By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Tom Lowman has over the years purchased new cars for any number of reasons.
Because his old one was shot, because he didn’t feel like changing the oil in his current ride or because he was pretty certain he felt a shift in the wind’s direction.
It didn’t take much of an excuse.
Earlier this spring, Lowman, a retired Salisbury firefighter, made a down payment on a new vehicle for a totally different reason.
“I told people, this year, it’s my patriotic duty,” he said.
There’s a certain amount of truth to the statement, but don’t let Lowman fool you. Patriotism factored into his car-buying decision, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The main reason Lowman purchased himself a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is that it’s one sporty ride.
Very sporty.
The hundreds who turned up Tuesday in the showroom of Team Chevrolet-Cadillac on Jake Alexander Boulevard for the debut of the new Camaro could vouch for as much.
The 2010 Camaro ó Chevrolet’s recreation of a time-honored classic ó brought dancing girls (OK, they were young dancing girls, but dancing girls all the same), retro music and hordes of curious shoppers.
“Consumers who are in the market for this, they’re pretty astute,” said David Coltrane, Team Chevrolet’s general manager, motioning to the 2010 Camaro as he spoke.
“They’ve done their homework.”
Tuesday marked the official unveiling of the long-anticipated Camaro. It generated the type of excitement rarely seen since the early-’60s when car dealerships had to paper the windows to their showrooms to keep the masses from catching glimpses of the next year’s models prior to the official debut date.
“Vehicles like this,” Coltrane said, grinning as he spoke, “remind people of better times.”
The Camaro debuted in 1967. The ’67 and ’68 models looked almost identical to the untrained eye. The 2010 model is more a throwback to the ’69 Camaro, it, too, considered a classic automobile.
By all accounts, the 2010 is also a fine vehicle, one likely to go head-to-head with the Japanese imports without having to lower its grill in shame.
The latest Camaro comes in a six-cylinder version that offers ó according to Chevrolet ó 29 miles to the gallon. But hang on, the news gets better.
Even the six-cylinder motor provides more than 300 horsepower. That’s more wallop, said Thom Dillard, Team Chevrolet’s owner, than the big 350-cubic-inch V-8 motors of the late-’60s.
And rest assured full-sized Chevrolets weren’t getting 29 miles to the gallon 40 years ago.
There’s more. Even if you want a top-of-the-line Camaro Super Sport, you won’t have to spend your day going from one gas station to the next.
The muscle-bound Super Sport comes with a 6.2-liter V-8 that delivers better than 400 horsepower and ó hang onto your gear selector ó about 26 miles to the gallon.
Not bad for a vehicle that’ll still attract more than its share of attention as it cruises past.
Coltrane said the lone new Camaro on display Tuesday in Team’s showroom was on loan from General Motors Corp. Team’s first such car won’t roll into Salisbury until Friday.
The price of the new Camaro is reasonable, with the six-cylinder version selling for about $24,000. A Super Sport starts at about $34,000, though options can, admittedly, quickly drive the price in excess of $40,000.
“Today is the rollout,” Coltrane said as he watched the crowds gather around that single new Camaro.
For Tuesday’s debut, a ’68 Camaro convertible and a ’68 Camaro coupe were also displayed in the Team showroom. Not far away was parked a ’57 Chevy two-door.
One might be excused for glancing around to see if Richie Cunningham was in the corner jawing with Fonzie.
Coltrane said he was glad to see the new Camaro finally make its debut. He said interest in the car has been high, though consumers were left largely to themselves to research the vehicle since even dealerships had few technical details to provide.
“People have been hungry for information for the past several months and we haven’t had much to give them,” Coltrane said.
He and Dillard, the dealership’s owner, were happy to share an article from Motor Trend with anyone wishing to take a look.
According to the magazine’s publishers, the new Camaro beat the retro Dodge Challenger and the retro Ford Mustang in a competition they dubbed, “The Pony Car Wars.”
Coltrane hesitated to guess how the Camaro might be received or how many of the cars might eventually be produced.
“Right now, it’s unknown,” he said. “It just depends on the demand.”
The dancing girls who graced the Team Chevrolet showroom were adolescents from Donna’s Dancers in Salisbury. The studio is owned by Donna Painter.
She said she gave her students a crash course ó primarily instruction on some fancy dance steps ó in how to welcome the new version of an old classic. One of Painter’s charges tossed a baton inches from the aforementioned well-restored ’57 Chevy.
Both the girl and the car escaped the event unscathed.
“They’re having a ball,” Painter said of her dancers.
Michael Strauss of Gold Hill owns the ’68 Camaro convertible displayed in Team’s showroom. Strauss, a captain for jetBlue Airways, said one of his friends at the dealership knows he owns the Camaro and came to him with a simple request.
“He asked, ‘What are you doing May 5?’ ” Strauss said, laughing.
He was happy to bring the car to the dealership for display, he said.
Strauss admitted he was more smitten with the 2010 Camaro than he thought he’d be. He said Gary Voros, a friend and financing manager for Team, was trying to entice him to put a down payment on a new Camaro.
“He’s over there trying to sell me one,” Strauss said, motioning in the direction of Voros. “And he’s not far off.”