Classic Muscle Cars... Return.

[porscheguy9999]

The other Mustang you could have added was the new Shelby GT500 Cobra. The GT-R Mustang is my favorite of these 3. The Charger looks great, but DCX had the wonderful idea of releasing this "muscle car" as a Hemi powered sedan. If they had plans of a new Charger Coupe, on the other hand, that would be a different story. But the one pictured just needs to be a little less angular. The Camaro just isnt doing it for me. But Chevy is in dire need to get a new muscle car, IMO, and the recently axed Camaro is the best solution. But they need to get the design just right (i.e. the new Mustang, selling like hotcakes) or else it will be a flop like its stablemate the GTO.

Mustang GT-R for racing purposes
new Charger Coupe
new Camaro that is designed to resemble the classic Camaro's of the 60's

[beef_bourito]

The new mustang, I must say, looks hot. It takes a bunch of styling from the old ones and modernizes them a bit. The new charger looks nothing like the old ones, camaro is IMO the best one yet, it lookes just like the old one but a bit more curvy and a bit more modern, i've seen some pics somewhere on this site that look sweet. The new charger should be axed, they should go back to the drawing board and make it look somewhat like the old one.

[YukiHime]

I thought the new "Charger" is not a 2-door...

[beef_bourito]

i thought they had 2 models, i've seen pics of 4 doors and of 2 doors

[Tony Stewart Fan]

The new Charger is much more practical than the previously posted pictures. Here's an article about how well the Charger is doing so far.

[Filthy Sanchez]

The new Charger is a four door as Daimler says "Look at GTO sales." to explain why they think the 2 door market is dead. I say look at the Mustang sales, it's just that GM got it wrong again. However if you'd have told me 3 - 5 years ago that there'd be a Shelby Mustang, a Hemi powered Charger, a new GTO, and a 427 Vette in the future I would've laughed my ass off and said you were full of it. I love the new Stang and would've loved to have seen a new Camaro unfotunetly GM seems to have dropped the ball on that one again, imagine that.

[SniperX13]

I think, in the latest issue of MT, they were talking about how GM is going to bring the rear drive cars back, on like the zeta platform (not exactly sure) and how they are going to bring back the "Chevelle" and "Camaro" name. now, if they live up to the high expectations of those names, remains yet to be seen.

[Filthy Sanchez]

Originally Posted by SniperX13

I think, in the latest issue of MT, they were talking about how GM is going to bring the rear drive cars back, on like the zeta platform (not exactly sure) and how they are going to bring back the "Chevelle" and "Camaro" name. now, if they live up to the high expectations of those names, remains yet to be seen.

They were, but I think it was MT that said they just recently announced they were scapping those plans.

[beef_bourito]

I just hope that whomever brings back classic names doesn't screw it up like pontiac

[porscheguy9999]

Just wait fot the next GTO in 08' I think. That will be much more aggressivly designed and not a rebadged Holden.

[Filthy Sanchez]

Originally Posted by beef_bourito

I just hope that whomever brings back classic names doesn't screw it up like pontiac

GM is notorious for that remember when they brought back the Nova which was a rebadges Toyota front driver, now the Malibu, Monte Carlo, and Impala. Remeber the Pontiac Tempest was a rebadges Korean car in the late eighties! The GTO is the closest they've gotten to actually getting it right!

[porscheguy9999]

Desipite the fact that the GTO is a rebadged Holden Manero.

[caleb56]

i heard that they were going to bring the challenger in to make it the 2 door version of the charger, and that it would get more hp.

[Jaguar D-Type]

Yes, Dodge is going to make a new Challenger. I doubt that it will have retro styling.

Likely Challenger: Dodge prepping a rear-drive coupe to take on Ford's Mustang

RICK KRANZ | Automotive News

Posted Date: 6/13/05

DETROIT -- Watch out, Ford Mustang. Dodge is preparing a challenger.

In fact, it's likely to be called Challenger.

Chrysler plans to resurrect a respected name from the pony car era for a rear-wheel-drive Mustang fighter, industry sources say. The car is expected in 2009 on the LX platform, the basis of the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum and Charger.

"It is a two-door, essentially a competitor for the Mustang," says Catherine Madden, a production analyst for industry research group Global Insight. "They are really excited about it."

Madden says the sport coupe is planned to debut in 2009, when the next-generation LX vehicles are scheduled to be re-engineered and restyled.

"They would be able to make some additional investment in the platform, make some adjustments for that product" at that time, she says.

"The enthusiasm for that product," Madden says, is "very big."

Chrysler hopes to sell 60,000 to 70,000 of the cars a year, she says. An assembly site was not identified. Production of the 300, Magnum and recently introduced Charger is expected to fill Chrysler's Brampton, Ontario, assembly plant.

Chrysler officials are not talking about the car, but industry analysts say they are familiar with the plans.

Jim Hall, vice president of industry analysis at AutoPacific Inc., says he isn't sure Chrysler can pull it off. "They have a lot of stuff that has to be cleared off the table before they start playing around with that car," he says.

The redesigned 2005 Mustang has exceeded initial sales estimates. Ford expects to build 192,000 Mustangs this year [best sales year since 1994], and most retail units are selling at a price near the sticker.

The 1970-74 Challenger was Dodge's answer to the original Mustang, as well as the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Mercury Cougar, and AMC Javelin.

(end of article)

There aren't many Dodge Challengers on the road so I'll post this one. It is a pony car, not a muscle car (muscle cars are bigger).

This Challenger originally had a 318 cubic inch V-8, but the car was restored and now has a 440 6-Pack, a shaker hood, and a hurst pistol grip.









more news...

GM reverses course, says revised version of Zeta rear-drive architecture is back on track

Automotive News

9/12/05

DETROIT - Six months after General Motors halted plans to use its Zeta rear-wheel-drive car architecture in North America, the company has revived the program.

In an interview with Automotive News last week, Jim Queen, GM's vice president of global engineering, said a revised version of Zeta is back on track.

Engineered at GM's Holden subsidiary in Australia, Zeta was expected to be the basis of the next-generation Pontiac Grand Prix and GTO; the Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo and a new version of the Camaro; and other vehicles. Vehicles in the program were expected to debut as early as 2006.

Queen did not discuss vehicles on the new version of Zeta or timing. Some vehicles that could be in the Zeta program include the next-generation Pontiac GTO as well as a Chevrolet coupe and sedans. They could debut by the 2009 or 2010 model year, say one company source and one industry analyst.

Queen said initial plans for Zeta stretched the architecture beyond its limits for some North American vehicles. "We needed to reassess and reconfigure the program," he said.

"As we started counting who was in and who was out of Zeta, we realized too late" that Zeta would not work in North America, Queen said.

Part of GM's reasoning in slowing Zeta's development was to focus on pulling forward its full-sized SUVs and pickups. GM's next-generation SUVs will debut early next year.

At the time, GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz wrote on GM's FastLane blog that GM had "canceled & plans to build rear-wheel-drive vehicles off the Zeta architecture."

"But that does not mean we've canceled plans to build rear-drive vehicles altogether," Lutz wrote. "We are simply reallocating resources (human and financial) to pull some other programs ahead and get other vehicles to market sooner."

The revised Zeta program is being developed in GM's Australian engineering center. The vehicle line executive on the program is Gene Stefanyshyn, the former vehicle line executive for GM's Epsilon, or mid-sized cars, in North America.

A GM spokesman said no product plans have been approved and that GM still is studying design themes, performance characteristics and variants for Zeta vehicles.

GM uses the term "architecture" to signify a common set of components, performance characteristics, a common manufacturing process, a range of dimensions and connecting points for key component systems.

(end of article)

GM has said the new rwd coupes won't have retro styling. They seem to have done a good job with the new Pontiac Solstice as they have 13,000 orders for it with good reviews.

New 2006 Pontiac Solstice

[Filthy Sanchez]

About time now we need Ford and GM to make other rear drive cars. I mean beisdes Mustang and Solstice. A Camaro replacement had better be in the works, and maybe a rear drive Impala. Ford make the next Crown Vic something other than a grandpa's car and maybe something cool from Lincoln (rumors are they want to make a great rear drive Continetal). Hopefully GM isn't just blowing smoke up our asses as they've been known to do. It is good to see Chrysler reverse their plans to make only four door models, and actually come out with a 2 door coupe.