Ok...at this point, realists may think the Fifth Generation Camaro Concepts at auto shows are getting a little stale. Obviously, we disagree. The Camaro evangelists we are, upon seeing the orange Convertible Concept at the LA Auto Show Press Days last week, we were, once again, stunned by the Camaro's seductive blend of classic, 1st Gen inspiration and contemporary styling cues. The Hugger Orange paint sure didn't hurt our impression, either, nor did the snazy display Scott Settlemire and his Chevrolet Shows and Exhibits team worked up for a background.

After all the greenie/hybrid/hydrogen fuel coolaid we were force feed at Press Days, a chance to reflect upon one damn good looking convertible was a much-welcome "breath of fresh air" and certainly better than the tree-hugging hot air coming out of the car company PR types.

We do have some recent news.

In what might be one of the first, documented, major departures (and perhaps the only major departure) of the production exterior from the Concept Car design, we've confirmed the 2010 Coupe will have a B-pillar. It will be hard to notice from the outside. Think of a First Gen car with the rear, side glass rolled up. The rear window will cover this B-pillar. It's necessary to give the car the structural rigidity necessary for good ride, handing and safety. It's also necessary for weight reduction. It's possible to do a pillarless Camaro Coupe, as was the Concept, but concept vehicles need not handle well nor meet Federal rollover standards. For the production car to do both, it needs a roof structure which is beefed-up over that of the Concept. To do that without a B-pillar would have added weight. Adding a B-pillar allowed the top structure to be both strong and light.

We haven't confirmed what V8 will be in the car but there's plenty of speculation about a Camaro version of the LS3, the base engine in the 2008 Corvette. The Concepts were all built with the '400hp, six-liter, LS2, Gen 4 Small-Block, the base Vette engine from '05-'07. For the '08 model year, the LS2 has gone out of production, replaced by the slightly larger and more powerful LS3. We continue to believe the new LS3, with a slightly lower power rating and the active fuel management (AFM) cylinder deactivation system and maybe a cam phaser, will see Camaro duty. We feel strongly enough about this that we've begun working on an in-depth technical article on the Camaro LS3. Once we confirm our beliefs, we'll post that article.

Lastly, based on the intel we've developed on how the production 5th Gen will look, we think the production car will be so close to the concept that, at a glance, it'd be tough to tell the two apart. In fact, recently, a GM insider who's close to the project emailed us: "if we were driving down the road in a production Camaro coupe in Silver and you passed us going the other way, you'd swear it was the Silver concept."