The Mustang Is Named After A Plane Or Horse, But What The Hell Does Camaro Mean? CarBuzz
Michael Hines
Now everyone has an idea of what the name "Mustang" means. It’s either a graceful horse running across the Great Plains or an all-American fighter jet weaving its way through hostile skies during World War II. Either way, it’s a badass image. But what about the Camaro, the Mustang's arch rival? The car has been around for almost 50 years, but how many people really know what its name means or where it came from? Chevy fanboys, this one's for you.
After the Mustang was released in 1964 the automotive press almost immediately began speculating about a competitor from Chevrolet. This car was referred to internally as "Panther," or at least that’s what the press assumed. The story took off and the Panther name stuck, although it was never a serious contender for the name of the upcoming muscle car as it would have wrecked the automaker’s "C" naming scheme. Panther would have stood out like a sore thumb next to Corvair, Chevelle, Chevy II and Corvette. Chevy was mum on the Panther project until June 21st, 1966. That day, 200 journalists from around the US were notified about an upcoming Chevy press conference.
Good catch. You can also take the author to task on All-American considering it packed a Rolls Royce Merlin Engine in most cases... although built under license by Packard in most cases.
So they coined a new word. Sounds a hell of a lot cooler than Camry. Now Camaro simply means, "best muscle car in the world", and doesn't need to mean anything else.
Some people do not care enough to understand the distinction between a jet and a prop.... .That just means that they should not use it in reference.....
They didn't seem to have an issue using Impala at the same time with not a single "C" to be found. I'm not sure why, but Impala has been my favorite Chevy name, if not my favorite Chevy for pretty forever.
The Impala was first actually as a 1954 concept and then a productions model for 1958. There were indeed lots of "C" names but there were other exceptions like Malibu, as a blinged out Chevelle, and later the Monte Carlo.
Actually, molds HAD been created for the 'Panther' nameplate. The official name was delayed relative to the actual car's development, to the point that 3 different nameplate molds were produced (another one being 'Commander'- apparently Studebaker was in no position to protest, dealing with the shut-down of the manufacturing division that year).
'Camaro wasn't picked until 6-8 weeks before the car's debut!
As it turns out Camaro isn’t a French word. Chevy just made it up because it sounded cool.
Chevrolet actually produced said old French dictionary page that listed the 'Camaro' entry and it's definition as 'comrade, pal, buddy'.
Whether that page was fabricated by Chevrolet marketing, IDK, but that's the chain of events ala 1966.
Well since they have a logo of a galloping Horse in the grill I think it is named after the horse. and all of us old timers will remember Ford was using a lot of animals, birds and old western themes for names in the 60's. Cougar, Thunderbird, Bobcat, Falcon, Maverick, Ranchero and Scorpio. I'm sure I missed some
Impala was a model, IE Biscayne,BelAir Caprice. All were full size Chevrolets
Deluxe, Malibu, SS,elCamino, Monte Carlo even,all Chevelles
Nova started as a trim option on the Chevy II
Whatever the case, I wonder if anyone has ever bought a Red Camaro and stuck an "N" at the end of the nameplate to spell "Camaron." I would love to see that driving down the street haha.
(FYI Camaron in Spanish means "shrimp")
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