Seeing a car you love in a scrapyard isn’t always something that is the highlight of your day. I’m sure many of us go about our driving, seeing cars pass us by that have been on the roads for decades and wonder just what the story behind their long-lived lives are. Then, you see a product of today’s demand, a machine that on the inside, a scientific feat brimming with the latest technology, with fifty different settings for the position of your seat, but on the outside, you see a modernized version of a classic car; its got all the same curves, but everything is just more contemporary. There aren’t many questions that flow through my mind when I see a car like this pass me by. In fact, it will catch my eye for a few seconds before I shrug it off and continue on my way. What gets me, is how so many people who own today’s modernized classics can be much more unaware of their surroundings, and why I see more recent cars in pieces on the backs of tow trucks heading for the crusher, because the accident that they got it into was unfortunately its last. I am a Camaro lover, and seeing the way the car developed up until GM decided to pull the car from the market for what much of the outside world believed to be the last time we’d ever see the Camaro name on the market at all, was a sad day for all of us. But when Chevrolet brought back the Camaro from the dead in 2006, our hearts started racing once again. It was bigger, better, faster, and it wore a body with styling cues evident of the original model from the 60’s, which pleased every Camaro fan that set their eyes on it. Seeing these on the roads today, as a production car not far derived from its original concept form pleases me. What doesn’t please me, is seeing one on the back of a flatbed.
No, you are not dreaming. That is a jet black Chevrolet Camaro sporting tinted windows, blacked out rims, a clean finish; and an unfortunate side impact. I saw this on the way home from college yesterday, and the feeling that struck me was the same that i’m sure the driver of the Camaro felt, when the car that put his beloved muscle car icon on the back of the tow truck gave his car that nasty blemish earlier that day.
It’s a sad sight to see. A car that is no more than a few years old, sitting in a pile of twisted metal headed for the nearest scrapyard, where it will spend the remainder of its short-lived life rotting away, as people strip her of her working parts, before she is drained and crushed for scrap metal in the near future. Though the accident does sadden me, as i’m sure it does with other Camaro enthusiasts like myself to see this, what saddens me more, is that this Camaro didn’t live the life it deserved. It’s a car that represents an icon , but was never truly able to live up to its name, and will never have the chance to. And for that reason, it is a sad day for Camaro lovers everywhere.