Photo: jlord8 / Instagram
Jim, the virtual artist only known as jlord8 on social media, has a habit of coming up with lots of General Motors-focused visions of CGI greatness. After all, he is not only a master of "imagination land" but also the proud owner of a 1986 Buick T-Type and a 1995 T-Bird SC.
So, one can easily imagine his love for the greats of the 1980s and 1990s, plus his passion directed at passenger cars and off-road focused SUVs and trucks rather than crossovers and EVs. Just recently, in between lots of fan-requested mods like the Hyundai Santa Cruz HD dually unibody compact pickup truck or the need to do something about the 2024 Toyota Tacoma hype – like a single-cab lowered GR Tacoma, he also set out toward a bit of vintage greatness.
The latter was achieved with stuff like a Caddy DeVille wagon, a Buick Regal Gran Sport Wagon, or a Pontiac Fiero 454 SS and Chevelle 454 SS wagon. All these estate and coupe models might have given the pixel master the needed jolt to cook up some contemporary heroes, too. Thus, soon enough, we met a Buick Grand National that was brought back to life using a few CGI twists of the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing variety. That is not bad at all as a 668-hp and 659 lb-ft (893 Nm) starting point, right?
As such, the natural progression was to offer his fans a bit of an alternate current history of GM's passenger cars. So, the story followed suit with an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser to serve both family and grocery-getting duties, as well as a new Pontiac Grand Prix or a Chevy Camaro sedan. The latter two are a bit quirkier than the norm, as the imagined Pontiac used the DNA of the Cadillac CT4, but it felt like the design bits went a little overboard. Additionally, the 'Maro sedan was cherished for its looks and the fact that it's not (yet) an EV, but people were left squabbling about its actual moniker if ever real – they felt like it also rhymed with Impala SS, Chevy SS, or Malibu SS, among others.
Anyway, as far as the real world is concerned, we all know what happened to these heroes. Buick is no longer offering any passenger cars in the United States, instead solely relying on the power of the Encore, Encore GX, Envision, and Enclave crossovers to mesmerize its audience. Meanwhile, both Pontiac and Oldsmobile are no longer with us entirely. Last but not least, Chevrolet has a new strategy. According to Mary Barra, it will willingly lose a lot of money on mass-market EV models like the Equinox EV or Blazer EV instead of further playing with the Camaro pony and muscle car, for example.
As for the latter, we all know that its fate is sealed – at least for the time being. As such, the 2024 model year of the sixth generation has dropped the 2.0-liter turbo base engine, and even the Panther-themed 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Collector's Edition will be hard to find because just 350 examples will be up for grabs in America. After that, since January next year, silence will fall as the nameplate exits production with no immediate plans for a successor. That is quite sad, indeed. After all, even the bonkers 1,025-hp 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is capped at a much higher production rate of 3,300 examples!
The latter was achieved with stuff like a Caddy DeVille wagon, a Buick Regal Gran Sport Wagon, or a Pontiac Fiero 454 SS and Chevelle 454 SS wagon. All these estate and coupe models might have given the pixel master the needed jolt to cook up some contemporary heroes, too. Thus, soon enough, we met a Buick Grand National that was brought back to life using a few CGI twists of the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing variety. That is not bad at all as a 668-hp and 659 lb-ft (893 Nm) starting point, right?
As such, the natural progression was to offer his fans a bit of an alternate current history of GM's passenger cars. So, the story followed suit with an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser to serve both family and grocery-getting duties, as well as a new Pontiac Grand Prix or a Chevy Camaro sedan. The latter two are a bit quirkier than the norm, as the imagined Pontiac used the DNA of the Cadillac CT4, but it felt like the design bits went a little overboard. Additionally, the 'Maro sedan was cherished for its looks and the fact that it's not (yet) an EV, but people were left squabbling about its actual moniker if ever real – they felt like it also rhymed with Impala SS, Chevy SS, or Malibu SS, among others.
Anyway, as far as the real world is concerned, we all know what happened to these heroes. Buick is no longer offering any passenger cars in the United States, instead solely relying on the power of the Encore, Encore GX, Envision, and Enclave crossovers to mesmerize its audience. Meanwhile, both Pontiac and Oldsmobile are no longer with us entirely. Last but not least, Chevrolet has a new strategy. According to Mary Barra, it will willingly lose a lot of money on mass-market EV models like the Equinox EV or Blazer EV instead of further playing with the Camaro pony and muscle car, for example.
As for the latter, we all know that its fate is sealed – at least for the time being. As such, the 2024 model year of the sixth generation has dropped the 2.0-liter turbo base engine, and even the Panther-themed 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Collector's Edition will be hard to find because just 350 examples will be up for grabs in America. After that, since January next year, silence will fall as the nameplate exits production with no immediate plans for a successor. That is quite sad, indeed. After all, even the bonkers 1,025-hp 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is capped at a much higher production rate of 3,300 examples!
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