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Guess the Chevy[?] Test mules [No Pics]


hyperv6

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This was posted on CamaroZ28, The post has his thoughts on what he saw.

I will post it here as It is hard to say other than it might being a Chevy what they are. Lets see if anyone might recongnize what they might be.

If your in the Reno, Carson City, Tahoe area you might want too keep an eye open for these cars.

Here is his post:

No BS here, this was what happened:

I was driving down US-395 today through the Carson Valley towards Minden, NV. I saw three black vehicles in a row ahead of me and thought they might be testers. There was a new bodystyle Avalanche in front, a black camoflaged car in the middle, and ANOTHER black camoflage car in the back. Three in all, all three with blue Michigan MFR plates. The Avalanche was taped off in a few places but otherwise open. We all know what it looks like anyways. Maybe a Hybrid or E85 tester?

The SECOND car is what I believe was an early test mule for 5th gen Camaro running gear. Honestly. It was short, wide and had what looked like 2003-2004 5-lug Monte Carlo wheels painted black with no centre caps. The front end had cutouts for the headlights and grille but I couldn't see it clearly through the mesh. The lights were projector and were on. Not HID but bright. I did not see any foglights (or cutouts for them). Grille was also black and there was a good-sized intake below it. The taillights were small and LED. They looked similar to the concept but were more slitlike. These had oval cutouts in the camo. The reversing lights were in the bumper on each side of the license plate. There were two exhausts and a distinctive tone, much like (for lack of a better description) my dad's 1999 C5. Definitely V8. The wheels had good-size rotors and calipers, much like the GTO. There were antennae all over the place, and the dash (from what I could see) was pretty much covered with test gear. I did notice a pod-like setup to the dash, like an old Corvette. The driver gave me quite a look when I rolled next to him in my 1995 Red Z28. I truly believe what I saw was an early Camaro mule based on CTS-V or GTO running gear.

The last car was a 4-door sedan, about the size of a Malibu or Impala. It also was heavily camoed and had dual exhaust. The tone was low and might be either a HO V6 or a V8. The headlights were on and they looked like projectors. It also had LED taillights but they were vertical! The door design was striking; the doors had an upslant to them much like a CTS or STS. The driver of this car never looked at me and was on a cell phone. This might have been a new CTS or a Bel-Air tester.

I work at a GM dealership and get to hear all kinds of rumours and chat but this one takes it. They must have been doing cold-weather testing or something. I was actually thinking of stopping and getting one of those disposable cameras, but they would have been gone by the time I got it and caught up to them. I'm getting a friggin' digital camera now for SURE. We see cold-weather testers all the time here and can't miss another. I hope to see them again!

More later (I hope)

-Dave

These could even be Caddys? Lets see if anyone might have any clues on what they are.

Edited by hyperv6
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The new CTS is coming out for the 08 MY, so we should be seeing spy shots soon enough, and if it was somewhere between Malibu and Impala in size, it would be of a similar size to the current CTS. I doubt GM would give many vehicles other than Cadillacs vertical taillamps, so it's quite possible that's what the second one was.

That guy really needs to get a digi; it'd be awesome if he got some pics.

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Is it safe to assume they were both GM vehicles if they were right behind a scantly camo'd Avalanche? If it was in fact a coupe, what could it have been? Could it be something from Holden testing here? Or, I suppose it could just be testing some powertrain.

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i was thinking Firebird

Too late for the Firebird.

I also thought Holden after all the pictures of the cars they were testing here last year. Just not enough to go on from wha this guy saw unless someone has heard a hint of what it might have been.

He had some other post. I did not get much out of it.

What would they be testing this time of year. Too cold for the desert and not that cold for cold temp. High Alt?

Edited by hyperv6
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It may be safe to say that it is the Camaro test platform and the Impala replacement platform testing together...since they were with an Avalanch, but we should also think it could have been the GTO replacement driving around as well. The description of the four door reads like what I was described by a couple of engineers as the Impala replacement - although the vert. tailights would suggest caddy...would somebody please get some photos of these things????

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  • 1 month later...

I remember reading this over at CZ28 a while back. With the tidbits that have been glimpsed since then I think he saw the CTS and a Holden/GTO/generic zeta coupe mule. There are VE cars running all over Australia at this point, so we can rest assured that a few mules ahve made their way here. Definitely related to Camaro but not a Camaro mule would be my guess.

One other possibility for the sedan is the alleged zeta DTS.

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