Camaro Caravan: Chevy launches new Camaros with 45-car drive through Texas

Nearly 50 bright orange Chevrolet Camaros made their way from downtown Dallas to downtown Fort Worth, Texas, earlier today to open the dealership launch of the all-new muscle car. A visual knock-out, the police-escorted caravan of 45 Camaro SSs garnered a tremendous amount of attention as it passed through the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex before the dealers officially took delivery of the new cars.
Leftlane was fortunate to grab a passenger seat ride with a principal of James Wood Chevrolet as the line of factory-fresh inferno orange Camaros made their way from Dallas to Fort Worth, stopping traffic along the way.

More than just a lineup of flashy cars, the drive served as the official launch of the Camaro for Chevrolet’s dealers; similar events will be held in a handful of other markets before the car’s official on-sale date May 6.

Though we’ve already driven the Camaro, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity of a ride-along that passed through the tourist-heavy Stock Yards district before winding up in the middle of downtown Fort Worth during the lunch hour. To say that the crowds were heavy is an understatement: We were accosted by throngs of Fort Worthians trying to get a good look at the Camaros, the first to hit the streets in the hands of the public anywhere in the nation.

The dealers we spoke with seemed excited about the Camaro, though some said that they have unsold incoming inventory, particularly the rural dealers. Everyone we spoke to agreed that the Camaro will be a great showroom traffic piece; the orange SSs the dealers drove away from Fort Worth back to their showrooms won’t be sold for a while so that they can act as eye candy on the sales floor.

These were the first Camaros produced for public sale at GM’s Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant, though they were not without their flaws. One dealer’s car refused to shift out of third gear unless it was forced into neutral and then back into drive and another’s was unable to leave the Dallas staging area. In all fairness, these were super early-production cars and some dealers were questioning the thoroughness of the pre-delivery inspections performed by one of the dealers. GM’s Oshawa plant has long been a top performer in JD Power’s surveys, so we’re optimistic that these gaffes were limited to a combination of the earliest cars and a rushed PDI by local dealers.

After the drive, the dealers, as well as a few members of the media, gathered for a brief lunch, where the group was joined by baseball legend Nolan Ryan. We wondered just why the former pitcher and current Texas Rangers club president was the speaker of honor, but we soon learned that Chevrolet is a major sponsor of the Rangers and Ryan is an unabashed bowtie fan – his history with the brand dates back to his first car, a $50 ’52 Chevrolet, though we suspect the sponsorship has helped solidify his interest in recent years. Ryan says his daily driver is a Silverado – and we have little reason to doubt the quick-witted, country-boy-at-heart Texan.

We thought you would enjoy seeing some photos of the Camaros staging in Dallas’ Victory Park and making their way to Fort Worth’s Sundance Square via the historic Stock Yards. The staged group photos reminded us of full-size Hot Wheels cars – an image GM no doubt hopes will ring true with buyers as customer Camaros begin arriving in dealerships.