American Muscle, Old Vs New

There's been a trend in recent years for US car manufacturers to return to the glory days of the late 1960s and early 1970s with their super powerful gas guzzling muscle cars. The retro designs are very American and tend to invoke strong feelings for or against them.

I personally like the look of the new cars although the Mustang's rear end looks odd and the Challenger's big chin is worrisome. At the 2009 Detroit auto show the Camaro Black was looking like a superstar, makes me want to burn dinosaurs!

To show how similar/dissimilar the "new" designs are from the old designs I've put together this easy to see side-by-side comparison. Enjoy. (click for larger images)

Dodge Challenger


Ford Mustang


Chevy Camaro


Here's the Camaro Black in all its hotness, thanks Autoblog!

KITT Sells More Fords

More news on the cool, hip, "now" Knight Rider rejigger that Ford and NBC are going to attempt to shove down our throats in the shape of a stupidly large 2009 Ford F-150 FX-4 that apparently KITT can transform into.

As seen in this preview clip KITT does a drive-through pickup of the telly show's heroes by allowing them to jump into his F-150 tray. He then transforms back into his usual 2008 Shelby GT500KR Mustang form magically getting said heroes from the tray into their seats without chopping them in to mince meat.

Autoblog has a write-up on the "thinking" behind this seemingly rediculous transformation with Executive Producer Gary Scott Thompson explaining. To quote Autoblog "the idea for having KITT morph into a truck came to Thompson when he needed his main character and that week's damsel in distress to make a quick getaway without KITT having to stop for them to get in, so he imagined the car as a pickup." Riiiight, apparently he hasn't heard of convertibles.

Thompson also went on to say that the GT500KR is "about the same mass" as the F-150. Huh? The Mustang has a 3,800 lb (1,700 kg) curb weight and the F-150's curb weight is between 4,881 lb (2,213 kg) and 5,411 lb (2,454 kg).

Saleen Gurney Edition Mustang is Teh HOtness

Your "standard" Mustang is a fierce looking beast and Shelby's GT500KR ups the ante but the latest makeover from Saleen makes me swoon (in a very manly way). I've never liked the Mustang in blue (black all the way) but this new one with the 70s racings stripes is way cool... oh, and it goes like the clappers! Check out more pics over at Autoblog.