comments

1. Daryl Scroggins on October 28th, 2007 at 1:42 pm

   I have owned both of those cars–except that the mustang was not the fastback model. Good days on the road. Going to the lake with the music loud and the windows down. Ice chest smoking on the back seat.

2. vin. on October 28th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

   Depends.

3. Rick Neece on October 28th, 2007 at 5:42 pm

   I find myself hard-pressed to choose. Sweet rides, both.

   My cousin, Randy, had a ’67 or ’68 Mustang, not a fastback, I’d have to see the tailights to know for sure. Jacked up, wide tires on the back, Cragar mag wheels all ’round. Our friend Doug had the Camaro, tomato red. (Cragar’s, too.) They’d race on stretches of relatively vacant road out West of Pocahontas. I don’t remember who won most of the time.

   Once, when Doug was dating my cousin Rene, he once let her take his car. Now she was a driver. She took off from the middle of the iron bridge over Spring River where we’d congregate on hot, summer Sunday afternoons to swim, between church services. She squeeled rubber and smoked the tires across the bridge. When she shifted to second, the tires screamed once more, then again in her shift to third. Doug was standing next to me, he said, “If she gets fourth gear rubber, I’ll…” Then off in the distance, the tail of the car now tiny in our line of sight, we heard a little squawky bark. Doug hung his head, “Damn,” he said.

   He’d been trying to do that for weeks.

4. Rick Neece on October 28th, 2007 at 9:40 pm

   btw.

   At the time I was drivng a ’64 Chevy Impala Sport Sedan. Three-on-the-tree. Six-cylinder. In its defense, it had wind-swept angle-ly antennae on both back fenders. AND it was turquoise in color.

   How could I not turn out to be who I am today?

5. Sheila Ryan on October 28th, 2007 at 10:08 pm

   Your ’64 Chevy Impala, you could do the gangster lean. Can’t do that in your post-Nixonian vehicle without you make a durn fool of yourself.

   Back in Jon’s and my “wandering-in-the-desert” year (circa 1995-1996), we bought a ’66 Impala, I think it was, for $900 from a fellow up the grade in Ranchita. We christened it the Desertmobile, and by the time we abandoned it after eight or so months of good use, it was looking a lot like the Dude’s car after the beating it suffered from the aggrieved neighbor of Larry Sellers.

   But it was fun while it lasted, and I sure did dig the scene doing the gangster lean on washboard desert roads.

   . . . oh . . . but as for Vin’s question, I guess I’d have to go for the Mustang. (Nothing against the Camaro especially — just that the guys I went out with drove Mustangs.)

6. Michael Grant Smith on October 28th, 2007 at 10:54 pm

   I like Mustangs just fine, and sincerely believe they are an Important Icon in the evolution of Muscle Car Madness, but I’ve always liked Chevys better — even before I was old enough to drive one. I vote Camaro.

   The 1970 Boss 302 (yellow with the goofy black stripe) was the only Mustang that put a dent in my convictions.

7. doublejack on October 29th, 2007 at 7:09 pm

   Camaro, mos’ def’. Especially if it’s the SS.

8. salvomania on October 30th, 2007 at 5:19 pm

   Those ’60s Mustangs had loads of character and were pretty cars—and the ’69s were pretty badass—but the early Camaros were just the toughest-looking things on the road, especially the SS’s with the hidden headlights.

   I go with the Camaro.

9. Daryl Scroggins on October 30th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

   Here’s another one to throw into the mix: 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda. My father had one (but with the 383). The 426 had two four-barrel carbs. When you were just driving around only one of the carbs pumped gas–but when you punched it the other one would kick in. Wow. The whole car would start to bounce around like the road was rough even though it was smooth–all because traction, even with huge tires, never seemed to catch up to the power. But of course that was in the days of 15 cents per gallon of gas, which was good since the Cuda got about 4 miles per gallon.