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

[Cobra Jet]

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!

Exactly!

The hot spot in our area was a stretch of Rte 70E where there was a BK that faced 70E. Challengers would meet there, get some grub and then head off..while others had the viewing.. The stoplight distance from 1 to the next was like an 1/8th - and if it was timed well enough, you could pass that light and continue down further until one or the other let up... By the time the local authorities would reach the spot, everyone was gone. They soon learned the pattern and the avenues of escape and started the crack down until it was no more.

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[Chef jpd]

Not sure how many in NYC remembers this, but in Brooklyn, the Fountain Avenue races were a weekly event. No cops, was nuts. Staten Island had the South Avenue drags. No cops and a 1\2 mile straight.
I got crushed a few times with my 74 TA SD 455, God damn grand nationals.

 

[BluByeU]

I purchased an '89 GT 5.0 after owning a Camaro. After having my clock cleaned by an '85 GT I decided it was time to switch to the Blue Oval. Fun little car, had all the regular mods 3.55 gears, Hurst shifter, shorties, 2-Chamber Flow Masters, and a homemade Ram-air. A ton of great memories in that car, wish I hadn't sold it.

 

[Medsport]

Those original 5.0's from the 80's would trounce the Camaro, but I didn't even know what the Mustang was back then as I wasn't really into cars yet. I got my license in 86 and actually thought the Fox body stangs were some version of the Escort at that time because they looked so similar. Anyway I started to get into cars when I saw a low mileage 94 Probe GT in a rare custom light blue color on the lot. It looked like a race car to me and thought it was pretty fast compared to the Pontiac 6000 I was driving at the time. I soon realized if was a good handler, but no match for the turbo 4's and V8's of the period. So I traded it in for a new 95GT, which was pretty peppy for the day. Although I almost bought a used 94 Camaro Z28 instead. I actually drove that Camaro to the Ford dealership to test drive the Mustang! The Chevy did have a big power and torque advantage at that time, but I preferred the Mustang's looks and the fact the stang was new, had leather seats and the optional shaker 500 audio system in it that rocked back in the day. I really liked the looks of the Camaro when they updated the headlights in 98 and bumped the power up to 305. But also liked the Cobra. I couldn't get either as I wasn't making very good money at the time and eventually got into the fast and furious import cars like the Eclipse, Sentra Spec-V and then a couple Huyndai Genesis coupes before coming to my senses and getting a base manual 2014 Mustang GT. I later traded that in for my current auto premium GT.

I still like the looks of the last and previous gen Camaro's, but they reuined it with the 2019 refresh and the fact they are not very usable for a daily driver. I'm currently leaning towards a Scat Pack or possibly a Mach 1 if they end up offering decent discounts (which I doubt). If not I may end up waiting until next year to see what the next gen stang looks like or maybe the 400z. I'm still on the fence on the new Supra. Sounds like an awesome motor, but more of a sports car and I think I'd rather have a pony/muscle car at my age.

 

[newmoon]

I was around all through these wars. I don't really recall ever seeing many Camaros at the strip, it was mainly 5.0s and Grand Nationals.

 

[ctandc72]

Most people forget how heavy the 3rd Gen F-Body cars were from the factory. A 5.0 TPI IROC Z was 300-400lbs heavier than an Mustang GT at the time. We won't even discuss how the 305 GM engine was essentially a smog motor created because of the EPA in the 70s - with GM mixing and matching existing parts.

Stock for stock, the 5 speed cars many times became a driver's race, even though the Mustang had the power and weight advantage....not to mention the stock 5 speed GT cars were hell to get to hook up with stock tires / setup.

Not to mention - the magazine 1/4 mile times were sometimes so all over the place it was ridiculous.

The Mustang shined in how well it responded to simple and cheap hop ups. I watched a bone stock GT 5 speed a good friend owned go from low 14's (Bone stock except for a good tire in the rear) to low 12's pretty quickly without a ton of cash outlay.

The F-body was stuck with TPI - so until we started hogging out runners and intakes - it still ran out of breath out of mid range RPM....

Then the 4th gen F-Body got the LT1 / T56 and and it flipped the tables. I'll never forget being on leave and listening to two of my buddies CONSTANTLY arguing about who was faster. 1994 GT 5 speed or 1993 Z28 6 speed. I finally made them go to the track to settle it once and for all.

Ironically - turns out this was the first manual car EITHER had ever raced. I ended up taking both cars town the track several times.

The Z28 was a good second quicker than the GT - but traction was at a premium.

We all benefited from these "HP wars" coming out of the EPA dark ages. It got us where we are now.

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