TOP THIS! There's nothing better than a convertible muscle car.

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

This is not the kind of thing General Motors just does well; it is what GM was made for. The Camaro convertible is so close to the perfect all-American car that it should be in a museum in a glass case marked "Muscle-car americus.''

Yet there it was, not behind glass but sitting on the asphalt with the keys in it, ready to be driven. Anyone who was alive in the '60s and saw the original Camaros, or saw the Judge or any of the many muscle-car variants of the day, will flip to see this car. Even those with bad backs. And we can legally say "flip'' because that's what we used to do back in the '60s when we saw one of these. Now a new generation of car lovers, some of whom might not even know they are car lovers until they see one of these, will likewise flip.

"If this Camaro convertible doesn't make your heart beat faster,'' said Chevrolet general manager Ed Peper, "you should see either your optometrist or your cardiologist, because you have a problem.''

We had no problems at all and climbed right into the thing, started it up and drove off.

Now, there was one drawback to all this. The concept was just that-a rickety styling structure-and we were not to exceed 25 mph on pain of death.

We weighed those options: smoky burnout, death. Hmmm.