If you know me, then you know I’ve been in love with Camaros for a long long time. One of my fondest memories was taking a green ’95 Camaro for a test drive. The salesman had me put it in second gear going 60 MPH and I was so impressed that I nearly wrote my name on the purchase contract he pushed in my face.

When I was much younger I was certain that the future held an IROC-Z for me (3rd generation) but that never panned out. Later I became enamoured with the F-body models (4th generation) but they were discontinued in 2002. When I finally reached a point in my life where I could afford a sports car the Camaro had been out of production for nearly five years. In 2007 I decided to get a Corvette, a current production model and another car that I had admired for a long time.

Later that year (2007) I learned that the Camaro was headed back into production. The Transfomers movie featured Bumblebee as a 5th generaion Camaro and although I didn’t care for the yellow color I thought the design of the car was remarkable. The Camaro models went on sale in spring on 2009 and I went to my local dealership to gawk. Right around that time however I had upgraded from a coupe Corvette to a Z06 and there was no way to justify the purchase of a Camaro- it would have to wait.

For the next three years I modified my Corvette and had a blast, but the Camaro was always in the back of my mind. In March of 2012 I started car shopping (I swap cars about every 2-3 years) and the Camaro was at the top of my list. Initially I looked at used models but quickly discovered that that depreciation was minimal; there was not much price difference between a used 2010 model and a new 2012 model. On April 7, I purchased a brand new 2012 black Camaro SS.

I have waited a long time to own a Camaro and I am thrilled. In one of my next posts I’ll do a Camaro review and give some of my impressions of the car and talk about some of my plans for it. More to come soon!

And to answer the question everyone asks me – “Are you going to keep your Corvette?” –  for now, yes.

Cam Hughes, April 14, 2012