Shootout: 1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra vs 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 (Motor Trend)
A Tire-Smoking, Corner-Sliding, Top-Speed War.
Which is best, Mustang or Camaro? The original blue oval or the raucous red bowtie? For 25 years, this controversy has sparked fury in the soul of mankind. It's often brutal. Push comes to shove every Saturday night on Main Streets across the nation, as the two factions line up in clandestine showdowns. A traffic light serves as the Christmas tree. Green. Go. Tire smoke. Power shifts. Nervous glances over the shoulder. Redline in the first three gears. Victory by a nose. The contest has been close for a very long time.
The game will become more serious when the '93 Camaro hits the streets. With its Corvette LTI engine, six-speed transmission, and anti-lock brakes, the new 228 will be one formidable adversary. This is the first major revision to the GM F-body platform since Reagan's inaugural term, long enough for your first-grader to have graduated from high school, and equal to about two epochs in typical product cycle time keeping.
Ford enthusiasts have waited even longer for their new car. The "Fox platform" Mustang has been around since '79, essentially half of all the years the nameplate has been in existence. This makes the '93 version one of the oldest still-in-production platforms in the country and rightfully should qualify it for some sort of government aid.
The engineers aren't taking this lying down. Their new-and-improved Mustang (code-named SN-95) is nearly ready. The one drawback is that it won't appear until sometime in 1994. A glimmer of hope for Ford fanciers is this year's vitamin-fortified Mustang Cobra. By raiding Ford's voluminous storehouse of parts, tossing away some old-car chaff, and shoveling in more horsepower, the familiar, old steed has been given a new lease on life.
This is the showdown. This first test of Chevy's newest and Ford's meanest. A fight to determine which will reign supreme in the real-world contest of acceleration, braking, handling, and top speed. So clear the road and mount the fifth wheels. Only one car will return the victor.
(photo credit: Scott Killeen - Motor Trend)
