Many families treasure heirlooms and collectibles passed down and collected from generation to generation. My family is no different. Instead of heirlooms, my family has collected Camaros ranging from the RS to the Z-28 models. Many of these were kept for years, held in pristine condition, and passed between different family members from time to time. When your last name is Camara you have to drive a Camaro.
The Camara family’s first Camaro was a 1969 Camaro SS, which came with a 4-speed manual transmission, a 350 V-8 engine, and a gloss black paint job. My grandfather, Jonathan Camara, bought this car in early 1969. On occasion, we would talk about all the cars he’s owned and which were his favorite and he said that by far this was his favorite car. He kept this remarkable machine for four years, until he sold it to his brother, my great uncle, for about $4,000. Now when my Uncle Phil received the car, he made a slight change.. He decided to repaint the Camaro baby blue, as are many other Camaros produced in this year. I have also talked to my Uncle Phil about his experience with this particular Camaro, and he says that he wishes he’d never given it up. He said that with how rare and valuable that car is, he would’ve loved to be one of the few owners of such a prestigious car. He later sold the car to a friend of his for a mere $3,500. That’s my father’s side of the family for now.
On my mother’s side, her uncle, Nick, owned a 1974 Camaro Z-28 with a 350 V-8 engine with a cherry apple red paint job. His car had an automatic transmission unlike my grandfather’s Camaro. My mom commented one time about how she was allowed to drive this fantastic pony car. In her words, “It was kind of scary being behind the wheel of something like that when you just turn sixteen. It was like I was driving something that was mad at the world.” My uncle still owns that car to this day and swears to never get rid of it. My grandfather on my mom’s side, Jerry, also owned a Camaro but for a very short amount of time. He had a 1982 Camaro Z-28 that was voted by Motor Trend in 1982 as the “Best handling car in America.” It came with a 5-speed manual transmission, 350 5.0 liter V-8 engine, and a royal blue paint job. He only owned this car for about a year, but he said it was a very nice car. My grandfather never kept a car for more than a two years at a time so no matter how nice the car was, it was bound to go.
Now, back to my father’s side of the family. In 1991, my grandfather, Jonathan, purchased my Uncle Tom a 1991 Camaro RS with a 5-speed manual transmission, a 305 V-8 engine, and a cherry apple red paint job. This car has made quite the journey. My uncle kept the car for about 3 years and then decided that he was tired of it, so my grandfather took it off his hands. My grandfather said he enjoyed the car for approximately 2 years and actually wanted to keep it, but my uncle came back saying he wanted the car back, so he bought it from my grandfather for about $6,000. He then decided again that he didn’t want it anymore after a year and a half, so he gave it to my Aunt Diane, who kept it for a year. My grandfather once again took it back, kept it for another 2 years, and gave it to my father for me to get when I turned sixteen. My dad has now owned the car for seven and a half years and has gotten a paint job for it, put a custom hood on, and Borla racing exhaust tips on it. As far as I’m concerned, this is going to stay with me for many years to come.
