As long as we are traveling "back to the 90s" I thought I'd post up this picture from an F-car development trip circa January '97. Grainy, yes, but this was still pre-digital pictures!
This was an engineering trip so the purpose was product development and refinement for the 1998 model year. All of the cars are engineering mules except for the '97 Anniversary Camaro. Note all the other cars have a "hood bump". The cars mechanically were '98s including powertrains, brake systems, electrical content, and chassis tuning. They also had '98 induction systems which would not fit under a stock '97 hood. Rather than put '98 sheet metal on everything and give secrets away, the cars were built with rather unsightly fiberglass panels attached to cover the holes cut in the steel hoods for clearance. Some were painted body color, some were left gel-coat white. The '97 Firehawk hoods provided ample clearance too, and we had a few Firebirds with them, but none were on this trip.
The trip included V-6 (my program) and V8 cars. We drove from Michigan to Denver (where I joined) through Colorado into Utah. We took this side trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We did not venture far out on to the salt as it was a little wet this time of year, but far enough to realize how vast and flat it was! We continued on into Nevada stopping in Vegas and ending in Phoenix. If I remember correctly there were 3 V6s and 3 V8s along with the '97 production Camaro, and I think we had a Mustang along for comparison, as well as a chase truck. This was a typical product development trip where we would travel 3-400 miles per day, taking data, rotating among cars and meeting and discussing at the day's end to consider changes / improvements for the following day. This timing would have been "pre-pilot" with the intent of finalizing any changes prior to "pilot" build (or "start of saleable vehicle" - can't recall exactly when that term replaced pilot, but around this time frame). Pilot '98s would have been built in March '97 at Ste Therese. I wound up with two vehicles out of that pilot build but that is another story....
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