![]() ![]() Road & Track chose a 289-powered Mustang over its 327-cube Camaro competitor, judging the soft-riding Camaro to be "frankly, a disappointment. Car and Driver compared the Trans-Am-racing homologation versions of each and gave the nod to the Camaro Z/28, which outperformed the Tunnel-Port Mustang in acceleration (13.8 versus 14.0 in the quarter) and braking (1.02 g versus 0.86 g). The old flat-six was loving the cool morning air, no strange new noises announced themselves, and I was ready to settle into the driver’s seat for a solid day of cruising. Just outside of town, the Corvair was due for its first fill-up. No outright winner was declared, though reading between the lines, the Camaro seemed the favorite. Throwing caution to the wind and driving 1500 miles in a Chevy Corvair. We dinged the Mustang for unlighted ventilation controls that only the driver could reach, while the Camaro took heat for its lack of instrumentation and the low mounting location of the auxiliary gauges. The Camaro felt the most agile in tight twisty maneuvers, but its two-speed automatic drew loud criticism. This time the Mustangs understeered the most the Camaros the least, and the V-8 Chevys were prone to throttle oversteer. In May 1967, we finally got all the ponies together, testing several variants of each. The front disc brakes required similarly light footwork to keep from locking (stops from 60 mph took 156 feet versus the GT 390's 134). ![]() The Camaro RS/SS 350's standard traction bar reduced wheelhop (later Camaros cured the problem using staggered shocks), but excessive tirespin demanded a light touch at launch. The Mustang GT 390, with its enlarged front anti-roll bar and stiffened springs (30 percent front, 26 percent rear), drew praise for its quieter ride and improved handling, though it remained a heavy understeerer, and the big-block produced major axle-tramp on full-power launches. So how did the upstart Camaro fare against the million-strong Mustang? Motor Trend ran the first driving impressions of both cars in December 1966, but they were driven by different authors at separate venues and hence not compared. ![]()
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