Domestic V-8 Feud - Chevy vs Ford - : )
#1
01-17-2007, 02:10 PM
Domestic V-8 Feud - Chevy vs Ford - : )
[align=center]Ford [sm=gears.gif][/align][align=center][sm=gears.gif]Chevy[/align][align=center][/align]Updated:2007-01-16 11:43:58
[/align]A Domestic V-8 Feud
[/align]With the new Camaro still in the embryonic stage, the Ford and Chevy faithful cross swords with the Mustang and Corvette.
[/align]By TOM WILSON, ANDREW BORNHOP, AND DOUGLAS KOTT
[/align]
Every hero must have his villain, and for Chevrolet and Ford fans, it's the other guy. It's been that way since Ford's flathead ruled the Earth, is a simmering conflict today and promises another explosive era pending the arrival of Chevy's rejuvenated Camaro, perhaps two years hence.
A V-8 intramural, this uniquely domestic feud began with the flathead Ford, an engine that unreservedly dominated its era. Fords were for go and Chevys were "stovebolts." Nothing could touch a Ford, certainly not the limp-cranked straight-8s in doctors' cars, the agricultural sixes and barely post-Victorian 4-bangers chugging along from the Depression until a decade into the jet age. Imagine, then, the wrenching reality of Chevrolet's small-block V-8 introduction in 1955. Suddenly, overhead valves were for the masses and Ford's time-tested flattie was looking mighty quaint. It was a shock the Ford faithful had a tough time accepting. They had established the performance and numerical dominance in American performance cars, and now they were getting their doors blown off by staid old Chevrolet.
[/align]
Far more than a better mousetrap, the small-bock Chevrolet's greatness did nothing less than redefine performance. Lightweight, free revving and flooding out of Detroit in everything from commuter cars to commercial trucks, the first perky, then roaring orange V-8 instantly consigned Ford's performance dominance to a fading second place. Ford fans' resentment grew as they begrudgingly became the other brand.
It took Ford a surprisingly long time, until 1962, to introduce its own timeless small block, a timetable no doubt influenced by the parallel need to develop the signature engines of the classic muscle-car era, the big blocks. Furthermore, Ford's menagerie of overlapping engine families -- there were three branches of two small-block families and two big-block families -- contrasted to Chevy's focused approach of improving their one-each small- and big-block lines.
Naturally, all of these engines came in chassis of ever-increasing importance. Prewar Fords were certainly empowered by overwhelming economies of scale, and just as certainly, mid-'50s and '60s Chevrolets showed how modern design could help level the competition. But the tire smoke didn't blossom into an anvil-headed thundercloud until the introduction of the populist Mustang, the follow-on Camaro and all the other Torinos, Chevelles, Falcons, Novas, Cobras, Corvairs, GT40s, Shelbys and Corvettes that the wild performance era from 1965 to 1972 had to offer. Here the battle was joined on a titanic scale, from the factory boardroom to the world's greatest racetracks and, most tellingly, on back streets late into the night.
When the lights went out in 1973 thanks to strangling insurance plus an oil embargo, it is most accurate to say Chevy had won the muscle-car round of the rivalry. Chevy hardware was more widely available and less expensive to run as the early cars were recycled through the dark ages of the late '70s and early '80s. Ford fans found themselves increasingly marginalized, their cars and engines falling to near curio status as Chevrolet dominated the remaining racing and performance scene with their available and affordable small block.
[/align][/align][/align]
See Mustang Photos Here
[/align][/align]But when the Mustang
[/align]A Domestic V-8 Feud
[/align]With the new Camaro still in the embryonic stage, the Ford and Chevy faithful cross swords with the Mustang and Corvette.
[/align]By TOM WILSON, ANDREW BORNHOP, AND DOUGLAS KOTT
[/align]
Every hero must have his villain, and for Chevrolet and Ford fans, it's the other guy. It's been that way since Ford's flathead ruled the Earth, is a simmering conflict today and promises another explosive era pending the arrival of Chevy's rejuvenated Camaro, perhaps two years hence.
A V-8 intramural, this uniquely domestic feud began with the flathead Ford, an engine that unreservedly dominated its era. Fords were for go and Chevys were "stovebolts." Nothing could touch a Ford, certainly not the limp-cranked straight-8s in doctors' cars, the agricultural sixes and barely post-Victorian 4-bangers chugging along from the Depression until a decade into the jet age. Imagine, then, the wrenching reality of Chevrolet's small-block V-8 introduction in 1955. Suddenly, overhead valves were for the masses and Ford's time-tested flattie was looking mighty quaint. It was a shock the Ford faithful had a tough time accepting. They had established the performance and numerical dominance in American performance cars, and now they were getting their doors blown off by staid old Chevrolet.
[/align]
Far more than a better mousetrap, the small-bock Chevrolet's greatness did nothing less than redefine performance. Lightweight, free revving and flooding out of Detroit in everything from commuter cars to commercial trucks, the first perky, then roaring orange V-8 instantly consigned Ford's performance dominance to a fading second place. Ford fans' resentment grew as they begrudgingly became the other brand.
It took Ford a surprisingly long time, until 1962, to introduce its own timeless small block, a timetable no doubt influenced by the parallel need to develop the signature engines of the classic muscle-car era, the big blocks. Furthermore, Ford's menagerie of overlapping engine families -- there were three branches of two small-block families and two big-block families -- contrasted to Chevy's focused approach of improving their one-each small- and big-block lines.
Naturally, all of these engines came in chassis of ever-increasing importance. Prewar Fords were certainly empowered by overwhelming economies of scale, and just as certainly, mid-'50s and '60s Chevrolets showed how modern design could help level the competition. But the tire smoke didn't blossom into an anvil-headed thundercloud until the introduction of the populist Mustang, the follow-on Camaro and all the other Torinos, Chevelles, Falcons, Novas, Cobras, Corvairs, GT40s, Shelbys and Corvettes that the wild performance era from 1965 to 1972 had to offer. Here the battle was joined on a titanic scale, from the factory boardroom to the world's greatest racetracks and, most tellingly, on back streets late into the night.
When the lights went out in 1973 thanks to strangling insurance plus an oil embargo, it is most accurate to say Chevy had won the muscle-car round of the rivalry. Chevy hardware was more widely available and less expensive to run as the early cars were recycled through the dark ages of the late '70s and early '80s. Ford fans found themselves increasingly marginalized, their cars and engines falling to near curio status as Chevrolet dominated the remaining racing and performance scene with their available and affordable small block.
[/align][/align][/align]
See Mustang Photos Here
[/align][/align]But when the Mustang
#3
01-17-2007, 04:06 PM
RE: Domestic V-8 Feud - Chevy vs Ford - : )
I always thought that was cool how the mustang can't even touch the corvette now-a-days, but I guess you do have to hand it to the Mustange for being so inexpensive. I would never own one though. I can't stand any company other than GM. Dodge isn't even worth mentioning. I've heard that Dalmer-Chrysler is up for sale again because the Germans are losing too much money on them, is this true?
#4
01-17-2007, 05:36 PM
RE: Domestic V-8 Feud - Chevy vs Ford - : )
i think that chevrolet is losing alot of there performance aspect with every thing going to fwr i remember down here in the late 80 early 90 every nite it was a battle monte carlo vs mustang but now in days the monte can compeat with the mustang and its a shame to see it as far sa comparing the mustang to the vette there is no comparasent the vette can kill it no prob to me chev lost alot of there performance infuence and i for one would like to see gm's performance division back on top
#5
01-17-2007, 08:27 PM
RE: Domestic V-8 Feud - Chevy vs Ford - : )
I agree that it was pretty stupid making the monte carlo fwd. I do like mine being fwd in the winter, but for performance I don't. I wish they would have made an option for the monte to be rwd. I would have bought that one in a heart beat. The new monte carlo with the 5.3 is pretty close to the mustang. The mustang is something like 0-60 in 5.2 or so and the monte carlo is 0-60 in 5.6. If you get someone who knows how to drive, you could beat the mustang no problem. Besides, the ford would have to stop for gas or break down before it hit 50.
#6
01-17-2007, 10:00 PM
RE: Domestic V-8 Feud - Chevy vs Ford - : )
I've heard that Dalmer-Chrysler is up for sale again because the Germans are losing too much money on them, is this true?
My dad was a manager at one of the plants for years. Till they told him take early retirement or get all your benefits cut in half.
At the end of '06 they told all the people on retirement they wouldn't have health insurance anymore. They had to find their own.
(THANKS A$$HOLES!!!) [sm=chairshot.gif]
My dad was a manager at one of the plants for years. Till they told him take early retirement or get all your benefits cut in half.
At the end of '06 they told all the people on retirement they wouldn't have health insurance anymore. They had to find their own.
(THANKS A$$HOLES!!!) [sm=chairshot.gif]
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