[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by 1QWIKBIRD

That's all I'm asking (although I'd really like closer to 300lbs weight drop).....Yet everyone seems to think I'm nuts? Does the Z28 need to be supercharged and pushed into the upper $40k price range to accomplish that goal?

No, but like this thread has started, people think that GM should copy, car for car, what the Mustang does.
GM said ok, and is going to make a 550hp Supercharged V8 Z28.
Do they have to? No, not in my world. I would much rathe rsee a 3700lbs, 450hp LS3, or Gen V V8 roll out in a Z28.

As for GTO production 40,800+/- units over the 3 year run is still short of the all the V8 based Pontiacs (Firebirds/TransAms) from the final three years of the 4th gen (2000, 2001, 2002) combined (41,700+/-) so I'm not sold on the GTO being a success. Trends maybe have been learned which were applied to the G8 etc. But on its own the GTO didn't deliver. Best case it was a stop gap that gave GM a mid price V8 rear drive car that it otherwise didn't have.

You are gunna say that you arent sure that teh GTO, which is 200 short of your numbers for the TA, is not a success? Then by your own admission, the Trans Am and its variatns are not a success, and are flops in the market place. But if thats the case, there must be a reason?
You are saying that despite the GTO's lack of any type of loud and brash styling, its higher price point, its heavier weight, its lack of options, or any other things you can think of, it sells about the same as the fabled Trans Am?
The Trans Am did not deliver. The 4th gen was the biggest mistake in GM's history. It sold a fraction of what its previous generations did. Even in the third gen Camaro's worst year, it sold some 90k units I belive. That still is greater then the total sold in the last year of the 4th gen.
This is going by what you are saying. It didnt deliver.

I appreciate the well thought out answer BigAl. Maybe I am a jaded enthusiast after all. I talk to my Dad (63years old) and you mention Z28 to him and he'll tell you about the 69Z28 he bought new when he got out of the Navy in '69. Forrest Green with Gold Stripes, dealer installed sidepipes, 4-speed no console, no rear spoiler, no cowl hood. A real stripped Z28. The smile on his face is 3 miles wide. Bought headers for it at Langhorne Speedshop or was it Reedman, I forget. Then he laughs says it only cost him $3400 or so. That's what I think when I think Z28......100% performance, no frills and have fun.

Then is then, now is now. People expect heated seats and navigation in thier subcompact cars. People expect more from thier cars. Even though your father enjoyed his Z28, Id say that on the average Z28's were optioned higher then what your father purcahsed. I have met a lot of Fbody guys in my time. A lot. I could count on one finger how many base base base stripper models I have seen. It was a 2000 Camaro Z28, with roll up windows, manual door locks, hard top, auto, and even then it still has the optional Bose sound system. Guy still has it last time I checked.
Everyone else I have ever met has had more and more options.
Want to know the average transaction price of the current 5th gen? Its high, but I would say that is par for the course for the first year run.
Point is, people dont want to buy race cars anymore. Those days are over. They want a super car or something equivilent, but they want more to go with it.