[tc Bosnian]

Hello, wasn't in the states nor old enough to remember but who ruled the roads in the 90s between the big three? Camaro, Mustang or the challenger? I'm talking about straight out of the factory?
Unbiased answers please.

[BobDigi5060]

Mod for mod, fox body Mustangs. I had a four eyed fox that was EFI and could run with my STi at altitude (14.4 @ 98 mph). I would have loved to have put I/H/C on that car.

The 302 remained in the GT until 95 so most races between the two would be a drivers race. Mod for mod the modulars could not hang. The fastest cars at the strip were fox bodys, novas, 2nd gens, and your pick of any other classic bow tie. But, the fastest street cars were 4th gens.

[rocket403]

From 85 to 95 the 5.0L was the fastest of the Camaro and Mustang, but the Buick GN and GNX was the top dog on the street and track. With some minor mods the GN was an easy 12's car.

[Apex Motorsports]

The LS1 Camaro SS slaughtered everyone in the late 90s. It was almost sad.

[Dr. Evil]

OMG at some of the replies.



The 90s started out with foxbody coupes being in the lead slightly.
In 1993 the LT1 debuted in the 4th gen f body which moved it decidedly to the top.
An argument could be made that the 93 fox body cobra was faster but it would be difficult at best. It was a low production vehicle as well.

The mustang used the 5.0 in the early new body style mustangs but they were rated even lower in HP than the Fox body was. The 4.6 was pretty anemic and you had to have a cobra to compete against a regular F body. The LS1 owned all with its introduction in 1998.

In short, no one who owned a stock LT1 f body feared a stock mustang. No one who owned a stock LS1 F body feared anything stock except vipers and corvettes. No one who owned a properly modded LS1 Y/F body feared anything.

[RiCorvette]

There were no new factory made Challengers in '90's, so it was a Camaro/Mustang rivalry only. The 2nd(?) Gen Challenger in the 80s was a re-badged Mitsubishi Galant Lambda.
The current 3rd(?) Gen Challenger made it's sales debut in '08.

[DrkPhx]

Originally Posted by Apex Motorsports

The LS1 Camaro SS slaughtered everyone in the late 90s. It was almost sad.

Originally Posted by Dr. Evil

OMG at some of the replies.



The 90s started out with foxbody coupes being in the lead slightly.
In 1993 the LT1 debuted in the 4th gen f body which moved it decidedly to the top.
An argument could be made that the 93 fox body cobra was faster but it would be difficult at best. It was a low production vehicle as well.

The mustang used the 5.0 in the early new body style mustangs but they were rated even lower in HP than the Fox body was. The 4.6 was pretty anemic and you had to have a cobra to compete against a regular F body. The LS1 owned all with its introduction in 1998.

In short, no one who owned a stock LT1 f body feared a stock mustang. No one who owned a stock LS1 F body feared anything stock except vipers and corvettes. No one who owned a properly modded LS1 Y/F body feared anything.

Lol. This is the truth. The 80's belonged to the 5.0 Mustang no doubt, the 90's were all GM.

[tc Bosnian]

Alright thanks for the legit responses. The reason I'm asking is bc of this hellcat. No I'm not jumping on its bandwagon but 700 HP on a vehicle, heavy or not is impressive for a "stock" vehicle.
I didn't move to the States until 97 and I was 10 years old. So I don't have a clue who was the top dog.
What it seems to me is that the big three are taking turns on who has the baddest car. Don't get me wrong I would love the ZL1 but comparing to the hellcat HP wise theres a big difference. Now, I know you can do a lot to the LS motor but that's not what I'm getting at. I'm just talking stock to stock. With the hellcat you get a lot of power for the money. Which I heard it'll cost around 60k.

[rocket403]

302 was the engine to have great engine in a light cheap body, 4.6L at 1st was a bit of a dog to start with.

[87GNX]

Early 90's Ford 5.0s....mid-late 90's LT and LS1's....panty droppers however were 91-93 GT 5.0 Verts. Grand Nationals scared everyone..I was running mid 11's back in 99 and 4th gen catfish camaros wouldnt even race me for free lmao...

[102SS]

Originally Posted by rocket403

From 85 to 95 the 5.0L was the fastest of the Camaro and Mustang, but the Buick GN and GNX was the top dog on the street and track. With some minor mods the GN was an easy 12's car.

The 94 and 95 Mustangs were dogs and the 96 to 98 were worse my 94TA GT regularly whipped them.

The 99 Stangs got a boost to 260hp and they had a few special editions(Bullit) with 290 and the Cobra got an overated 320hp but it was too little too late.

In 1997 the game changed and LS1 Vettes and in 98 LS1 F Bodies ruled the world

[Dr. Evil]

Since the GNX was mentioned I'll throw this out there. THE car to have was an 89 Turbo Trans Am if you could find one. Grand National drivetrain in a 3rd gen F body from the factory.

What everyone seems to forget is that there were so many different engine combinations and options you could get in the 3rd gen F body. IROC, RS, Z28, Trans Am, GTA Trans Am etc etc. I think a lot of mustang owners raced against an LO5 powered F body and thought they could beat any F body which was most certainly not the case. The fox body cars were light, had a great suspension setup and could 60' really well.
I cant tell you the times at the dragstrip I'd see a fox body coupe with bolt ons and slicks run a mid 8 second 1/8th mile time at 75mph... All 60' and no mph.


Even with the LT1 and LS1 4th gen cars you could get a weird combination. A 2.73 geared automatic vert was much slower than a 3.42 M6 low option car.

[VADER SS L99]

Turbo Buick cars were the fastest of all until 93 when the LT1 came out. Even though the Buick wasn't made past 87 it was still fastest until 93. In the base V8 catagory (counting turbo Buicks) you could argue that GM cars ruled from the mid 80's until 2010. Even though the LS1 Camaro got discontinued in 2002 it was still faster than 2003-2009 Mustang GT's as well as 08-14 Challenger R/T's.

[rayhawk]

Originally Posted by Dr. Evil

OMG at some of the replies.



The 90s started out with foxbody coupes being in the lead slightly.
In 1993 the LT1 debuted in the 4th gen f body which moved it decidedly to the top.
An argument could be made that the 93 fox body cobra was faster but it would be difficult at best. It was a low production vehicle as well.

The mustang used the 5.0 in the early new body style mustangs but they were rated even lower in HP than the Fox body was. The 4.6 was pretty anemic and you had to have a cobra to compete against a regular F body. The LS1 owned all with its introduction in 1998.

In short, no one who owned a stock LT1 f body feared a stock mustang. No one who owned a stock LS1 F body feared anything stock except vipers and corvettes. No one who owned a properly modded LS1 Y/F body feared anything.

This sums it up well. My GF had an '01 A4 Z28 w/ 2.73's, pretty much the slowest combination and it wasn't even fair with the competition at the time. Most people didn't like the body style but F-body's sure owned the streets. I remember being nervous the first time I lined up next to an '03 Mustang GT with 260 hp of 4.6L fury, thinking it would require a perfect launch to win. By the time we were across the intersection it looked like he stalled he was so far behind.