Mustang vs Camaro: the great rivalry
Just about any feature on the Camara will tell you how GM were almost two and a half years late to the pony party that Ford kicked off on April 17, 1964 with the launch of the Mustang. Had GM really been asleep at the wheel all that time, only launching Camara in September 1966? It's probably an over-simplistic reading of what actually happened; Ford had made a number of unsuccessful/unprofitable car launches previously, such as with the Edsel, Continental Mark II and the Skyliner, so it's perhaps not surprising GM weren't especially worried when Ford unveiled a gussied-up Ford Falcon, with different panels, but a very slick marketing campaign ...
Apparently GM weren't that bothered, until Ford sold more than 100,000 cars and managed to shift 418,000 of them alone in the first 12 months. There can be little doubt that GM must have eyed Ford's success with its pony car with envy and disbelief. How has this happened?! Apparently, over at Ford, Lee lacocca had lined up every GM model with its Ford equivalent and found Ford pretty much had a match for every type of GM car except one: the sporty Corvair Monza. This two-door, sporty compact offered all the trademark signatures of a European sports car like bucket seats, four-speed manual floor shift and a diminutive size and it was beloved by the American motoring press and sports car enthusiasts alike. In many ways it had more in common with European sports cars than anything American on four wheels.
lacocca apparently decided to create a Ford equivalent in the shape of the Mustang and this in turn, with its far more conventional
VB option, rear-wheel drive and familiar (to American eyes at least) engineering made it an incredible hit with the American car-buying public. GM were still hoping that buyers who wanted a European type of sports car experience would continue to buy Corvair Monzas (there was even a turbo option with the Spyder). But American car buyers are a fickle lot, as we know, and the Mustang basically dominated ruled that niche unhindered for almost two and a half years.
GM used their time wisely and effectively created a new car from the ground up. Where they did share components, it was with a future model not yet released: the 1968 Chevy II (although most of the engine options were shared with the Chevelle). This offered a wider subframe, suitable for a big-block engine option from the get-go, which was bolted to the front cowl of the unitary body and insulated with rubber doughnuts. It may sound partisan, but many motoring pundits still argue that GM basically created with the Camara what the Mustang should have been from the start, with their clean sheet approach.
It certainly would appear that Chevrolet attempted to better the Mustang in just about every area, from drivetrains to options lists and making just about everything on the car bigger than the Mustang. Key to its sporty image was the availability of the RS, SS and 2/28 packages. The RS was an appearance package that included niceties such as hide-away headlights, different badges and trim and so on; the SS Package on the other hand offered a bit more meat in the form of a small-block 350 or big-block 396 motor and handling upgrades, plus of course badging. The 2/28 package created virtually race-ready cars with solid lifter 302 motors and SCCA Trans Am type chassis modifications, disc brakes and four-speed manual transmission. Despite all this, GM struggled to catch up with Ford in the pony car race, despite being the new kid on the block and arguably offering many more options, selling only 235,147 Camaros in 1968 versus Ford's figure of 317,404 Mustangs.