Today’s muscle cars are carefully designed to resemble their iconic forefathers. It’s been a winning recipe thus far for the current generation Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang; the big three of the new muscle era. 

One-up competition has always driven muscle car design and evolution. Battles between the big three in the 1960’s for top horsepower ratings, 0-60 times and cool factor led to some of the most extreme street legal tire-burners to ever come out of Detroit. Not much has changed.

In the past year Chevrolet resurrected the Camaro ZL1 with 580 horsepower, putting the Camaro in direct competition with the 2012 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 (550 horsepower). Recently Ford announced the 2013 Shelby Mustang GT 500 will make 660 horsepower and be capable of reaching speeds in excess of 200mph. 

The muscle car war is alive and well. 

Coupled with modern technology and the probability that Chevrolet and Dodge will likely respond with GT500-esque monsters of their own at some point, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to assume that 200mph muscle cars topping 600hp could be the norm in a matter of years, or that they might be driven in our first wave invasion of Iran. 

We need that oil!

Sky rocketing gas prices in the 1970’s put an end to the original muscle car war. Engines were detuned, horsepower ratings plummeted and the cars got ugly. In other words, gas prices didn’t just kill the muscle car, poor long term planning did. They were one trick straight line ponies that could only survive on cheap gas. 

The 50th anniversary of the Mustang is approaching in 2014 and Ford is using the occasion to set their sights farther down the road this time around. 

“The challenge or the opportunity for 2014 with a 50th anniversary car is to not just look back over your shoulder, but to try to win all of the Mustang faithful yet bring the brand forward as well,” said Ford design boss J Mays. (1)

It’s believed Ford is planning to scrap the Mustang’s retro look entirely. Rumor is the main design influences on the next generation design will draw heavily on the Ford Evos concept and Ford Fusion. 

“The only thing 'retro' about it are the proportions — long hood, short deck,” a Ford insider said. “It will still look like a Mustang,” he emphasized. (2)

Ford isn’t trying to alienate the Mustang loyal, at least not exactly. One of the biggest obstacles in Mustang’s future is actually the car’s most common owner – men over 50 years old who remember drooling over 60’s era Mustangs and can now afford one of their own. 

Modernizing the next generation Mustang design is aimed at catching the attention of younger buyers while at the same time making the car more attractive in Ford’s “One Ford” mission to sell more vehicles on global platforms. 

Ford drew on design resources from their studios in Europe and Australia to prepare the redesigned car for the world. For the first time ever the Mustang will be sold in markets such as England, Japan and Australia. 

Beneath the skin one glaringly retro aspect of the Mustang that needed to be brought up to modern standards was the live rear-axle. It will be replaced by an independent rear suspension system that should improve handling and make for a more comfortable ride. 

As for the heart and soul Ford will most likely keep the 3.7-liter V-6 and 5.0-liter V-8 with minor improvements. There have been reports though that EcoBoost I-4s and V-6’s could fill out the power plant offerings.

From what we know at this point there’s plenty of reason to be excited about the Mustang losing its retro look. The changes are meant to help sell more cars and grow the brand around the world. For anyone who likes Mustangs that shouldn’t sound half bad – so long as it still looks like a Mustang. 

Sources:

(1)http://wot.motortrend.com/ford-design-head-says-2013-mustang-wont-be-retro-118729.html
(2)http://www.insideline.com/ford/mustang/2015/2015-ford-mustang-will-shed-retro-skin.html
(3)http://wot.motortrend.com/should-the-next-gen-2015-ford-mustang-look-like-this-198443.html#ixzz1tNFaTI00

Ford didn’t just up the ante with the new GT 500, they blew up the table: 650hp, 600lb-ft of torque and a top speed over 200mph. Boom! 

To obliterate the power figures of the new Camaro ZL1 (580hp), Ford’s SVT team bored out the GT 500’s 5.4-liter aluminum block V-8 to 5.8 liters. Both the block and heads were cross-drilled and the camshaft profiles updated. The old supercharger was ditched for a larger and more efficient Eaton TVS Series 2300 supercharger used on GM’s LS9 engine, raising boost from 9 to 15 psi. 

These upgrades add another 100hp and 90lb-ft of torque over the outgoing 2012 model. Sounds like a game changer, but it also begs the question:

Didn’t the old GT 500 have plenty of trouble putting its power to the ground?

Indeed it did, in fact the old GT500 wasn’t much faster off the line than the Mustang GT. To help translate the added power to more usable grunt SVT nerds altered the six-speed manual transmission’s gearing to make the most of the added torque. Every gear except fourth was re-calibrated and the 3.55 final drive ratio was dropped for a 3.31 final drive. A dual-disc clutch and carbon-fiber driveshaft help disperse power down through Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires.

“That’s all well and fine,” you say, “but would I have to be stupid to drive a Mustang over 200mph?”

Not necessarily. The 2013 GT 500’s front fascia was red-designed to maximize down force while minimizing drag. The front end utilizes a new front splitter and front grills that help keep the car stuck to the road at speed. For a point of reference on the aero changes, Ford says the new GT 500 is 33 more planted at 160mph than the outgoing model.

But of course, a 200mph muscle car wouldn’t be complete without optional performance packages. The GT 500 sports two, the first of which is called… Performance Package.

It includes a Torsen limited-slip differential and an SVT-designed Bilstein suspension system featuring electronically adjustable dampers and Normal/Sport driving modes.

One step above the Performance Package is the Track Package, which adds to the Performance Package an external engine cooler, rear differential cooler and a transmission cooler to fend off heat in high speed track conditions.

Ford claims the 650hp V-8 in the 2013 Mustang Shelby GT500 is the most powerful production V-8 in the world. If that’s any indication of what we can expect to see from the second-generation muscle car war we should all be very excited for the future.

SOURCES:

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2013-ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-official-photos-and-info-news

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/1111_2013_ford_shelby_gt500_and_2013_mustang_lineup/viewall.html

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