Lane Collectibles 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS/RS 396- Ltd Ed of 1000

Lane's latest release in the venerable '68 Camaro RS series that debuted in '01 is offered in classic LeMans Blue minus the vinyl top of its near-twin. Having grown up in the New York area, I have that ingrained bias against vinyl tops on pony cars which were reserved for well-off parents buying their daughter a car to commute to college in.

There's much to enjoy and a few things to shake your head over. It's a great looking little car with a nice look, decent paint, an aggressive stance that hints of a powerful drivetrain beneath the stylish skin. Adding to that attitude is the front airdam and the beatifully rendered Rallye Wheel option shod in Firestone Wide Ovals. As you open the hood, you begin to see some of the dichotomies that coexist here. The simple arc hinges are dated, but the elements like the hood intakes are fabulously done.The fine mesh that protects the intakes is realistically scaled. The engine bay has many fine features including fine harnessed wiring, all the signage and badging save for a generic battery, a plumbed engine although missing is heater hoses and elements now standard in this price range like brake and fuel lines.

As you sight down from above the open hood, you can pick out some nice features, like the grill with the raised "SS" badge (although other scripts are all tampos), great chrome, nicely framed parking and side lights. Then your eye catches a golden yellow loop inboard of the left front wheel. Inaccurate, obtrusive and way out of scale, I can't help wondering why this outsized "fork and loop" steering system wasn't redesigned, particularly considering it's only two plastic parts. Surely this has been a major gripe since this series was first released. The rest of the undercarriage is underwhelming and the suspension is static.

The interior continues this theme. The black interior is broken only by white and chrome accents. The carpeted floor is represented by textured paint and the front and rear mats are molded in. The seats are hard plastic and the front buckets tilt. A suprising omission still is the lack of seatbelts which have become a hallmark of recent Lane editions. The following picture really sums up the interior. An absolutely beautiful dash, steering wheel and console grouping. Then look up and see no headliner, visors... just the connecting clear plastic of the one piece front/rear 'glass' graced with locator/fixation pins ala early Bburago.

Swing around to the rear and you'll find a nicely done rear light panel with accurate lens pattern with chromed frames, a nice 3-D "SS" badge, nicely placed and scaled exhaust tips and a well chromed bumper. Open the trunk and there's nice vinyl patterned liner, full spare affixed with the jackstand along with the instruction sheets on the deck lid.

All in all it's a decent model with a lot of great features; and I do have to remember the age of the tooling. It just has that "unfinished masterpiece" quality about it. It's a shame that there wasn't a bit of tweaking done to this diecast over the years. With each new edition, the per unit costs go down. Throwing in some belts or a redesign of the steering mechanism would have been a nice responsive touch, especially given the strength of the competition in 2004 and especially at this pricepoint. To me, it's still a 4 of 5 star model. It's just that potential for greatness issue.

-Richard Sufficool