According to General Motors, 6 of the top 10 Dealerships in 5th Gen Camaro Sales are located in the Lone Star State, so it’s only fitting to throw a Texas-Sized Camaro bash to celebrate America’s favorite modern muscle car. This past weekend the streets of Austin, Texas were filled with F-bodies as over 50 Fifth Generation Camaros rolled into town for the first ever Texas-Wide Camaro5 Meet. Camaro owners from all over the great state of Texas converged onto the capital city to take part in the largest documented gathering of individually owned 5th Gen Camaros to date. Camaro clubs from Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, and of course Austin, were all well represented, as well as many small towns all along the way.
The event was kicked off with a Meet-and-Greet at The Oasis on Lake Travis, where organizers say that approximately 51 Camaros were parked together, gleaming under the hot Texas sun. Needless to say, the 5th Gens attracted more than a little attention. After lunch, the participants made a short scenic cruise through the Texas Hill-Country back in to downtown Austin for a photo shoot. There I was able to meet up with the group, and talked with several of the participants, including the Event Coordinator, Damon DeFriese, from San Antonio. I asked Damon about how the event came to fruition, and he had this to say:
“It all started out with a 2 year old post on Camaro5 that we should have a Texas wide meet up. I saw the thread and decided ‘Why not try and make this happen?’ Then it was just a matter of picking a central location and tossing out ideas to see if there was an interest. Then I just tried to find venues large enough to hold it that wouldn’t charge us an arm and a leg. All of the Austin locals were a huge help in the planning of every part. The interest really started to pick up, and before we knew it there were over fifty cars planning to come.”
After the photo shoot, the crew rolled out for “Cabella’s Car Meet”, which is held every Saturday night at Cabella’s Outfitters (hence the name) in south Austin. In a show of good form, Cabella’s welcomes auto enthusiasts rather than forcing them off of their property, and even sponsors the event. It was rumored that the area Mustang guys were planning on showing up to the Show-and-Shine en mass to take the wind out of Camaro5’s sails. As it turns out, they were all talk and 5th Gen Camaros ruled the lot.
The meet was a great opportunity for 5th Gen Owners to get together and share their passion for the Camaro, as well as make an impressive showing for the general public. When I asked Damon what the best part of the even was, he told me, “I would have to say the meet up at Oasis. The smiles on the people in the crowd that gathered to look at all the Camaros was pretty cool.”
So, the 1st Annual Texas-Wide Camaro5 Meet is in the books for 2011, and by all accounts it was a great success. If you’re a Texan and missed out on the meet, don’t worry because the Camaro5 crew plans to make this a yearly event. With the ranks of Camaro owners and the popularity of the 5th Gen growing every day, positive enthusiast events like this should only continue to grow as well.
Camaro5 member Jose Lugo, from Temple, Texas, left us with these thoughts; “The Texas-Wide Camaro event was more than just a meet. It gave us the chance to match faces with names, and gave us the opportunity to interact with other fellow Camaro owners who love and enjoy their cars as much as I do.”