Steel Mills
Final Thoughts
March 28, 2023
Chevrolet recently announced it was retiring the sixth-generation Camaro. An iconic muscle car that first went on sale in late 1966 for the 1967 model year, it had already gone through a few changes.
Recall that in 1967 a gallon of gas cost around 35 cents in the USA. That’s for those who can recall (not me). We could adjust for inflation, but that wouldn’t be fun. As a comparison, let’s just say a pack of cigarettes cost the same price. To keep things really scientific, note that a Hershey Bar definitely DID NOT cost a nickel that year (about 25 cents).
The Camaro was a competitor to the Ford Mustang that officially came out in model-year 1965. Dodge Charger. Pontiac Trans Am. Muscle cars. More pistons than you could shake a stick at. Horsepower like they handed it out free in Detroit. And as for gas mileage??? It’s a wonder the automakers were even allowed to PAINT these guzzlers “green”?
Some of these names are still around. And some of them aren’t. Things change.
Freedom, power, individualism, the ability to put your car on blocks in your driveway and do something useful with a socket wrench… That’s since morphed into a slightly different set of ideals.
We’re conscious of what we need to do to protect our planet. And technology has advanced. Still, a muscle car of any variety, even an electric one, will never be a Prius.
“While we are not announcing an immediate successor today, rest assured, this is not the end of Camaro’s story,” Scott Bell, vice president, Global Chevrolet, said in a press release.
If it comes down to it, I’m sure an electric Camaro will be heck of a lot quieter but will still pack quite a punch.
Maybe on your next drive you’ll think of all the changes, and what it means. How when you shape a hunk of the best building material in the world—and some aluminum—into a car, it can become so much more.
You’ll slide up to an intersection. Glance left or right. And someone, another driver, will meet that glance. You’ll both stare up to that stoplight as your hands tense up on the steering wheel.
The light flashes green, and you punch it… And proceed with caution across the intersection while obeying the speed limit. Then you can treat yourself to a Hershey Bar.
Steel 101
It’s not too late to register for our Steel 101 workshop on Tues-Weds April 11-12 in Cleveland. The course will feature a tour of Cleveland-Cliffs’ Cleveland Works.
Students will learn about steelmaking in the morning, and then they’ll see the processes they’ve just learned in action in the afternoon. Not just see, but actually feel that heat.
The combination of learning about a hot-strip mill and then seeing that mill in action really makes the knowledge stick. You can learn more and register here.
By Ethan Bernard, ethan@steelmarketupdate.com
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