LOS ANGELES — Back in 1964, General Motors Corp. had a big problem. Lee Iacocca and Ford Motor Co. had introduced a sporty two-door car called the Mustang, and it quickly became a hit. To catch up, GM's Chevrolet division designed a car to match the Mustang, and unveiled the new model in 1967. Its name: Camaro, taken loosly from the French word for \o7 comrade \f7 or \o7 friend.\f7

Like the Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro became a best-selling domestic sports car for 2 decades, but today the Camaro is but one of many problems for GM. Camaro sales have steadily dropped the last 4 years, adding to a slide in GM's overall share of the U.S. car market to 36% from 43% 5 years ago. Last year, about 100,000 Camaros were driven off Chevy showrooms, down from 202,200 in 1984, says J.D. Power & Associates, an automotive research firm in Agoura Hills.

Few Changes

The auto business is a lot like the fashion industry, and critics deride the current Camaro model as an automotive dinosaur, with a bulky, garish design inside and out that makes the car look dated compared to today's sleek sports cars, such as the Toyota Supra and Nissan 240-SX. The Camaro's looks have changed little since 1982 and by automobile standards, the Camaro needs a face-lift.

The Mustang also is based on a design several years old. But periodic updates in Mustang's body, suspension and horsepower--together with a generally lower sticker price--enabled Mustang to outsell Camaro by nearly 2 to 1 last year.

Now GM is trying to engineer a Camaro comeback for the next decade, starting in 1992 when the company will roll out a redesigned version of the car. GM won't disclose specifics on what the car looks like but said the 1992 model takes some of its styling from a radical "concept" Camaro that was created at a cost of $500,000 by GM's Advanced Concepts Center in Newbury Park and built by a small Burbank firm, Acsco Automobile Development.

The concept Camaro, a futuristic car shaped like a bullet, was on display last week at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show and "is quite a ways advanced" compared to the Camaro that will be sold in 1992, said Robert D. Burger, general manager and the top executive at Chevrolet. The 1992 Camaro will use a blend of the current model and the concept car, Burger said.