US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever

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The racehorses are back, wilder than ever

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-wilder

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Challenger SRT Plum Crazy: Dodge brought the coupe to the US market for the 2010 model year. A 6.1 liter Hemi V8 gives it 425 hp. So he is aimed at…

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-wilder

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… Challenger R / T from 1970, which obtained the same output as a convertible or coupe from a 7.0-liter V8. Both are topped by…

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-wilder

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… Challenger SRT Hellcat, which brings the elemental force of 707 hp onto the asphalt via its rear wheels.

Source: Chrysler

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-wilder

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The first Chevrolet Camaro, built between 1966 and 1970, offered values ​​of up to 435 hp from 6.5 liters of displacement, the Z 28 from 1967 on display at least achieved 290 hp and 4.9 liters…he.

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-racehorses

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The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has also been officially only available in the USA since 2012 – open or closed. The 6.2 liter V8 engine generates 580 hp, which gives it top speed…t the manufacturer with around 290 km / h. In the picture: the convertible from model year 2015. It is detached from the…

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-wilder

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… Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500, which comes up with a 5.8-liter block and compressor, which delivers 662 hp and enables a torque of 856 Newton meters (Nm). The car is b…is up to 325 km / h and sprints to 100 km / h in 3.5 seconds.

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-cars

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In 1969 and 1970 Ford showed off the Mustang Boss 429: The martial coupe with 375 hp was listed for insurance reasons. In truth, the 7.0-liter V8 should have over 600 hp …made possible.

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-cars

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Previously up to 425 hp, Dodge braked the Charger heavily in 1972 and throttled the power to "only" a maximum of 375 hp. In 1987 the series was discontinued. First…

Source: sp-x

US pony cars: The racehorses are back, wilder than ever-back

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… In 2006 the Charger was revived. Four years later, in 2010, the manufacturer presented the new edition of the returnee in Los Angeles (pictured).

Source: AFP

Pony cars had their heyday in the 1970s. Now the scene is celebrating a renaissance, with the elemental force of 707 hp, which, for example, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat brings to the asphalt.

Ooil crisis – which oil crisis? It has been a long time since a once outdated type of car was given the fatal blow. In 1973 it was when automakers suddenly baked smaller rolls due to heightened awareness of the scarcity of resources and in view of the skyrocketing crude oil prices.

This hit many models who had a problem with fuel addiction, but above all the rampant hustle and bustle of muscle cars was put to an end. And also the smaller, but also heavily motorized pony cars.

But the fatal blow was not right. Model series were continued, albeit badly cut in performance and appearance. In the bud, however, the sleek horsepower limber survived as the ideal type of the American car. It only took time for it to rise again.

Et voila: At the moment there are high-bred versions of the usual suspicious series, all equipped with a V8 engine: of the Dodge Challenger, which competed as a pony car against the Ford Mustang in 1969, there is currently the SRT with 485 hp. The Chevrolet Camaro, also a “pony”, has 588 hp as the ZL1, and the most powerful version of the Ford Mustang, nicknamed the Shelby GT 500, even pumps 671 hp onto the road. The icons of the automotive performance society in the United States are celebrating cheerful beginnings.

The return of the horse warriors

The hype surrounding the “muscle cars” began in the mid-sixties. The recipe: two-door bodies from mass production, powerful V8 engines and rudimentary sporting ambitions. But after the oil sheikhs had spoiled the fun for the Americans with their coupes with a displacement of up to 7.4 liters and well over 400 hp, there was radio silence for the time being.

Only after the turn of the millennium did the manufacturers revert to the tradition of the power coupes. With a good portion of retro design, for example, Dodge presented the Challenger Concept in 2006 as a study that was so well received that the “challenger” found its way to dealers just two years later.

Chevrolet had already followed the same path with the Camaro in 2005. The study at the Chicago Motor Show electrified the fans to such an extent that series production could begin in 2009. With their coupes, the two manufacturers reacted to the great success that Ford was able to celebrate with the new Mustang from 2004. But in order to take the lead in the race with the competition, Dodge brings the Challenger SRT Hellcat in the USA at the end of the year with no less than 707 hp and a maximum torque of 880 Newton meters.

Contemporary? Rather not.

The new editions of the muscular pony cars certainly offer contemporary safety equipment, with numerous airbags, electronic driving dynamics control systems and the largest brakes that the Italian specialist Brembo can ship to Detroit. But the consumption can be considered anachronistic: If the gas command lets the throttle valve open tightly, 20 liters easily rush through the injection systems over a distance of 100 kilometers.

What makes things better, not in principle, but in fact: The ostentatious coupes are not mass-produced cars. Given the prices alone, it is only spread in homeopathic doses at home. In view of the global trend towards SUVs that are not exactly economical, Hellcat and Co. represent moderate polluters at best.

For example, while a basic Camaro in the US starts at $ 23,555, a ZL1 costs at least $ 72,305, according to the list. The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat has not yet been priced in, but it shouldn’t be a bargain either. Neither does the new top model of the youngest Mustang, which Ford will also send into the race at the end of the year.

Breaking a taboo four-cylinder

The manufacturer is saying goodbye to the old name "Shelby" with the Mustang SVT. SVT stands for “Spezial Vehicle Team”, the new Ford division for high-performance models from the brand. A camouflaged SVT is currently doing its laps on the Nordschleife of the Nurburgring, which the augurs assume to have an output of between 550 and 600 hp.

Almost without exception, manufacturers have so far refrained from officially exporting their PS monsters to Europe. However, there is always something going on through private importers. Geiger-Cars offers the Camaro ZL1 from 69,900 euros. The Munich-based US car specialist will announce the Challenger SRT Hellcat from autumn.

While Chevrolet is offering at least the Camaro LT with 432 hp in an edition of around 700 units per year in Germany, Ford will officially sell the Mustang in this country for the first time after more than five decades from 2015. Among other things, for the first time with a four-cylinder engine that comes as a 2.3-liter supercharger with 305 hp. With that, the story begins a new chapter.

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