Another day, another Camaro variant. In addition to the Synergy Green Special Edition Camaro and (very cool) Transformers Camaro, we’ve been treated to an incredible number of third-party Camaro deviations. Now, Chevy just added one more to the list of limited edition models.

The 2010 Chevy Camaro Indy 500 Pace Car Replica Limited Edition you see above is based on the 2010 Camaro 2SS with RS appearance package, but with a few special adaditions. The base car comes with the excellent 6.2-liter V8 engine, although instead of 426 hp, it only produces 400 hp due to the wimpy automatic transmission that comes standard in this edition. That’s a dealbreaker! If you still want this special edition, you can expect the beautiful Inferno Orange paint finish with matching engine cover and front grill, white pearl decal rally stripes, 20-inch polished aluminum wheels, different floor mats, and the 2010 Indianapolis 500 logo decal on the doors, embroidered on driver and passenger headrests, and logo badges on front fenders.

The actual Camaro pace car is going to be driven by Robin Roberts, anchor of Good Morning America during the 2010 Indy 500. This isn’t the first time Chevy has offered a pace car replica; they did the same thing for the 1969, 1982 and 1993 Camaros. Up to 200 of these special editions will be produced, and will only be available from a list of chosen GM dealers, available here: Indy Camaro Dealer List (PDF file – Adobe Acrobat Reader needed)

Starting price for the 2010 Chevy Camaro Indy 500 Pace Car Replica Limited Edition is $41,950 (incl destination.)

This is a war that will never stop! Pony cars war, that is! They fight on HP, looks, performance and price. And you know that when two fight, the third always wins. Third party here is us, the consumers, and we can only enjoy this war, cause if there hadn’t been Challanger and Camaro, Mustang would have never been popular and it would have never gotten the attention it gets today.

We’ve had an article a couple of months ago about Stang vs. Camaro and not a billion articles can ever bring to peace this competition through arguments. Because the two muscle cars are very much alike, it’s history, tradition and leaning towards one or the other that actually make you Camaro or Mustang fan.

Recently, pricing for 2011 Mustang has been released, and even though Ford has managed to add close to 100 horsepower to each car, the cash customers need to lay out has barely budged.

The 305-hp Mustang V6 starts at $22,995, while the 5.0-badged 412-hp Mustang GT starts at $30,495, with the V8 premium GT starting at $33,695. That’s some pretty potent bang for your buck, especially as both prices include destination charges. Consider that the 304-hp V6 Camaro starts at $23,530, a difference of $535. Of course, that’s for the 2010 Camaro, as Chevy has yet to release Camaro pricing for 2011.

The 426-horespower 2010 Camaro SS starts at $31,795, a difference of $1,300, with no 2011 prices announced yet. Of course, many people will be quick to point out that you do get more horsepower for the money (about $93 per pony according to our math), but paying more money for more power is not always justified. You also get more weight and a crappier interior. People at Inside Line managed to (somehow) sneak the new 5.0 ‘Stang onto a dyno and record 395 horses at the rear wheels. Factor in about 12% parasitic drivetrain loss and you’re talking in excess of 440 horsepower.

As it stands, the re-ignited pony car wars just got a whole lot more hot.

The Chevrolet Corvette has held the title of “America’s sportscar” for more than six decades now, but General Motors is going global for the design of the next-generation two-seater. GM has requested Corvette design studies from 10 of its global design studios.

Although the Detroit automaker has yet to make a decision on the design direction of the next Vette, it is considering several global design studies. Ed Welburn, GM’s head of global design, offered the challenge to 10 of GM’s design studios last year.

While the Corvette will always be America’s sportscar, GM is looking to give the next iteration of the performance machine a bigger global presence – particularly in Europe. The Corvette has never really taken hold in Europe – despite outperforming cars twice its price – but Welburn is hopefully the redesign will make the Corvette more attractive to European buyers.

The redesign – which is expected within the next two to three years – will also be important for the U.S. market. Corvette sales have dropped off 48 percent in the United States since 2008, with the average age of a Corvette buyer ballooning to 54 years.

“We have challenges in the States with the Corvette,” Welburn said. “The average age of the customer is really rising.”

Although the next Corvette will be the most global version of the sportscar yet, don’t expect the American icon to lose sight of its roots. “It can’t mutate into something that gets so far away from Corvette that it is no longer a Corvette,” Welburn added. Welburn failed to detail any design studies currently on the table, but did say the next Chevy Corvette would feature a much improved interior.

You can find things to complain about when talking about Shelby GT500…if you are a real caviler, but there’s one thing about this muscle car that one cannot backbite: POWER! Its supercharged 5.4-liter V8, the 540 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque can impress even the most squeamish of us.
Before the contemporary GT500 was born, Ford had a blown aluminum block 5.4-liter V8 in the short lived GT supercar. However, when the engineers at Ford’s Special Vehicle Team developed the GT500, they opted to mount the GT’s cylinder heads on the cast iron block used in the big F-Series pickup trucks. After debuting a visual refresh for the Mustang a year ago, Ford has spent the last two months announcing fresh new powertrains for the base and GT models. That process has now come full circle with SVT rolling out a heart transplant for the Shelby GT500. The 2011 model finally has the aluminum powerplant we all wanted when it debuted, and the effect is absolutely en-lightening.

The SVT engineers actually had a reason for going with the iron block in the first place. Mustangs like the GT500 and its Cobra ancestors often end up being heavily modified for use at drag strips and race tracks, and the SVT crew wanted to make sure the standard block could stand up to the rigors of those significantly higher outputs. They chose not to use an aluminum block until they had a chance to develop one with the same strength as the iron version, and that time has now come.

Switching to an aluminum block was a bit more complicated than simply digging out the casting molds that were used for the GT. The engine in that 200+ mph supercar used a dry sump lubrication system and featured iron cylinder liners. The new GT500 engine is derived from the structural design of the older block but retains the wet sump system used in other Mustangs. The real magic is something that most owners will likely never actually see.

Last June we learned about an award that several Ford researchers had received for a cylinder bore coating system they developed called the Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA) process. The Ford press release at the time framed the award in terms of fuel efficiency and gave no real hint about what was about to come. It now turns out that the first production Ford to use the PTWA process will be the 2011 GT500.

The heart of the PTWA process involves feeding a steel wire into a device that heats it up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit and then sprays it onto the aluminum cylinder bores. Ford is not actually the first company to use a process like this. Similar mechanisms have been used to coat the fan blades in jet engines for a number of years. One of the primary differences is that Ford is using PTWA with a conventional steel alloy rather than some super exotic aerospace material. Ford isn’t even the first automaker to use this specific coating process. That honor falls to Nissan, which actually licensed the technology from Ford for use on its V6 engine in the GT-R.

Ford believes they have an important advantage over Nissan. Anyone that has ever used a teflon-coated pan is familiar with the problem of the non-stick coating peeling off over time. In the past BMW has also had issues with the nickasil coatings prematurely separating on some of its aluminum blocks. Getting any dissimilar materials to adhere to each other is always a problem, so the initial surface has to be specially prepared in order for the coating to have something to hang on to. Nissan licensed Ford’s coating technology but used its own surface preparation process. Ford’s surface preparation works so well that even after engines have gone through a full durability cycle the bores still look like new.

Using the PTWA process allows the block to have a thinner surface coating – only 150 microns deep – that is just as tough as one with cast or pressed-in iron or steel liners. However, using less material results in lower weight. Thus, the GT500 block is 8.5 pounds lighter than the sleeved GT version. Overall, the complete engine is 102 pounds lighter than the 2010 cast iron engine. The steel coating has also helped Ford reduce the internal friction of the engine, aiding both efficiency and power production.

Some drag racers complained of power drop off on humid summer days, which was attributed to reduced heat transfer efficiency. SVT addressed this with a larger intercooler that helps the engine deliver more consistent power over its entire operating range as well as under different environmental conditions. The new aluminum block engine should be able to survive “at least” as much maximum power in modified form as the iron block equivalent. Also aiding breathing is a larger exhaust system with 2.75 inch header pipes like those on the new 5.0-liter in the Mustang GT. Out of the box, the new powerplant delivers 10 more horsepower bringing the tally up to 550 hp with the same peak torque of 510 pound-feet. Eighty percent of that torque is available everywhere between 1,750 rpm and 6,250 rpm.

Ford are at the top of the power heap, the fastest accelerating vehicle, so this really isn’t about going any faster in a straight line. This is about improving the weight distribution and handling of the vehicle. The new engine contributed to a 120 pound overall weight reduction with most of that coming off the front axle. Most of the rest of the weight loss came from new lighter weight wheels that are part of the SVT Performance Package. The front wheels that come with the Performance Package remain 19 inches in diameter but are 4.7 pounds lighter. The rears grow to 20 inches but are still 2.8 pounds lighter. Cutting unsprung mass is never a bad thing when it comes to both ride quality and handling. Along with the extra rear grip provided by the larger Performance Package wheels and tires, SVT has added a 3.73:1 rear axle ratio.

Like other 2011 Mustangs, the GT500 gets a new electric power assist steering (EPAS) system described as “extremely precise.” At parking lot speeds, the steering effort is described as Lincoln-like but it rapidly builds up as you drive more aggressively and it supposedly has excellent on-center feel, something that is often tough to achieve with EPAS. We’ll have to wait a few more months to find out just how precise that is since we won’t get to drive the car until Spring.

Getting any high-powered car to accelerate, stop or turn is highly dependent on the adhesion between the tire and the road surface, especially when it’s wet. SVT has adopted the latest generation Goodyear F1 supercar tires for the 2011 GT500, which are a major step beyond the previous version in both wet and dry grip. With the reduced mass on the front axle, SVT has also modified the spring and damper rates on both base and Performance Package models. The latter version gets 20.5-percent stiffer front springs and 9.5-percent tighter rears that also bring the front end 11 millimeters closer to the road and the rear 8 mm lower.

One of the main criticisms of the Mustang convertible ever since the S197 debuted for 2005 (actually ever since pretty much forever) is a lack of structural integrity. Because of that flexibility, the 2010 model GT500 convertible was actually considered more of a cruiser model and was thus tuned more for ride comfort than handling. Thus the old convertible was only available with 18-inch wheels. For 2011, SVT took the lead on developing an upgraded body structure for the convertibles that should help keep the corners of the car from moving relative to each other. The effort was successful enough that the changes are being implemented across the board on all 2011 Mustang convertibles. The 2011 GT500 convertible also gets bumped up to the 19-inch wheels and offers handling that is supposedly much closer to the coupe without degrading the ride comfort.

For those who want the sun to shine but still want the extra stiffness of the coupe, the GT500 is now available with the glass roof that has been available on regular Mustangs for the past two years. The Performance Package also gets some modest visual differentiators including narrower racing stripes down the center of the body along with the new wheel design. Inside the car, the shift knob on the Performance Package model lacks the stripes found on the base model.

Finally, just like the new 2011 V6 and GT Mustangs, the GT500 will go into production this Spring with an on-sale date before Summer.

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Yes, you read well! It’s not like in the case of the young Kazakh who built himself a Rolls Royce out an old Mertz. This guy here transformed a gorgeous Lamborghini into a ‘Stang. Not that this Mustang is not gorgeous, especially after all the work he’s done with it, but many don’t get the point. If he had built a Mustang out of a tiny Smart for 2, things would have been clear. Would they?!

It took him one Mustang shell, one Mustang parts car, one Lamborghini Gallardo parts car, and uncounted hours of labor to build the muscle car, including the transmission and the all-wheel-drive system. And I have to admit that he’s got skills!

I am a VERY big fan of Mustangs and honestly I would take one for the Lamborghini, so I kinda understand this guy, or maybe he just wanted to show off his talent. And if I were to be mean…usually you transform an old rusty car into a shiny home-made piece of jewelery. Touche, Lamborghini!

Hottest and freshest info about hot and fresh 2010 Shelby Mustang has been revealed by a rattle dealer employee. The order guide gives us plenty of data, like the iron block that will be traded in for an aluminum one. Also,  HID lamps will be standard, the glass roof option will become available on coupes, the convertible gets equipped with the same 19-inch wheels as the hardtop, and there’s an optional SVT Performance Package. It adds a 3:73 rear axle ratio (3:55 is standard), package-specific shocks and springs, what sounds like a different stripe package, upgraded wheels and tires (19-inchers in front and 20-inchers in back), and a rear spoiler with Gurney flap.

Nothing but good news about the legendary muscle car, but we’ll have to wait a little longer, as it won’t be present neither at Chicago nor New York auto shows. However, it’s gonna worth every second of waiting. Stay tuned for further info.

Mercy seems to have touched the hearts of many after the disaster in Haiti and people have started to donate both goods and money. However, few of them didn’t quite remain on empty pockets, as they auctioned at Barrett Jackson 2010 and went home with supercars like Shelby Cobra or the very special limited edition Corvette Z06. GM brought out the 427 Limited Edition Corvette Z06 worth more than $80,000 to Scottsdale and promised to donate the entire proceeds of the sale to the American Red Cross to help those who were affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti, entire proceeds that raise to the sum of $200000, offered by a very generous buyer.

I guess he now feels pretty good…both for having helped the victims of the earthquake and for having a limited edition Corvette Z06 parked in front of his house.

Ford began to make some arrangements in its garage like moving the Falcon Ute to a Taurus platform and even taking mighty Mustang to another level: future platform that will go global.

The initial plan was to create a new global RWD platform but because Ford invested big money preparing Euro models for the US, they had to cancel the plan.

Instead, they have other options: add some fuel-efficient, Euro engines to the current car (like the Ecoboost 4 and 6-cylinders); create a new  smaller platform propelled by a modified 3.5L Ecoboost turbocharger V6 or an AWD Evo Rival.

Following the tendencies, I expect the first option to actually make it to production. However, there is a good part, namely an almost certain  independent rear suspension.

‘Stang Shelby celebrated its 4 decades’ anniversary, but it  didn’t have the classy birthday cake, friends with pointy hats or a legendary drink-your-brains-out party as (U.S.) VIPs have got us used with. Instead, he dressed up some party clothes, named himself  2011 GT350 and now winks at us from behind a $40K price tag.

Many cavilers would make faces hearing the price for a not-so-special edition that includes a new body kit, a supercharger, Baer brakes and some suspension bits, but…it’s a Shelby, people. It’s a legend, it’s a special edition, it’s on the 40th anniversary and it’s upgraded.

Devotees and admirers will surely nod their heads with approval and pet old Shelby on its “shoulder” for solace.

Remember the Torino GT convertible that guided the pack back in 1970? Well, for 40 years, Chevrolet’s Camaro SS has served as the iconic Indianapolis 500 pace car. This year,  2011 Ford Mustang GT is used to lead the grid around the oval on February 14th. The 412 HP 21st century 5.0 will be the first Ford to serve as the pace car for NASCAR’s biggest race since that Torino.

The Mustang GT Daytona 500 Pace Car will feature a special Daytona 500 Race Red livery with American inspired racing stripes in white and blue. Underneath the new sheet metal, the new GT will have a the all new 32 valve 5.0 Liter V8 that makes over 400 HP on low octane and 390 lb-ft of torque while returning 25 MPG. In order to handle repeated trips around the high banking, the Mustang will be equipped with a Ford Racing suspension and strut tower brace to keep the car tracking straight while unique color matching wheels wrapped in high performance rubber and a set of loud pipes so that the fans will hear it coming.

After the big race, the Mustang pace car will roll across the auction block on January 23rd at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation with its special interior adornments, lit sill plates and all. Not to mention that this will be one of the first 5.0s to have a VIN stamped on it which will only increase the pony car’s collectibility.