AMERICAN MUSCLE CARS: The Next War Begins 2007

[Mr.DJ]

AMERICAN MUSCLE CARS: The next war begins 2007

Just when Ford thought it had won the 'pony car' war when the last of its adversaries went to grave a few years ago, the rivals rise

In 1964, Ford introduced a Ferrari 'wannabe' to American baby boomers and it was called the Mustang...hence the term ''pony car'' was coined. It was an instant success thanks to a good balance of sportiness, performance and value for money. It was neither the biggest nor the most powerful cars of its time in the US...just a notch below the beastly and expensive Ford GT40 or Chevy Corvette flagship sports cars.

We are talking about a two-door coupe with long bonnet, short rear end and a V8 engine that an average Joe could afford to buy and burn tarmac from Sunset Boulevard all the way to Florida Keys.

It also sparked competition from the other two big American car companies in the form of Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird and Dodge Challenger.

The fact that in 42 years, over eight million Mustangs have been sold and that the current fifth generation is still going strong tells you that Ford has got something right.

First to throw down the gauntlet to the pony car war was the Chevy Camaro which debuted in 1967 and sold a big fraction of the Mustang volume in four generations until its demise in 2002...the same year it's GM brother, the Pontiac Firebird, was discontinued.

The Dodge Challenger came late in to the pony car war in 1970 and, thanks in part to the oil crisis at the time, departed as early as 1974...less than 166,000 units sold.

Although Dodge rebadged 1978 Mitsubishi Galant Lambda Coupe as a second generation Challenger, it never really qualified as a pony car with its four-cylinder only engine.

Back to present and we have now seen both the Camaro and Challenger reborn in the form of concept cars at the Detroit Motor Show held earlier this year. The former is expected in the American showrooms in 2007 and the latter in 2008. Let's see what each have to offer and compete with the Ford Mustang.

__________________

Source: Bankok Post Motoring
Friday February 24, 2006

[bad2cudagirl]

YES, Let's see!!!!!!

[Vanishing Point]

...Just keep the girl lookin' good in the concept form,..or there's gonna be a problem for me!

[firstmethod]

Originally Posted by Vanishing Point

...Just keep the girl lookin' good in the concept form,..or there's gonna be a problem for me!

Yeah... looking at the ad for the Mitsubishi Challenger makes my skin crawl. In the 1980s we fell down a hole so deep we looked up and couldn't even see the sun.

[ND RAM]

Originally Posted by firstmethod

Yeah... looking at the ad for the Mitsubishi Challenger makes my skin crawl. In the 1980s we fell down a hole so deep we looked up and couldn't even see the sun.

At times I wish I'd been around during the first muscle car war, then I remember I would have had to also see the great performance depression. Makes missin the first-go-round a little more bearable.

[allhemi]

Originally Posted by firstmethod

Yeah... looking at the ad for the Mitsubishi Challenger makes my skin crawl. In the 1980s we fell down a hole so deep we looked up and couldn't even see the sun.

You got that right!

[WildBillTX]

Originally Posted by ND RAM

At times I wish I'd been around during the first muscle car war, then I remember I would have had to also see the great performance depression. Makes missin the first-go-round a little more bearable.

The mid-late 70's sucked for musclecar fans. I lived through it during my high school years (Class of 80). Nobody was putting out anything good. If you wanted a fast car you had to buy a used one or build one yourself. It's amazing to me we now have production cars that are now faster than many of those classics.

By 1974 all the classic muscle and ponycars were gone and replaced by "sporty" decal packages with detuned engines with plenty of smog junk. You could get a 4-Speed 455 Trans Am in 1976 - but the engine was the same from the Mom & Dad cars and only cranked out 200 hp.

The Chevy SS cars and Cutlass 442 became decal packages and you might be lucky to order a Hurst stick shift and not much else. Ford replaced the Mustang with Mustang II, which was basically a Pinto and they only offered a puny V-6 the first year.

[ND RAM]

Originally Posted by WildBillTX

The mid-late 70's sucked for musclecar fans. I lived through it during my high school years (Class of 80). Nobody was putting out anything good. If you wanted a fast car you had to buy a used one or build one yourself. It's amazing to me we now have production cars that are now faster than many of those classics.

By 1974 all the classic muscle and ponycars were gone and replaced by "sporty" decal packages with detuned engines with plenty of smog junk. You could get a 4-Speed 455 Trans Am in 1976 - but the engine was the same from the Mom & Dad cars and only cranked out 200 hp.

The Chevy SS cars and Cutlass 442 became decal packages and you might be lucky to order a Hurst stick shift and not much else. Ford replaced the Mustang with Mustang II, which was basically a Pinto and they only offered a puny V-6 the first year.

We live in good times now though. Detroit has got EFI figured out and is finally using it to it's potential.

[WildBillTX]

Originally Posted by ND RAM

We live in good times now though. Detroit has got EFI figured out and is finally using it to it's potential.

About the only thing I want back from the "good old days" are the prices for new cars!

I never thought these kinds of cars would ever be built again with the way goverment regulations dictate the way cars are made. GWB will let these cars be made because he knows Detroit has to sell big cars and trucks to survive. But lets hope the next administration that comes into power doesnt try to screw things up by really tightening up mpg and emmision requirements for big V8's. (PS: DONT vote Liberal)

[ND RAM]

Originally Posted by WildBillTX

About the only thing I want back from the "good old days" are the prices for new cars!

I never thought these kinds of cars would ever be built again with the way goverment regulations dictate the way cars are made. GWB will let these cars be made because he knows Detroit has to sell big cars and trucks to survive. But lets hope the next administration that comes into power doesnt try to screw things up by really tightening up mpg and emmision requirements for big V8's. (PS: DONT vote Liberal)

Don't worry about me voting for a liberal! I'm a redneck from NC, i.e. conservtive.