Keeping Faithful to One's Heritage

[Madlock]

One of the aspects of my GT500 that continually and continuously impresses me is how faithful an interpretation of the original Mustang - and Shelby the S197-based 2010 and 2011 model year vehicles happen to be. Ford's designers, engineers and stylists (including their Shelby counterparts) have created something truly remarkable - a stunningly-attractive and thoroughly modern vehicle that's also unmistakably Mustang - and Shelby. Anybody who's ever seen a late 1960's Mustang would immediately recognize the 2010-2011 Mustangs in all its flavors.

 

Allow me to prove my point.

 

Anybody who sees the vehicle on the left would immediately understand exactly what it is and where it came from.

 

 

And then I thought some more.

 

As much as Mustang may be the original and only authentic "pony" and "muscle" cars, pop culture and history have funny ways of deciding over time if any "me too" latecomers and "also ran" are allowed to draft in the McCoy's wake and eventually benefit from the path the one and only true original blazed back in the day.

 

Of course, Camaro comes to mind. Not only because it was the first to realize the mother lode Ford struck, but because - at the same time Ford has become a bastion of American pride by picking itself by its own cajones (and wallet) and reinventing itself from top to bottom to become not only America's premier auto maker, but an example of propriety and the importance of time-tested principles like building better products that people want to buy - not to mention every virtue America and Americans are supposed to espouse.

 

The fact that GM continues to exist is no small source of irritation to me. Not only was it colossally inappropriate for more reasons than I have time to list in detail, but in addition to the money put at risk for the sake of GM (and Chrysler) being allowed to behave as if it hadn't collapsed, not to mention the way virtually every establish fundamental precedent of integrity the American marketplace depends upon to function and how badly bondholders were bent-over in the worst case of brute force anal violence to ever outside prison walls.

 

Even if GM manages to "repay" the government and taxpayers aren't left on the hook for any of the money it lent (which is hardly all of the money GM received), the cost of bailing-out GM and Chrysler will continue to accrue in perpetuity and have to be paid by every legitimate auto maker who has to compete with GM when it otherwise shouldn't. It's bad enough Ford is having to bear such a tremendous share of cost given its own challenges that it's managing to overcome, but why would any other business want to do business in America when, at any point, the U.S. government can choose to decide, "We know you were the better company and did everything you were supposed to do, and we know your competitor didn't, but we just can't afford for you to be so successful right now - because we can't afford for you competitor to not succeed, no matter how crappy a business they may happen to be."

 

But that's not why I posted either. So, as I was thinking about what kind of cars $50B in government backing should be buying (in addition to curing the common cold and returning man to the moon), Camaro comes to mind. Camaro's Australian design team has managed to capture the spirit of "American Muscle" - and like it or not, and whether people should be buying them or not, they're selling (although they are admittedly more popular among the Hot Wheels, Transformers, Pimp My Ride and "would rather try to look sharp than be sharp" crowd.

 

But diatribe aside, one thing about Camaro is equally indisputable - the latest Zeta platform effort from Holden evokes equally as much of its heritage as Mustang, and the source of its design inspiration is every bit as unmistakable.

 

 

 

I wasn't fully convinced at first. - but when I saw 2010 Camaro's huge ass end, I began to wonder. Then when I took a good long look at those mirrors - and then those ears, how could anybody wonder what GM was thinking?

 

There's something else about the two that's similar... but I just can't put my finger on it.

[glroy]

This is the one I like don't know who owns it now, but should have never been.

Would love to have this scoop on my 07

 

Glen

[mere44]

Nice!

[bigsnake]

Good write up Madlock, kudos !

[POTTICAN]

How do you post pictures to this site?

[Torched10]

One of the aspects of my GT500 that continually and continuously impresses me is how faithful an interpretation of the original Mustang - and Shelby the S197-based 2010 and 2011 model year vehicles happen to be. Ford's designers, engineers and stylists (including their Shelby counterparts) have created something truly remarkable - a stunningly-attractive and thoroughly modern vehicle that's also unmistakably Mustang - and Shelby. Anybody who's ever seen a late 1960's Mustang would immediately recognize the 2010-2011 Mustangs in all its flavors.

 

Allow me to prove my point.

 

Anybody who sees the vehicle on the left would immediately understand exactly what it is and where it came from.

 

 

And then I thought some more.

 

As much as Mustang may be the original and only authentic "pony" and "muscle" cars, pop culture and history have funny ways of deciding over time if any "me too" latecomers and "also ran" are allowed to draft in the McCoy's wake and eventually benefit from the path the one and only true original blazed back in the day.

 

Of course, Camaro comes to mind. Not only because it was the first to realize the mother lode Ford struck, but because - at the same time Ford has become a bastion of American pride by picking itself by its own cajones (and wallet) and reinventing itself from top to bottom to become not only America's premier auto maker, but an example of propriety and the importance of time-tested principles like building better products that people want to buy - not to mention every virtue America and Americans are supposed to espouse.

 

The fact that GM continues to exist is no small source of irritation to me. Not only was it colossally inappropriate for more reasons than I have time to list in detail, but in addition to the money put at risk for the sake of GM (and Chrysler) being allowed to behave as if it hadn't collapsed, not to mention the way virtually every establish fundamental precedent of integrity the American marketplace depends upon to function and how badly bondholders were bent-over in the worst case of brute force anal violence to ever outside prison walls.

 

Even if GM manages to "repay" the government and taxpayers aren't left on the hook for any of the money it lent (which is hardly all of the money GM received), the cost of bailing-out GM and Chrysler will continue to accrue in perpetuity and have to be paid by every legitimate auto maker who has to compete with GM when it otherwise shouldn't. It's bad enough Ford is having to bear such a tremendous share of cost given its own challenges that it's managing to overcome, but why would any other business want to do business in America when, at any point, the U.S. government can choose to decide, "We know you were the better company and did everything you were supposed to do, and we know your competitor didn't, but we just can't afford for you to be so successful right now - because we can't afford for you competitor to not succeed, no matter how crappy a business they may happen to be."

 

But that's not why I posted either. So, as I was thinking about what kind of cars $50B in government backing should be buying (in addition to curing the common cold and returning man to the moon), Camaro comes to mind. Camaro's Australian design team has managed to capture the spirit of "American Muscle" - and like it or not, and whether people should be buying them or not, they're selling (although they are admittedly more popular among the Hot Wheels, Transformers, Pimp My Ride and "would rather try to look sharp than be sharp" crowd.

 

But diatribe aside, one thing about Camaro is equally indisputable - the latest Zeta platform effort from Holden evokes equally as much of its heritage as Mustang, and the source of its design inspiration is every bit as unmistakable.

 

 

 

I wasn't fully convinced at first. - but when I saw 2010 Camaro's huge ass end, I began to wonder. Then when I took a good long look at those mirrors - and then those ears, how could anybody wonder what GM was thinking?

 

There's something else about the two that's similar... but I just can't put my finger on it.

 

well written and thoughtful---the Mustang though was not the "original" muscle car--that was the 64 GTO, when Pontiac dropped a big block into what was then a compact car, the LeMans and made the GTO an option.

[BDrool]

How do you post pictures to this site?

 

 

When you do a reply, look below the edit box for an attachment area. Browse to find and remember to to click on "Attach This File" before clicking on "Add Reply".

[Madlock]

When you do a reply, look below the edit box for an attachment area. Browse to find and remember to to click on "Attach This File" before clicking on "Add Reply".

 

 

Actually, to make a picture appear within a message, rather than attached to it, you should use the picture icon and follow the "Insert Image" prompt.