So far so good with the Management Fleet Chevrolet Camaro SS. Our opening sprint and Chevy Knights convoy have provided plenty of heavy throttle entertainment, as have several school runs and ‘just nipping to the store’ sprints. Sooner or later though, the SS needed a real world test, and I didn’t need to look far to find it.
One triumphant game of paper-rock-scissors in my pocket and the SS was mine for the drive home one evening. Unfortunately, this was also the night when forward planning had again escaped my feeble grasp, and I was without the security pass I needed to access my building’s parking lot. The unyielding barrier told me I’d have to look elsewhere.
On-street parking seemed the logical step, and sure enough, I’d soon stumbled across a space. A tight space. And generations of muscle car DNA mean the SS is a large car. No problem, you might think. Inbuilt parking sensors should make this a breeze.
Not quite. Though the sensors are very responsive, several of them chiming simultaneously can prove a little distracting: chimes replicating Morse Code, for example, are not the easiest of things to drown out while trying to avoid scuffing an alloy.
With the roof up, the elongated black canvas B-pillars make visibility a little tricky. I consider stowing the roof, for this would be both simple and quick and would improve the situation immeasurably. But the large crowd that has gathered to watch me – plus the dozen or so headlights in my rearview mirror – changes my mind, and I soon beat a hasty retreat.
I fair little better at nearby parking lots, the turnover of vehicles heading into and out of the only entrance/exit making manoeuvres all but impossible. And since I’m not sure how well a dented front fender will go down with our genial GM benefactors, I move on.
Mall parking fares little better. There’s plenty of spaces, but I’m much too busy sticking the car’s rear end out on the various up-ramps and slick surfaces, and decide to bail before I attract any more attention.
All hope seems lost until fate plays an ace and I find an on-street spot on a quiet road almost directly opposite my building. Plenty of room and no threat of scuffs, scrapes or dings. Handbrake on, engine off. Eureka!
Shame I’d left my apartment keys at work >>>
