If GM would have put this motor in the gen5 camaro we would not even be talking about this. The v6 in the new camaro has an aftermarket following. As most due when targeting young buyers.
Yep, a few missed opportunities. There was talk of it going into the prior fullsize trucks.
I believe that the Gen5 camaro was designed to accept this engine. There is a quote somewhere, where they talked about extending the engine bay 3" to accomodate all engines in the GM lineup. The bay already fit a SBC, what's 3" longer than that?
I met Ken Lingenfelter at a car show a couple years back. He was asking random people (me) what they thought of his Trans Am (rebodied gen 5 camaro). I wanted to tell him to offer a base model with the 4.2 but ran out of nerve. It's the owner of Lingenfelter for crying out sideways!
