Wednesday 27 July 2011

Old American Muscle

The Muscle Car origin was said to have started with the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, created in response to public interest in speed and power. These cars were built from the rod hodder's philosophy of taking a small car and putting a BIG engine in it. Since they were designed mainly to go fast in a straight line the chassis lacked engineering as hardly any cornering stability was needed. Following this release, Ford, Chev, Plymouth, Dodge, Pontiac all started to produce rivals. Bringing us the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro / Chevelle, Plymouth Roadrunner, Dodge Charger and Pontiac Firebird.

The thing i love about these cars in a design aspect is the Aggressive lines and solid feel to the body and overall shape. Giving them a look of dominance on the road. It is these features that made me buy my favorite car, the 69 Chev Camaro.
Chev choose the name Camaro as it means "friend or companion", but the Automotive press laughed when Ford found an alternate meaning "a small, shrimp-like creature" and "loose bowels".
The Camaro was produced to rival the Ford Mustang. Automotive press asked Chevrolet product managers on the day of the unveiling, "What is a Camaro?" and were told it was "a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs."


I've started to repair my Camaro and thought this would be a good place to see what you guys think of my design for a new dash? I'm thinking about making a mold out of wood and then applying fiberglass resin to create a light weight dash with some supports along the back.
original dash: http://www.classicautoair.com/images/MS-Camaro69Dash1L.jpg
my plan: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q100/ShaunTur/Plans.png

Resources:
http://www.usmuscle.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Camaro
http://www.holisticpage.com/camaro/story/history.htm

Shaun T
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous27 July 2011 at 1:32 pm

    Interesting post Shaun. It shows good analysis.

    As far as your new dash is concerned, I think that the chrome trim is a good way to reference the original. The hardest part is going to be having a visual link between the centre console, and the new dash.

    Good luck!

    Robbie

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  2. Anonymous27 July 2011 at 2:57 pm

    Iv been thinking about that actually. The original dash is completely separate from the centre console but i want to put a single DIN head unit in so ill have to come up with something.
    Shaun T

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  3. Anonymous28 July 2011 at 11:11 pm

    Super jealous that you're doing up a camaro, one of my favourite cars perhaps more so because it was a little under appreciated in the shadow of the original mustang. Strange how history can make a design more appealing. Good luck with the repair job, are you going to keep the original dials and fittings in replacing the dash or going for a completely different feel? Because the originals could give you an arsenal of style cues. And looks left hand drive? Hope it goes well.

    Ed Hamer

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