LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG PARTS

It's been 33 years since the original Mach 1 Mustang hit the streets, but ask anyone who's ever seen one and they'll describe it as if it were sitting right in front of them. With its menacing shaker hood scoop (named so because it was mounted on the engine and therefore "shook" when the throttle was blipped), flat black body trim and optional 428 Cobra Jet V8, the original '69 Mach 1 was certainly a sight to behold and a competitor to be feared. Among the various Mustangs produced during the muscle car era of the late '60s and early '70s, the Mach 1 stood out from the rest — and still does to this day.

LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG DOOR GLASS

Ford's in-house gearheads knew they had to get things right for '05, so they started with a lightweight aluminum block that saves about 75 pounds over the previous cast-iron model, then fitted it with new three-valve cylinder heads that strike a balance between low-end torque and the high-end horsepower of the Cobra and Mach 1 engines. Lastly, new tuned-length manifolds dump into a true dual exhaust system that manages to optimize power and bellow out the throaty roar we expect from a Mustang. All that development work adds up to a refined yet raucous engine that cranks out 300 horsepower and 320 pound-feet of torque — a 40-horse bump over last year's model.

LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG DOOR PANEL

LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG ROTSSERIES: Now the Hemi is back, and the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8's Hemi V8 displaces not the celebrated 426 cubic inches of the past, but 370 instead, or 6.1 liters. What these two Hemi V8s from different eras share is a prodigious output of 425 hp, once under-reported but now SAE certified.

Exclusive to SRT8-badged products from the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 to the Chrysler 300 SRT8, every Hemi 6.1 makes the same 425 hp at 6,200 rpm and 420 lb-ft of torque at 4,800 rpm. In our 4,154-pound Challenger SRT8, this means it hustles just 9.8 pounds of metal, plastic and glass with each stallion. No tree-hugging multi-displacement technology here; instead a gas-guzzler tax of $2,100.
LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG UNDERLAYMENT
LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG SUSPENSION
LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG

Well, not right away. We were able to get in a few quick sessions in each of the four cars, but then the sky opened up and dumped the biggest load of water SoCal had seen in a long time. It was virtual bumper cars on the freeway as we crawled home in the slow lane, desperately trying to avoid the numerous accidents occurring all around us.

Thankfully, all the cars were returned in one piece, but it seemed like we had just picked them up only a few days before. Our normal schedule of editor test-drives had been pretty much tossed out the window in a vain attempt to secure some much needed track times. In light of this, we dispensed with our normal routine of evaluations and calculations to determine the winner and instead went with a more subjective evaluation method. It doesn't have a very scientific air about it but then again the decision to buy one of these cars is rarely a rational one, either. We kept that in mind as we selected the finishing order in the hopes of choosing the car that best exemplifies that theory.

LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG FASTBACK
LAUREL MOUNTAIN MUSTANG INTERIOR SCREW KITS: Finally, the Challenger offers as standard convenience equipment like an MP3 adapter, Sirius Satellite Radio and HID headlamps. All are optional on the Mustang.

Muscle Without Retro
So is the $40,145 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 really some $5,440 better than the $34,705 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt? Yes, and when we crunched all the numbers into our comparison test formula, factoring performance, features, price, evaluation scores and personal/recommended choices, the Challenger won by three points.