Ride Of The Week 03/28/2022: Car Show Life's Flagship - SunShine

DID GM MAKE A SUNSHINE EDITION?

This week marks 10 years since the #GotchaDay of my 2011 Camaro 2SS/RS convertible, "SunShine". I thought I'd take this week to mark the occasion by telling the story of my own ride and the third Camaro I've owned over the years.

When Chevrolet revived the Camaro with the 2006 Concept Car I was still driving my '02 RS. "Son of Ol' Blue" was really starting to show his age, but as a newlywed with a new mortgage, buying a new car was a far-off proposition. So I watched from a far as the 2010 Camaro made it's debut and I waited.

2011 saw the emergence of the convertible version of the fifth generation Camaro and as things were beginning to look up for my purchase of a newer car. We previous bought a certified pre-owned Malibu for my wife and were really happy with the car. We got a lot of car for a lot less than we would've paid new. This made the idea of a newer Camaro more appealing to my personal Chief Financial Officer.

In March of 2012, I was given the go-ahead. "Start shopping," she told me. So I downloaded all of the apps: Autotrader, Cars.com. I found three convertibles for sale near me. One was silver, but I'd had been looking at that color since the '06 concept car. The second was red with white stripes, but with a manual and ultra low mileage, it was a bit more expensive. Plus, this would be a daily driver and I didn't feel like working a clutch going up and down Greentree hill in Pittsburgh during rush hour. So, I settled on the Rally Yellow SS/RS. What sealed the deal for me was when I turned on the radio, the station I was working at, Y108, popped up and I took that as a positive sign.

It was Saturday, March 31, 2012. I took the car home with 9,993 miles on the odometer and turned

over 10K driving off the lot. On Monday, April 2nd, as I was dropping off the title to my '02 (which I now regret trading, mind you), I was greeted with this scene (right) and had an 'ah-ha' moment. As the Rally Yellow gleamed in the sun, I settled on her name, "SunShine". Cause she's a drop top, yellow and an SS.

Shortly after taking delivery, a friend suggested I track the VIN to see if there were any Technical Service Bulletins. Sure enough, there was a recall on the convertible top that needed to be addressed as the '11s were the first year for 5th Gen convertibles. In the process we discovered that this car had been put into service on April 1, 2011 at Budget Rent-a-car in Richmond, VA. So here I am with a former rental car that over the past 10 years has been polished and detailed to take awards, including a Gold Heartbeat award at the 2021 Camaro Nationals.

I often get asked about the custom badging on the car. I had new chicklets cut after an incident in the garage took out the 'C' in Camaro on the fender. I commissioned emblempros.com to make "SunShine" in a font similar to the style of the SS badges. The result was something that looks factory but it ain't. I had someone approach me and ask, "How many Sunshine editions did they make?" To which, I reply, "She's one of one!"

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