Ford currently builds the S650 seventh-generation Ford Mustang in EcoBoost, GT, and Dark Horse flavors. Luckily, Chevrolet still makes the Corvette, but Dodge has already ended production of the L-bodied Charger and Challenger models.
As far as the Ford Motor Company is concerned, there's an interesting gap in the lineup of its sole passenger car (in America), which also happens to be the best-selling sports car worldwide. So, you can have the latest Mustang with a turbo inline-four as well as two flavors of the iconic 5.0-liter Coyote V8 – GT and Dark Horse. But there's no Shelby yet, as Ford wants to focus on the flagship Mustang GTD supercar initially.
Chevrolet has the C8 in production, and it's soon going to be the final passenger car in production in North America. At least they gave it something to live for – a new lease of mid-engine life, complete with Stingray, E-Ray, Z06, and the upcoming ZR1 forms. Anyway, if you ask around, the previous generation (C7) wasn't too shabby either.
Dodge, meanwhile, has kicked off a revolution – they retired the L-bodied Charger sedan and Challenger coupe in favor of an all-new STLA Large-based eighth generation of the Charger with both four doors and a classic two-door fastback body. Additionally, they dropped the mighty Hemi V8 in favor of all-electric and turbo inline-six Hurricane powertrains.
Interestingly, people still love the old-school models – especially when they gather around the track for some mighty quarter-mile dragstrip action. Here, let us give you an example of bygone stars as the videographer behind the Drag Racing and Car Stuff channel on YouTube traveled to a couple of racetracks in search of cool battles and stumbled upon the perfect 'yesterday's' Big Detroit Three setup.
So, the focus in the video feature embedded below is on a black S550 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 that was initially present at Orlando Speed World Dragway for a classic Ford versus Mopar battle. According to the description, the initial skirmish puts the Shelby GT500 into the proper perspective against a Dodge Charger 392 (possibly a Daytona).
Without even breaking a sweat or trying too much, the driver of the supercharged Mustang easily overpowered its Mopar opponent (10.02s versus 10.94s) and then moved on to a night encounter with a more serious foe, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. This time around, the Shelby GT500 wasn't fooling around anymore, hence the 9.67s pass against the opponent's 10.95s effort.
Last but not least, we moved from Orlando to Palm Beach International Raceway, where the same Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 switched from Mopar foes to GM rivals. One in particular – the mighty C7 Chevy Corvette Z06. With a parachute strapped to its back, we were expecting the unexpected from this nimbler two-door opponent, but it seems that it might have been a ruse only. In the end, the feisty Mustang prevailed once again with a clean 9.94s pass against the opponent's 'close, but not close enough' 10.58s evolution.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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