Camaro, Firebird Reach End of the Road

The Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird, two vehicles that helped define “muscle cars” for generations of American teenagers, will die next year at the age of 35, General Motors Corp. said Tuesday.

Launched in 1966 as a response to the wildly popular Ford Mustang, the Camaro and Firebird twins and their high-performance Z28 and Trans Am variants were killed by changing industry economics that made selling large numbers of 300-horsepower sports coupes to men under 35 nearly impossible.

The two “have literally been stopped dead in their tracks,” said Jim Wangers, an auto industry analyst and former advertising executive who helped launch the Firebird in 1966. “The sales drop is so significant it becomes economically unwise to make those cars.”

GM said it was closing the Canadian plant where the two models are built next September, ending production after more than 6.6 million vehicles.

The Camaro and Firebird were first introduced in 1966 as 1967 models, and have had only four major updates since, the last in 1992. None tinkered with the basic formula for success--a big V8 engine powering the rear wheels in a package made as cheap as possible.

Like all muscle cars, the Camaro and Firebird were hit by the oil embargoes and clean-air restrictions of the early 1970s, which forced less-powerful engines under their hoods and dampened sales.

But they remained popular through the decade. The pinnacle came with the 1977 film “Smokey and the Bandit,” featuring Burt Reynolds in a black Pontiac Trans Am complete with gold “screaming chicken” hood decal escorting a truckload of beer across the country.

But for the last several years, the Camaro and Firebird have been lagging further and further behind the Mustang. Through August of this year, GM has sold 38,564 Camaros and Firebirds in the United States, while Ford Motor Co. sold 112,242 Mustangs here.

Wangers said one reason why the Mustang has flourished is because it’s no longer a true muscle car. Last year, over 70% of Mustangs were sold with a V6 engine rather than a V8, he said, and over 60% were sold to women.

By comparison, the Camaro and Firebird are still mostly known for their high-power variants that appeal to men under 35, Wangers said.

Even if those younger buyers can afford a $25,000 to $30,000 sticker, insurance premiums of thousands of dollars a year make the purchase more difficult.