I don't know. The largest club and membership/enthusiast base of any car ever produced sounds like some very dedicated and large enthusiast base to me. The fact that 3,000+ cars will make the trip to nashville (i'm as dedicated as anone i know, but can't make the trip), dozens from the other side of the atlantic, as well as 100,000+ people pretty much solidify's that. That's passion that's bringing these people together, not hype or "me too" mindsets.

A good portion of the 8 million mustang buyers may be in the "me too" bangwagen, but there's no questioning the passion or the dedication of the mustang enthusiasts (and they are plenty). They are some of the most passionate people when it comes to their cars.

 

Are you sure about that IZ28? 3,000 Mustangs registered for this event and 100,000 spectators.

Mustang has a HUGE enthusiast base. I think bigger that Camaro and Corvette combined.

And I don't think this all happened by accident. Ford has been nurturing Mustang from the get-go. GM...on the contrary... seems to have placed Camaro, squarely on the back burner for the past 10-15 years.

Ford has always placed Mustang up on a pedestal. Ford has also, always tried to place Mustang in the spotlight with the media too. This 40th anniversary event is all over radio, TV, newsprint and the internet. And...we (Camaro enthusiasts), have no equivalent to movies like "Bullitt" or the James Bond movie, "Diamonds Are Forever". We don't have a bunch of magazines devoted to Camaro in the way that Mustang has either. Let's face it...we are the red-headed stepchild of the Pony Car War.

I find that the Mustang guys I talk to, are just as real enthusiasts as Camaro enthusiasts...except there seem to be more Mustang guys with a larger variety of Mustang models to enjoy.

From a Camaro enthusiast's perspective....Lord knows...we've done our best. We stand vigil over the dead and neglected corpse of the car that GM gave up on, years ago....hoping that one day....way down the road....GM will return our car to us.

While we dedicated few...struggle to make a future Camaro (COMPLETE WITH THE CAMARO NAME), come true,the Mustang's enthusiast base grows stronger and stronger.

 

I agree. While Corvette obviously has a very large and dedicated following of its own, it just isn't the size of Mustang because Corvette has always been priced just out of the reach of "average Joes". Sure, there's many people who love Corvette and dream about owning a Corvette but if those people can't afford one do you think the passion for them will be as high? Nah. Think about it, Mustang can be anything to anybody, from base V6 enthusiasts to the Cobra guys, there's a Mustang for everybody at every price point. Cover all the bases and you're bringing more people in.

 

VERY VERY true. Corvette has ALWAYS been at the top of GM's priorities, which is where it deserves to be. My one hope is that when the "C" car comes back, it holds down the #2 or #3 slot on that list.

 

People buy Corvettes because they are Corvettes??!!


MY GOD, imagine that!! Good no Camaro buyers do that, huh??

If you can show me ANY Camaro event that drew 100,000 people and 3,000 examples I'll agree with you. Look up the number of Camaro clubs and Mustang clubs, and see which is more numerous and has a greater number of members. let's make it easy, and keep it in just the US. If Camaro comes out on top, again, I'll agree with you.

"Mustang doesn't have an enthusiast base". "People buy Mustangs by a "me-too" mentality". Mustang buyers are under some type of govenment "mind control" machine, and can't help themselves. I saw these examples under "Sour Grapes" in the dictionary.

Look, as far as going into the showroom & driving out with the best deal if your top priority is performance bang for the dollar, the 4th gen Camaro V8s (and Firebird V8s) are unbeatable here in the US (Australian LS1 UTEs come in at $20,000 ).

But, as far as sales, popularity, factory support, volume of ENTHUSIASTS (take time to actually GO to a Mustang event), and longevity, it's Mustang hands down & I have no problem with that. To say otherwise sounds suspiciously like those people who swear Elvis and Tupac are still alive, and Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny are real.... (by the way, they aren't, and Elvis & Tupac are wormfood).

Camaro, however, CAN still reach Mustang status. All it needs is for GM to take it seriously enough.

Camaro's name is just as famous. Camaro has won half of the years it went up against Mustang via performance. Chevrolet has at least 1/3 more dealers than Ford. Camaro's racing history is every bit as great as Mustang's.

But turning the Camaro into a hard & expensive-to-work-on, land missile which 2/3 of it's potential buyers find it lacking to it's competitor with very limited ability to be personalized or upgraded isn't endearing itself to the public, and that's precisely what car shows & car clubs are about. As you see, we got some work to do in Camaro-land!

I view the 4th gen Camaro in the same light I view the '71-'73 Mustangs, a car that strayed too far from it's roots. Both the 4th gen & the early 70s Mustang were bigger than they needed to be and were all engine. Both also saw some of the worse sales of the brand's life.

I've said it 100 times before, any idiot or moron can stick a powerful engine in a car, and tune the suspension to make it handle. But how about making the car appeal to a larger group of people? How about going after a broader sales base? How about making quality as important as performance?

I believe the Camaro replacement is most certainly on the right track. The New Mustang has raised the standard in quality, styling (Mustang fans love it, so don't knock it ), and quite possibly, performance.

Once Chevy sets their minds to it, I think Camaro can give the Mustang a run for the money.

 

And the very first 64 1/2's didn't even have the 289, they had the old 260

 

When the SN-95 came out, that need stopped cold and has not been present since.

 

Hate to disagree with you here, but the 4.6 Cobra engine was developed with minor differences from the 4.6 Intech engine first used in the 1993 Lincoln Mark VII. Ford had every intention then of putting it into the Cobra when 4.6 production started in 1996. Whether the LS-1 came out or not that same 4.6 DOHC engine was going to be used.

 

How many Magazines are decoted to the Camaro? Now how many are devoted to the Mustang? How many Camaro only national racing associations are there? There are 2 national Mustang ones. I could keep going, but the assertion that the camaro has more devoted enthusiasts is rather funny, especially considering that Mustang fans kept the car from dying while F-body fans were unable to duplicate the feat.

 

I think that statement is a little unfair. The reasons Ford wanted to kill the Stang were a little different than why GM killed the Camaro. Also I believe the factors involved were also entirely different.

 

A little unfair maybe, but the truth. It was a direct rebuttal to the fact that this person believes that the Mustang has a smaller following than the f-car. Don't get me wrong, I have owned 3 f-bodies, but I have seen much more of a following for the Mustang than I have for the F-body in my personal experience.

 

I think what he's saying is that the Camaro enthusiasts are ussually "more" loyal than Mustangs'. On that count, I agree. Mustang enthusiasts ussually don't know as much about the history, workings, and mechanicals of their cars as much as Camaro enthusiasts do. I'm not saying that about ALL Mustang enthusiasts, just a majority. Where-as there are more Die-Hard Camaro fans...

 

DAMN... WHAT A BLAST!!!
I guess I'm the first to post in this thread having actually been there at the show. It was HUGE.

We broke the 3000 car registration... there were something like 3600 cars total in the show Saturday.
The kicker is, there were AT LEAST 20,000 Mustangs in the parking lot - I SWEAR IT!!!
At 8:15AM Friday morning, I parked my driver in the front row of the spectator lot, only to have 4 Mustangs around me, including a '70 Boss 429, a '99GT, and a black '03 Cobra! And that was in the DRIVER'S LOT!!!

Show cars flowed over the allotted spaces, and were being put in the gravel area where venders were. Honestly, there were cars lining the walkway between vendor's booths.

Right inside the gate, there was a Ford display in which they covered the entire design process for the '05. They had 4 '05 models there to play with. They ran the red GT on the open track event for kicks - it sounds AWESOME on the track too.
Throw in a new GT, a Saleen S7, Roush and Steve Saleens baddest personal toys, the actual '97 Saleen/Allen team racecar (for sale for $67,500 too BTW), all of Steeda, K Brown, and other specialty cars, and there was no shortage of interest in the new, modern Mustang and family.

SVT was incredibly well represented there too. They were somewhat tight-lipped about the new Cobra (or lack thereof ), but it is obvious they are busy on their new version of the Mustang.

Ford had a cutaway of the unibody on a rotisserie, with Mustang-specific details highlighted in blue. This is DEFINITELY not a Foxbody. They had all the wheel options, door panels, and such on display. They had the rear suspension and front suspensions in a hands-on display too. They had the making of the GT/Mustang/Cobra commercials - behind the scenes. (BTW - there are some AWESOME commercials on the way for the Mustang! I am VERY excited for these to hit the airwaves this summer.

There was a race between REAL VINTAGE '65 and '66 GT-350's Saturday at noon. Just imagine, a $250k car on the track at full song, side pipes screaming. I had goose bumps for 20 minutes.

They also broke the 100k spectator expectations. They actually ran out of parking space on Saturday, and had spectators parking in a field behind the racetrack.

I saw tags from Cali, Alaska, New Mexico, Maine, and everywhere else.
We had actual show participants from Queensland Australia, Norway, Demark, Britain, Ontario, British Columbia, Mexico, and even Japan.

All-in-all, it turned out to be even larger than planner had expected. I heard that by Saturday afternoon, they (the MCA and 40th organizers) had sold over 400,000 T-shirts, and were afraid of running out. I know that 2 of the ones I wanted (and got ) were gone by Saturday morning, and the lady was trying to get more printed and air-shipped to her Saturday night to sell on Sunday.

I expect we'll hear the final car and spectator tallies in the upcoming Mustang Times Newsletter. I'll post them as soon as I find out.

I have a slew of pics, I'll post some if anyone's interested.

1 long weekend, 1250 miles, parties, walking, cleaning, packing, unpacking, chores, laundry, and a 6 y/o that's worn out right now. I need to find the bed!

 

Sounds like a blast!

Proudpony, can you possibly post a pic of the Red GT with the bullitt rims. They haven't been seen on an uncovered mustang yet.

Plus, any info on the commericals or special editions?

Thanks,
Dan

 

a majority????do you actually believe what you just wrote????why must there be excuses and generalizations to explain why the mustang is popular?