by Jon Wilson

Created on: October 04, 2007

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in this beholder's humble opinion, the third generation Chevrolet Camaro has that quality in spades. It could be argued that the 80s was not an illustrious decade for American car design, but that doesn't mean there aren't diamonds to be found in the rough.

The "3rd gen" Camaro is a case in point. The squared off lines and angular shapes used to lesser effect on some cars of the era all seem to make sense here. All the proportions look just right; even the stance of the car gives one cause to pause for a moment after parking. The long overhangs do nothing to minimise the sporting look, and the raked angles of the screens, both front and rear, give a real sense of drama. Not a big car by American standards it's easy to see why the Chevy is a popular choice on these shores. Chances are, if you are thinking about buying your first Yank, the Camaro's on your list to at least look at.

Such is my experience of the model. After brief and ambitious forays in to the less straightforward areas of American Vehicle ownership, I decided it was time to buy something I could realistically use every day. Despite the raised eyebrows levelled at my "sensible" decision, I was not put off realising my dream of having a sporty classic American daily driver. After looking round for a while I found a very clean and original 1987 IROC Z-28 with the 305 TPI. This is the pick of the bunch as the impressive sounding name would suggest. The Z28 was the sporty top of the range package in 1987. On top of this could be added the IROC-Z package as the lucky first owner did on my car. The five litre V8 produces 190bhp and if you're gentle will return 25 mpg.

Behind the wheel is where all these figures begin to make sense, and the first step in that direction is a pleasant one. The long, heavy door opens impressively with the frameless windows adding that touch of class. First impressions are that it's lower to sit in than you were expecting, the soft foam in the seats making you recline a little more than you'd like. This is easily remedied by the exhaustively adjustable electric seat, which can seemingly be tweaked to suit anyone from Geoff Capes to ET. The forward view is exactly what you'd expect from an American Muscle car. A vast expanse of bonnet, punctuated with plastic performance trim makes you feel decidedly small, and invites you to crane your neck in the vain hope of judging where it stretches to. Only time and experience will allow you the

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