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PONY CARS REVISTED WITH 21ST CENTURY STYLE

Jerry Admin

There was an interesting shift in the pony car world when the 21st Century was a few years old.

Three cars made a big switch to a retro look back then because Baby Boomers hit the nostalgia button in a big way–so they wanted cars that looked like the first gen versions but drove like a new performance car.

The three cars were the 2005 Mustang, the 2008 Challenger and the 2009 Camaro, so the question is simple—who did the best job of recreating the past?

Jerry Sutherland

Pony cars debuted in 1964 with the Barracuda on April 1st —followed a few weeks later by the Mustang on April 17th.

The Chevy Camaro came out over two years later (September 29, 1966); followed by the Mercury Cougar (September 30, 1966); the Pontiac Firebird (February 23, 1967), the AMC Javelin (August 22, 1967), and finally the Dodge Challenger (November 1969).

The 2005 Mustang was the first retro to capture the form of the 60s Mustang fastback.

Ford nailed the conventional early Mustang look in the grille, taillights and profile. This was a big departure from the 2004 model that had a more conventional 90s-era Fox-body look.   

Ford set some very cool sequential signal lights set in the retro-look taillights on the 2005 Mustang. They also offered a 21st Century version of the legendary Shelby Mustang.

My biggest takeaway from the ’05 Mustang introduction was this—it was a tougher-looking version of the original ‘stang. This was an original Mustang on steroids and even the mildest version (4.0-liter SOHC V6) had decent horsepower. The Shelby GT 500 was a beast with a 5.4-liter, supercharged V-8 that pumped out 500 horsepower—the fastest Mustang ever built—to that point.

The 2008 Dodge Challenger was another welcome addition to the 21st Century pony car wars.

Chrysler nailed the Gen 1 look with the ’08 Challenger because the traditional profile was retained—it just had a higher beltline. The front and back end also reflected the 1st Gen Challenger, so you knew this was a Mopar just by looking at it.

Dodge offered the Gen III hemi option for the 2008 Challenger and it came with the 6.1 SRT8 model. This was a 425-horse car, so it had all the power you needed—and then some. Later Challengers like the Hellcat would have almost twice as much horsepower, but in 2008 you still had an ornery piece of Mopar muscle.

The last piece in the pony car puzzle was the 2009 Camaro.  

The revived Camaro brought Chevy back to the pony car fistfight, but it wasn’t as clearly a retro model as the other two.

I thought it looked a bit like an angular ’69 Camaro from the front and ’70 Camaro at the back, but the profile was definitely an amped-up version of the original Camaro.

The 6.2 LS3 V-8 pumped out 426 horsepower, so the 2010 Camaro was ready for a fistfight. They also had a V-6 option that pumped out a very respectable 304 horsepower for guys who wanted better mileage.

What was the best re-creation of a classic muscle car?

This contest was really close between the Mustang and the Challenger.

In my opinion, the Challenger won because Dodge continued the same basic look for the whole run, while the Mustang went back to a more contemporary, less original Mustang-ish look.                    

Jerry Sutherland

By: Jerry Sutherland

Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post,  Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.

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