We were really starting to wonder if anyone was going to publish a book to honor the Camaro's 40th Anniversary. Then, better late than never, along comes Motorbooks with Camaro Forty Years by Darwin Holmstrom. Fortunately, this title, billed as "The Official Anniversary Book," was worth the wait. It's a book many Chevrolet enthusiasts will want and that every Camaro fan must buy.

The first thing almost everyone notices about this book is its exquisite photography. Most of it was done by Pasadena, California car shooter, David Newhardt, and his work makes the book totally worth its 35-dollar price. Motorbooks' reproduction of Newhardt's art is outstanding.

Once you get past ohing and ahing at the pictures and start reading, you get a Forward by by GM Vice President for Global Design, Ed Welburn. When you consider the top stylist at the biggest car company in the world, who's also a Camaro owner and enthusiast, agreeing to do the Forward in a book about his favorite car; you start to realize that, unlike some coffee table car books which are long on eye candy but short on substance, this book is a good read.

After Mr. Welburn's Forward, Author, Holmstrom, gets down to business with an interesting, two-chapter discussion of the conditions present in the car business which fostered the concept of a Chevrolet sporty coupe and the development of the '67-'69 First Gen Camaro. From there you get a chapter each on the next three iterations of Camaro. The book ends with a short section on the coming 2010 car.

Throughout this 348 page title Holmstrom's writing is free-flowing accessible and enjoyable. The reading is interesting and educational. The majority of the text is well-researched. The two chapters on the First Gen cars, in particular, do great justice to the '67-'69s and may help readers to understand why the look of the coming, 2010 Camaro was inspired by the First Gen cars.

Admittedly, books like this are not intended to be detailed technical histories and few people will buy this title for that. Nevertheless, we'd be failing as reviewers if we didn't point out that this book's only weakness is occasional technical inaccuracies. Most of it is modest mistakes, such as inaccurate power ratings for the 302s in early Z/28s, incorrect description of four-bolt-main blocks, misidentification of the 3rd Gen car's L98 engine as an L89 and the claim that the LS1's oil pan is part of chassis structure of the '98-'02 car.

Actually, there's only one mistake in this book which is significant and it's a racing action photograph of a '67 Camaro in Penske Racing livery. Its caption claims Mark Donohue is driving the car in a 1967 Trans-Am race at Laguna Seca Raceway near Monterey, California. The Sports Car Club of America never ran a Trans-Am Series event on that track that year and Donohue had been dead a long time before any Camaro was invited to Monterey for its famed Historic Automobile Races. While the image was shot at Laguna Seca, it is fairly recent photo, the driver can't be Donohue and the car may or may not be the authentic Penske Camaro from '67.

In spite of those few problems, Camaro Forty Years is a wonderful trip through Camaro's past. It now occupies the center spot on my coffee table and it should be on yours, too.

Author: Darwin Holmstrom
Photographer: David Newhardt
Foreword: Ed Welburn
Format: Hardbound
Pages: 348
Size: 10.5" x 12"
ISBN: 0760328161
Catalog ID: 144230