Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

LANSING – Transformers, Hot Wheels and race cars gathered in a parking lot adjacent to the General Motors Lansing Grand River Plant on Thursday to celebrate the Camaro’s 50th anniversary at its newest home.

“When the Camaro came to Lansing, it was a big responsibility and opportunity for our plant, and we embraced it,” said plant manager Steve Notar Donato. “You can see the pride and passion evident among the faces of the workers on the plant floor.”

To commemorate the Camaro’s milestone, the plant hosted a car show near its grounds on South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, featuring the 1969 Camaro pace car used in the Indianapolis 500 and the fifth generation yellow-and-black Camaro that played Bumblebee in 2007’s “Transformers.”

The Camaro first debuted in 1967 and several 2017 models were on display at the plant.

“The excitement hasn’t been this huge since it was first announced that the Camaro was coming to Lansing,” said Mike Green, president of UAW 652. “This plant is fully utilized for the first time. This car isn’t just built here, it’s born here.”

Lansing Grand River started producing the sixth generation Camaro in the summer of 2015, reinstating the second shift it had discontinued the previous January and rehiring 450 people to keep up with demand. GM debuted the sixth generation in October. The cars were on the market by December. By January, the plant had to start hiring an additional workers for a first-ever third shift because of demand, 500 of the in all.

RELATED: The Camaro and the comeback for Lansing Grand River

When production moved to Lansing, it was the first time since 1992 that a Camaro was made in the U.S. The previous two generations had been produced in Canada.

“We stayed true to the original idea of the Camaro,” said Al Oppenheiser, chief engineer of the Camaro. “It’s a panther that eats (Ford) Mustangs.”

Oppenheiser has worked for GM for 31 years and was on the team to design the fifth generation Camaro after it was taken off the market in 2002.

The fourth generation was becoming a “watered down version of what the Camaro was,” he said. “It was losing its identity and sales weren’t doing well.”

Oppenheiser and the team brought in a group of Camaro club presidents and other enthusiasts and asked them what they wanted to see in the sports car. Instead of a throwback to its history, they chose a futuristic design.

“People were totally shocked when we unveiled it at the 2006 North American auto show,” he said.

The Camaro received a boost in popularity when it was featured in “Transformers,” Oppenheiser said.

When the 1974 model was replaced halfway through the movie with the 2006 model, “it opened up the Camaro to a whole new generation of young people,” he said. “Everyone knows Bumblebee. Kids would chase down a Camaro with their phones as we were doing test drives.”

In fact, there were a handful of other Bumblebees displayed at the car show that enthusiasts drove from across the country.

Michael Wooten owns a 2012 Camaro and invested $20,000 to soup it up like Bumblebee in the movies.

“I wanted a green one to look like the Hulk, but, when I looked online, I saw this car and said, ‘I’m getting this car,’” said Wooten, of Rochester, New York. “I just like looking at it.”

He even created a comic about how he built the car, weaving in a story about it being in a fight with the Decepticons, the villainous robots in Transformers. He also gives out posters he made of the car to kids.

“Kids ask if it transforms, and I’ll tell them, ‘Only if a Decepticon shows up,’” said Wooten, 52. “It makes an old man feel like a kid again.”

The fifth generation Camaro hit the market in 2010 and laid the groundwork for the sixth generation, Oppenheiser said.

GM spent $175 million to upgrade the Grand River Plant's tooling and equipment to accommodate production. The sixth generation was lighter and faster than previous ones, earning it the Motor Trend 2016 Car of the Year award.

"Pouring forth from its glorious naturally aspirated, 6.2-liter LT1 V-8 are 455 hp and 455 lb-ft of torque," the magazine gushed about the Camaro SS. "All that get up and go is transmitted to the sticky rear tires via a lovely-shifting six-speed manual transmission. To say we liked this car is a severe understatement."

GM continues to invest in the Lansing Grand River plant. It’s in the middle of constructing a $174 million stamping facility for the Camaro and Cadillac ATS and CTS, which are also made at the plant. It’s expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said the work of the local UAW has put Lansing on the map.

“Thanks to you, the Camaro is still here and hopefully will still be here in another 50 years,” he said.

Alexander Alusheff is a reporter at the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.

Other Camaro activities

Camaros and Coffee, Woodward Dream Cruise

Where: Joe Louis Arena parking lot, 19 Steve Yzerman Drive, Detroit

When: 7:30 a.m.

What: Meet for coffee before the 50th anniversary edition Camaros lead Camaro Rally participants toward Woodward Avenue for the dream cruise.