I think your thinking of a Nova. While it cannot be mistaken for a Camaro, 31 years can scramble so memories. The Nova was a big seller for many years in the late 60’s and through the 70’s. It came in 2-door models and 4-door models, with Standard ‘Grandma’ options:
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and ‘Muscle Car’ options:
http://www.vicarimotorsports.com/1970%20Chevrolet%20Nova%20SS.jpg
A 15 year old mind can easily see Car #2 hiding in Car #1!
Nope, no way.
Perhaps it was a special factory option, but I am going for mis branded, I looked at a new Nova in 72 with a ventura dashboard. Camaro does not lend itself well to a 4 door design, how much beer did they get to drink on the assembly line way back then? Can you look at gto’s or other cars of that era and see a similarity to what you recall?
There is a segment of the hot rodding crowd that creates cars that never existed from the factory, including things like a 4-door Camaro. They do it just because they consider it cool. Chevy has never (yet) made a 4-door Camaro. And definitely not in the early '70s. I know, I was there. Friends of mine drove Camaros. I, poor me, bought a Vega instead.
Here’s the full history of the Camaro
By teh way, while the Vega was not made in a 4-door eithe it was made in a station wagon version
called a “kamback”.
perhaps you saw a Kamback Vega?
I think one of your buddies told you it was a Camaro, or you guys rolled your fatty too tight.
Could you have seen a 4 door Chevelle? If there was a 4 door Camaro in the time frame you suggest I don’t believe it would have been rusted. It would have been too new.
You know what’s strange? I can’t find any pics of a custom 4-door Camaro or Firebird from that era. You’d think somebody somewhere would have done it, with pics easy to find…
are you thinking your ‘unmistakable’ memory is seeing the two white longitudinal stripes from front to back, and think that was a camaro only accessory? Those stripes were copied by many car enthusiasts back in the day, and a misplaced emblem once in a while was thrown in to make people ‘feel good’ about their ride.
The car in the picture looks an awful lot like an early '70s Chevrolet Vega Kammback wagon, and I only see two doors (plus a tailgate, presumably).
Without a photograph it’s impossible to tell. The usual histories claim that Camaro was only offered in coupe and convertible (convertible not continuously) configurations. However, here are a couple of notes from one site that might explain what you saw (although the '82 hatchback is later than your 31-year memory).
The 1978 model featured new soft front and rear bumpers and much larger taillamps. To go along with this new bumper they also gave the feature of body kit to lower the front nose. Some even featured sideskirts as well. This was also the first year the T-top ? a t-bar roof with dark tinted glass lift-out panels ? became available as an option.
The 1982 model introduced the first Camaros with factory fuel injection, four-speed automatic transmissions (three-speed on the earlier models), five-speed manual transmissions (four-speed manual transmissions in 1982, and some 1983 to 1984 models), 15- or 16-inch (381- or 406-mm) rims, hatchback body style, and even a four-cylinder engine (due to concerns over fuel economy in the wake of the 1979 energy crisis). The Camaro Z28 was Motor Trend magazine?s Car of the Year for 1982.
I would suggest it was a car pieced together from other cars. My first truck was a 1968/1969/1971 GMC/Chevy/Chevy. We took the cab from one truck, the engine and tranny from another and the bed from another put them together and made one truck. Perhaps someone put a Camaro front and put it onto a sedan. It may well have been an import, not for sale in the States and someone put Camaro badges on it. Even familiar manufacturers make cars offshore that you can’t buy in the States. I’ve seen Fords, for example, very very nice Fords that you can only buy in Europe and Australia. Again perhaps someone cut and paste something together in the manner of the car in the photo.
There are many things that I thought I “knew” from my youth that turned out to be false. Perhaps this is one of those.
We’ve all been trying to help nmbrone by thinking of Chevrolet models that came with 4 doors that look somewhat like a Camaro. I’ve been trying to think of another make of car with a model that came in a 4 door version that had a name that was similar to “Camaro” or looked like “Camaro”. Since, in my old age, I can only remember cars made in 1960 or earlier, maybe someone else can come up with a possible answer thinking along these lines.
I tried the same thing and failed. The Vega was the only similar design not a Camaro that I could figure, but it never came 4-door either. The base design of both cars just didn’t lend itself to a 4-door design without a lot of extra work to put in a B-pillar.
Maybe a Chevelle or Malibu? mis branded?
http://inlinethumb18.webshots.com/27985/2464090330103886947S425x425Q85.jpg
http://images5.fotki.com/v81/photos/2/280190/1006348/1969ChevellepoliceRFcorner-vi.jpg
Holden LJ Torana?
I think Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac all had cars that were essentially a Chevrolet Nova but had different nameplates. The Buick was called the Apollo, but I’ve forgotten the model names of the Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Perhaps the mystery 4 door Camaro was one of these.
I believe the Buick was an Apollo, the Pontiac was the Venture, and the Oldsmobile was the Omega.
there has never been a 4dr camaro ypu must have saw something else
What a useful comment, willie77! Did you realize the thread was 5 days old when you told nmbrone he “must have saw (sic) something else” and that the very first reply stated there were no 4-door Camaros? I guess the previous 37 contributors were wasting their time in trying to pinpoint what he actually saw – should have just waited for your expertise!!