[aporigine]

Arragonis:

I did not know that the first iteration of the T-bird was well-regarded. Guess I'll have to learn something. (grin) I was always prejudiced by its being marketed as a "personal car", neither a full-blooded sporter nor a great comfy ship-of-the-line such as its Buick contemporaries. Imo the current retro 'Bird perfectly captures that original posture: neither fish nor fowl. Indeed I haven't seen anyone under 60 driving the NewOld Thunderbird.

I also acknowledge that the GT40 was something special, the instantiation of an auto magnate's revenge and aimed squarely at Le Mans. I wasn't really thinking of that one when I wrote yesterday but rather the unnumbered Ford GT of a few years back. That was made for the buying public, and it was softened from the original to the point of being a credible civilian (?) machine.

" If you are in the position to afford a high performance GT like that would you buy one with a Chevrolet badge on it - which has no status at all here - or one with a prancing bull or horse or a 3 pointed star ?"

I've always been a horsey kind of guy, either il cavallino or the Stuttgarter Roessl. I hold the minority opinion that the 550 Maranello is one of the loveliest cars to ever come from Modena ... not over the top like the Testarossa or almost all of its tauronymic arch-competitors. Elegant, classy, understated and yet imbued with the "song of the twelve".
Does the three-pointed star make real GTs? Excepting the very recent (and deliriously priced) SLS, I would have said No. The SLs, from the 450 on, are called Beverly Hills Mustangs for a good reason imo ... middling-to-good in a straight line but they get a bit discomposed at 10/10ths in the twisty bits.
But *for the money*, I give the nod to the 'vette as a brilliant effort ... leaf spring and all! (smile) In re status, I consider that not a bug but a feature ... I've always preferred the underdog assuming it can "walk the walk", which the current Corvette seems to do, even if Jeremy someone has excellent fun excoriating it mercilessly on that Longest Available Ratio show of his.
...Another overwhelming factor that would draw me to the Corvette is that, as I live in a nonurban area, I can get it serviced locally. A 911 is an exotic hereabouts.

Ah, pony cars. Yes, cost is mentioned in re the current Mustang's primitive rear suspension. American car testers use donuts on a skidpad as a measure of a car's handling, and it isn't hard to tweak a live axle to do well there. That conceit evaporates on a road course with its higher-order dynamic demands. The current Camaro might have had a chance - its numbers are quite good, if you forgive a) its weight and b) the fact that it's really a Holden. But I've seen road-course tests, and again, the car loses its composure away from straights or ovals. Close but no Cohiba, quoth the aporiginal one. (big cheez-eating grin)

cheers apo