brought chuckles from some regular police who happened on it during filming. Instead of "To protect and serve" on the car's fenders, the movie car has the words "to punish and enslave."
Ann Job is a freelance automotive writer.
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