Story and photography: Will Sabel Courtney

Check out our Camaro Convertible test drive photo gallery here.

“Stand back,” I said. “I’m gonna do some donuts.”

The fellow journalist with whom I was sharing the car didn’t look too thrilled about the idea of courting the attention of the California State Park Police, but he still stepped back behind the wall separating the parking lot and the beach.

I sucked in a deep breath. I didn’t exactly want to draw the ire of any cops with nothing better to do than hassle a hoon in an empty parking lot, but on the other hand, it was an empty parking lot. And I was sitting in a 426 horsepower, V8-powered muscle car.

Not much of a dilemma at all.

Crank the 6.2 liter motor to life. Pop the Hurst short-throw into first. Let out the clutch and give it a little gas. One last swivel of the horizon to make sure the coast was clear.

Mash the throttle. Turn the wheel. Whoop with glee.

Whaaaaaaa-whaaaa-whaaaaaa! The motor revved and howled like a chainsaw auditioning to replace James Hetfield in Metallica. Slipping and sliding on the concrete, the rear Pirellis evaporated into roiling clouds of thick white smoke.

Yeee-mother-f*&ing-haw.

If you had to distill the Camaro SS Convertible down to one phrase, that’d be my recommendation: yeee-mother-f*&ing-haw. This car’s purpose in life is to deliver copious helpings of good, old-fashioned, all-American, don’t-tell-momma fun.

No matter how you define a good time in a car, the SS will play along. Chevy’s myriad structural improvements designed to maximize the convertible’s chassis strength add 246 pounds to the coupe’s curb weight, but it’s all but unnoticeable behind the wheel. The drop-top Camaro will still barrel forward with the fury of a Tea Partier told Obama just outlawed handguns, Coors Light and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The weight-of-an-average-citizen-of-Alabama-worth of structural integrity Chevrolet crammed into the convertible does an admirable job of keeping the car taut through the turns; hustling through the twisting roads through the mountains along the U.S.-Mexican border, the Camaro felt as solid as the sand-colored boulders dotting the hillsides, with nary a shake or shiver to be felt. The suspension is identical to that of the SS coupe, and while it never lets you forget that you’re driving a fairly large convertible, it feels accurate and sure-footed at any speed. Go ahead, toss the car into that corner. She won’t mind. In fact, that’s just what this Camaro wants to do. The lack of a hard lid won’t slow her down one bit.

Should you feel like just cruising along with the top down and the radio blaring your particular choice of chill-out music, though, the Camaro is more than happy to oblige. The first-to-fourth skip shift will cock-block your attempts to follow your usual shift pattern, but there’s more than enough torque in fourth gear to amble along barely above idle.

Be warned, however: driving at a relaxed rate will almost certainly result in plenty of eyeballs pointed your way. The Camaro’s full-grown Matchbox car looks are even wilder in convertible form, especially with the top down. This is most certainly one of those cars you walk away from backwards after you park it.

Of course, good looks can be a double-edged sword. While idling at a light, an old Toyota Corolla pulled up alongside me, loaded down with a pack of beastly-looking cougars. The one in the passenger’s seat panned her gaze up and down the car, then looked at me.

“That’s a hot car,” she said. “You’re pretty hot too.”

But that’s the beauty of the Camaro Convertible. Should you ever find yourself trapped in an uncomfortable situation, sweet, glorious freedom is just a mash of the accelerator away. Hard to get more American than that.

Check out our Camaro Convertible test drive photo gallery here.

0-60 First Drive—Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible from 0-60 Online