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The Mustang vs Camaro Wars of the 80’s-90’s

Cobra Jet

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So if you’re from the original “5.0 Movement”, you’ll recall the head to head Mustang vs Camaro Wars (as well as the Mustang vs Grand National wars) at the drag strips around the country. It was not only vehicle manufacturing wars as far as who had the most performance out of the box, but there was the actual owners going head to head almost weekly... stock to stock and modified to modified with tons of forum thrashing to go along with it... LOL!

You’ll also recall the epic Colletti 94 BOSS vs GM’s 572 ZL1 Camaro.

For those that don’t recall, or just weren’t even popped from the womb yet, here’s 94 BOSS vs 572 ZL1 history - with videos:

https://www.fordmuscle.com/news/video-svts-10-0-liter-boss-takes-on-gms-572-zl1-camaro/

Enjoy.
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ctandc72

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I remember those days - I was in high school when the first decent Fox Body GT rolled out ('85). Within two years it was dirt cheap to modify them. Not so much with the 305 TPI in the F-Body. GNs and T-Types weren't as prevalent yet. I was driving my '67 SS Chevelle at the time. The one thing I will always remember is how good the Fox Body 302 sounded with the original Flowmaster mufflers.

Also - starting to have to actively look out for the unmarked Mustang police cars sucked.
 

Strokerswild

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I wanted that Coletti Boss bad back in the day....and now that I see it again, still do.
 

hunter7389

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I was a die hard Camaro/Firebird guy. Owned 7 different ones from a 71 Firebird formula to a 97 WS6 Formula. Lived and breathed the GM F-body. Hated Mustangs

I was never convinced that the Gen5 camaro was anything cool, the interior was putrid for one.

The 2015 Mustang changed my mind, everyone who knows me was blown away. Snatched up a 15 GT the day the 1st one hit the lot, and Just bought a 2020 GT :)
 

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mindo389

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I guess this post sort of counts in this thread... I had my '83 GT for about a year, when I pulled up next to a '69 Camaro at a red light. I could tell that the car was not stock by the way his cam loped, exhaust, etc. I managed to pull a hole shot on him, but the rest was his tail lights for the next 10 or so seconds. Turns out, he had his g/f riding shotgun, who I knew. We met up at a bar nearby, talking cars the rest of the evening.
 

XS

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I don't know why this sticks out most in my memory, but we all used to compare who had the worst busted knuckles lol. I think the F-body guys usually won that one.
 

ctandc72

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I was a die hard Camaro/Firebird guy. Owned 7 different ones from a 71 Firebird formula to a 97 WS6 Formula. Lived and breathed the GM F-body. Hated Mustangs

I was never convinced that the Gen5 camaro was anything cool, the interior was putrid for one.

The 2015 Mustang changed my mind, everyone who knows me was blown away. Snatched up a 15 GT the day the 1st one hit the lot, and Just bought a 2020 GT :)

Funny - me too. I STILL love the 1st gen Firebird (retirement project is likely going to be a '69 Firebird ragtop). Owned a ton of 2nd Gen Trans Am / Formula - never should have sold that SD455....who knew? Then went on a 3rd and 4th Gen F-Body kick.
 

Smunczen

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I bought a new 91 lx 5.0 coupe.
I mod’d the heck out of it. I ran 11.50’s which to me was pretty fast back then for a street car.
 

bluebeastsrt

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Those were the days. 200 screaming horsepower. I had an 87 iroc. We would all drive up to front street in philly on a Friday and Saturday night. I’d line up with the 5.0s and get beat. Every f$&king race. I got so sick of losing. I traded for a used GT. But some of my best memories from the 80s were racing that iroc & GT. Front street was something out of a fast and furious movie back then.
 

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Cobra Jet

Cobra Jet

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Those were the days. 200 screaming horsepower. I had an 87 iroc. We would all drive up to front street in philly on a Friday and Saturday night. I’d line up with the 5.0s and get beat. Every f$&king race. I got so sick of losing. I traded for a used GT. But some of my best memories from the 80s were racing that iroc & GT. Front street was something out of a fast and furious movie back then.
Front street was absolutely nuts... it makes all the “reality Street Outlaw” shows resemble the sets of Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street.

Front Street was all out true street racing in every sense of the definition of street racing. What a time it was...

We went to Pottstown weekly too where cruising was the definition of ‘cruising the Blvd’ until early morning hours. People from all over PA/NJ would not only drive their cars there, but folks would take their cars off trailers and you’d have full fledged slick ready open header cars cruising as well. LOL!! I don’t even know if they still do it today, but that was the epitome of the closet thing you could get to a replication of a Detroit Woodward Blvd cruise - that would literally go on for HOURS.
 

ctandc72

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Those were the days. 200 screaming horsepower. I had an 87 iroc. We would all drive up to front street in philly on a Friday and Saturday night. I’d line up with the 5.0s and get beat. Every f$&king race. I got so sick of losing. I traded for a used GT. But some of my best memories from the 80s were racing that iroc & GT. Front street was something out of a fast and furious movie back then.
A buddy at the time had a IROC 5.0 TPI, 5 speed. It was his mom's car. It was maybe 2-3 years old. We would borrow it and "Change the oil" and "clean it up". We took it one day, it was a teacher's workday - and since I had keys to the auto shop - we pooled our cash and cobbled together a nitrous system. We spent more time worrying about hiding the system and being able to quickly take the bottle out than we did anything else.

That car had a bunch of 5.0 drivers (And other cars) wondering what the hell was done to it. We might have started a rumor that it was a "Special Order" car with a 350 and a 5 speed...

It was fun, because none of the 5.0 guys (unless highly modified) would run my '67 Chevelle. At the time it was primer (color depended on the week). But the big block (went through several) and 4 speed, plus steep gears and lots of low-dollar traction tricks made it go pretty good.

Of course highway patrol and several local jurisdictions in SC had 5.0 LX unmarked cars by then. HATED having to look out for those things. One local guy - who didn't race or anything - had bought one that looked JUST LIKE the unmarked versions. Swear he did it on purpose - causing us to always double-take or brake check when we saw him.
 

bluebeastsrt

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Front street was absolutely nuts... it makes all the “reality Street Outlaw” shows resemble the sets of Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street.

Front Street was all out true street racing in every sense of the definition of street racing. What a time it was...

We went to Pottstown weekly too where cruising was the definition of ‘cruising the Blvd’ until early morning hours. People from all over PA/NJ would not only drive their cars there, but folks would take their cars off trailers and you’d have full fledged slick ready open header cars cruising as well. LOL!! I don’t even know if they still do it today, but that was the epitome of the closet thing you could get to a replication of a Detroit Woodward Blvd cruise - that would literally go on for HOURS.
Where I lived. Vineland was the cruise spot. Landis avenue had about 3miles and 20 stop lights. The girls would all get dressed up and just park their cars and hang out. And the guys would cruise up and down til you found a pack of girls to hit on. I feel sorry for kids these days. They’ll never understand how much fun getting out from behind their phones and doing shit like we’re talking about was!
 

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Where I lived. Vineland was the cruise spot. Landis avenue had about 3miles and 20 stop lights. The girls would all get dressed up and just park their cars and hang out. And the guys would cruise up and down til you found a pack of girls to hit on. I feel sorry for kids these days. They’ll never understand how much fun getting out from behind their phones and doing shit like we’re talking about was!
A friend and I were just talking about this the other day over beers.....sad, really.
 

ctandc72

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Where I lived. Vineland was the cruise spot. Landis avenue had about 3miles and 20 stop lights. The girls would all get dressed up and just park their cars and hang out. And the guys would cruise up and down til you found a pack of girls to hit on. I feel sorry for kids these days. They’ll never understand how much fun getting out from behind their phones and doing shit like we’re talking about was!
Hell yeah. I grew up in the boonies in SC. Friday night we cruised to one small town about 30 minutes away. Those back road runs going back and forth were epic. PSA: A '67 Chevelle with a big block, long tubes and worn out from shocks (free drag shocks) will shoot long trails of sparks from the headers when crossing railroad tracks at high speeds.

That entire town would essentially shut down on Fridays. Cops for the most part left everyone alone unless they got stupid. Hell one of the fastest street cars around back then was owned / driven by one of their cops.

That's also where you setup races. We had a place about 15 minutes from that town. It was private property - maybe a 1/2 mile of black top.

On Saturdays it was another town the opposite direction from my hometown.

Our favorite racing haunt on that side of town was a straight stretch of road in the middle of a bunch of farm fields. No houses, no turn offs and no traffic. It was the worst kept secret ever.

Starting line was in front of an old abandoned church. EXACTLY a 1/4 mile from the starting point was a blinking caution light - it was for the trucks entering the road about a mile beyond that point - a quarry back then. So Saturday and Sunday nights that was the place.

Maybe once a month, the sheriff deputies would half heartedly run everybody off if we stayed running too late. Best thing was no ditches and level fields on either side. Worst incidents were bad drivers getting loose and running off into the fields. Mostly pride damaged and hours cleaning off the red clay.........
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