AAR = All American Racing

The car was the streeted version of the car plymouth used in the Trans Am. It had sidepipe exhaust, stiffer suspension components, a hood, spoiler, graphics, and an air dam... over the regular barracuda. (probably more I cant remember)

The dodge version of the car was the T/A (trans am) Challenger.

Oh yea, cuda is not a seperate car. People who get technical with the term say "cuda" was reserved for performance models. Otherwise it was a barracuda.... even though both cuda and barracuda badges could be found on all of them.

 

Gee, that kind of limits it to just 2 Camaro Firebird & 3 Mustang bodies.

OK, coolest pony cars:

1. Metallac Blue IROC Z, say 86 or whatever year (It doesn't matter, they didn't change till Chevy went back to Z28 5 or 6 years later)

2. 4 gen Z28 with the quad headlights (again, it doesn't matter what year since they also didn't change for 5 seasons)

3. The current Mustang in Mach 1 or Bullit or Cobra form in that order (at least Ford broke up Mustang's 6 season run with a little variety).

Pretty depressing that there's really nothing to choose from. As you can tell, none of these exactly rate tops on my "coolest pony cars" ever list.

Best pony car over the past 20 years is simple though: Fox body 5.0 Mustang. Fast, cheap, reliable, well made for the 80s, and seemingly endless things you could do to them.

Trivia time:
Base Camaro Z28s then base IROC Zs were consistantly more expensive than base Mustang GTs as well as slower. In 1984, a Mustang GT started at $9,774 while Z28 started at $10,620 (that's without the L69 HO 5.0 engine).

In 1987, you could buy a 5.0 LX Mustang (with all the GT's hardware) for a mere $10,000 and a full on Mustang GT for just $12,700. The opening price for a IROC Z was about $13,500.

It wasn't till 1990 where base performance Camaros and Mustangs were priced in the same neighborhood, and actually kept up with 5.0 Mustangs without spending extra on the option list for the engine and the mandatory automatic.

 

Change this to Bright Red and you're good. Actually they did change slightly but noticably. 85-87's and 88-90's were not exactly the same, and the year you mentioned had the hatch third brake light. I'd say the only ones that are really difficult to tell apart is the 88-89's. (if you're looking at int. and ext.) These are definetly the coolest cars ever to me, not just in the implied time frame, and they were the most popular thing on the streets when they were brand new. (which helps in always keeping the cool factor)

 

1) '87-'89 G92 350 IROC. Medium Quasar Blue, Medium Grey Metallic, or black, with silver stripes. Custom cloth interior, t-tops, the whole nine yards Don't gimme no 1LE...I need t-tops and all power in my bad-azz cruiser

2) Any year Monte SS or GN. GNs may have more power (a lot more ), but to me, nothing is cooler than a Dark Cherry Mettallic Aero Coupe

3) '89 TTA

4) '97 Z28, or '95-'97 TA. To me, LT-1 TAs just plain look better...no gaudy front air scoops, and 4 scooped hood on WS6s I love the '97 Camaro because it has the newer 5 spoke wheels, dash, tailights and seats while retaining the last traditional SBC to ever be put in a production car, and the classic "Camaro" front end. It also helps they made a 30th edition that is in my garage

5) '87-'93 5.0 LX Stangs. Ok, I hate Fords. But I love these cars. Simple. Elemental. Inexpensive. Pure performance cars. Easy to work on. Cheap to mod. So what if a Neon is more attractive and looks sportier. These cars went like stink, and sounded and felt mean doing it. If I was a Ford fan, you better believe I'd have a tricked out one of these in the garage.

 

Porsche made a 3.0L inline 4 for the 968. I believe Bentley also had a 3.0L I4 in their Le Mans winner back in the 1920's.

 

Favorite IROC colors were:
Black with Gold striping and gold trimmed wheels.
Burgandy with gold stripes and wheels.
Med.Quasar Blue Metallic with silver stripes & wheels(..which Mine is..)
Worst color: Light Bananna yellow

"Baddest" Cars of the time: 1987 GNX's, and 1989 TTa's, LT5 ZR1 Vettes..
Truck/SUV's: Syclone/Typhoon 4.3L AWD turbo's!!!

I liked the Fox Bod LX's with the 3 ft long Stainless tips running along the rear quarters!...

Most Odd: mid-80's Gran Prix Aero-Coupes..

Best Looking: Got to be the last RA, TA's!...

(While base Camaro's were beaten by base Mustangs, Top IROC's were killing top GT's.. from '87 on )

 

OMG i can't beleive i forgot the ZR-1

 

And hardly anyone will admit to that TRUTH . Anyone remember the Motor trend ~or Car and Driver ( cant remember which one ) article from 92 or 91 when they did a comparison article ( test ) between a 5 speed 305 RS camaro and a 5 speed 5.0 LX stang Sadly , if I remember right , the LX and the RS cost about the same money . I'll mention , because I know someone will bring it up ...they could used a m5 5.0 Iroc or a 5.7 car , but either would have cost so much more $$$ that the stang still woulda been the champ . Sticker on my old 90 5.7 Iroc was $19,885 , that was fuggen expensive back then .

 

SVO stang..awsome car!!!

and a turbo 4 banger Mustang GT??? yup..they made it..though not fast..

 

I remember that test, it was the base V8 cars which the Mustang used the same 5.0 HO MPFI engine across the board. But the Camaro RS got the 5.0 TBI with 170hp and I believe the Camaro they tested was a auto on top of that. I remember the Camaro ran a 0-to-60 in 7.9 sec and the Mustang ran a 0-to-60 in the low 6 sec. range. The highlight of that test was an awesome pic. of Camaro and Mustang side-by-side coming over a small hill going fast enough to be airborn. I've misplaced that issue but I wish I had a poster of that pic. it was cool.

 

I have that test and the Camaro is a 5 speed. That airborne shot is very cool.

They should have included the Firebird Formula. You could get any TPI engine with that car and it was alot cheaper then a GTA or IROC. I'll never understand why Formulas never sold very much. They were a direct competitor to the LX

 

1) Early 90's Z28's. With the raised spoiler and raised "fake" louvers on the hood, I always thought those cars looked sweet. And with a TPI 350, they werent weak at all (around 250hp I believe, maybe the 3rd gen boys could help me out here??)

2) 98+ LS1 Z28s. Sleeper appearance. Relatively cheap (for what you were getting). 300+ hp. Good deal IMO .

3) Late 80's early 90's Fox body Mustangs. Great cars. LX's could be had for cheap with the 5.0L and like others have said, they were easy to work on and could be modded very easily. And with an exhaust system, they had one helluva nice sound coming from them. My neighbor had an 89 LX with flowmasters and it sound bada$$.

Those are about all I can think of for now....

 

245HP@4,400 and 345TQ@3,200. Very nice. Those cars sound great too. SBC 350.

 

5.0...the king of all muscle cars hands down
Lt1 (4th Gen)...preferebly a 97 SS Anniv. or 95 Ta 25th Anniv.
2003 Cobra