How to Tune, Modify and Customize Your Camaro 1982-98 (Motorbooks Powertech Series) (Paperback)

The pressures are exerted in the same manner from one generation to the next, each one contextualizing objects and methods to best suit their era. At first glance the objects of a young man's world appear to be different -- the horse, the pirate ship, the chariot. But in reality they all serve the same function.

In late 20th century North America, the automobile crystallizes much of the young man's primal dilemma. It serves the multiple functions of phallic/status symbol, fortress, and bedroom.

Perhaps no other vehicle embodied these multiple functions as well as the Chevrolet Camaro. When the Camaro was introduced in 1967 it was the sporty option for affluent 25-35 year old businessmen. It was not until the mid 70's that is it had depreciated in value enough to become accessible to paper-route financing.

The most money and effort then went into customizing the car, a reflection of the desperate need to display virility. Oversized rear tires, phallic blowers and exposed engines, and other sexualized modifications were far more over-the-top than the car's designers had ever imagined.

The Camaro's lengthy reign as the quintessential high school cruising car lasted from approximately 1975 until the late 80's, it's redefined relevance exhausted. Inevitably, the Camaro lost it's cultural currency, developing a stigma that was just as likely to repel the chicks as attract them.

The Acura Integra, arriving in 1986, was again too expensive for the young consumer. More significantly, it was completely out-of-sync with the metallurgic sensibilities of the hard rock youth of that era. Thus the Acura was fated to mellow innocuously in graphic designer's townhouse driveways for seven years or so. Then as it lost Yuppie prestige in the early 90's, it was handed down to the high school man, who redefined it's purpose to reflect upon his world.

The late 80's saw the evolution of a more subtle visual spectacle and the elaboration of the aural, as the giant sub woofer replaced the blower, the 'No Fear' sticker replacing the air-brushed 'Valkyrie vs. Dragon' hood scene. Perhaps sonic barrage has replaced spectacle as the new means of drawing sexual attention.

Who knows if the Integra will become as full-blown an icon for the teenage zeitgeist that the Camaro did, but we do know that somewhere is a vehicle that will be dormant for years until it is called forth to be the new steed of the 21st century high school man.