All this talk about an optional 3rd engine, and we forget...*ustang has 4 engines available! Base 6, optional V8 (GT, heh heh heh), Mach1 w/ the 32v, and of course the gloom and doom blown Cobra version. They seem to sell Mustangs w/out much problem. I see quite a few of the ladies driving the GT's, but not so much the Mach's and Cobras. Maaaaaaybe the base V8 on the BASE car would have more appeal to just the pedestrian owners of the car, and leave the Mach's and Cobras (i.e. Z28 and SS) to gearheads like us?

Also, regarding the blown V6 option....this is just me, but I want a v8 in my Camaro. It's not just about hp, it's the sound and feel too. I like v8's, but I may not necessarily need the top V8. After all, the vette is a nice enough car w/out the LS6 is it not? A nice little 285hp 4.8 would do just fine for me. However, I reserve the right to get a 400hp SS .

 

RP is not the guy we sell to. Trust me, we know this - and it is not a knock on him.

RP is a "top-view" guy. He's the guy you say things like "It costs less, weighs less, is more reliable, and assembly is a snap." We have to convince the lower-level engineers and the purchasing agents first. Any unit that cannot stand on it's own merits never gets past those engineers and purchasing agents anyway. The converstaions with the engineers center on sentences like: "Primary output hysteresis is cosistent within .1% from -40 to +140 degrees and is not effected by relative humidity."

I am convinced that RP understands the sentence I just spoke, but the details at that level are probably not the things he concentrates on.

We are fully aware of who we need to talk to concerning this. My ONLY interest in showing RP the unit is to demonstrate that the F-car is still a viable option when a demonstrator car is called for to demonstrate a new concept. I thought he would find it interesting to see his baby being used for this.

BTW... the selection of the vehicle is no accident either. The car is at once interesting and unique, worldwide. It is certainly going to raise some eyebrows at Ford and in Europe. It will shock the BMW and Porsche snobs with stunning power (it is NOT stock, BTW... not even close...), it will provide an experience few in Europe have ever had (go cost a 350hp car in Europe some time and you'll know what I mean... and I'm producing FAR more than 350hp...), and it will generate conversation - and that is the point. Get in their heads while demonstrating the technology. Give them something to talk about for YEARS. Make it an experience they go home and talk to their wives about.

The Camaro SS can provide ALL of this as a technology demonstrator. I could use a Corvette - no thanks, everybody (even the Europeans) know exactly what a Corvette is. I could use a truck. Yawn... A Camaro is certainly going to raise some eyebrows at Ford and in Europe.

 

I'm not greedy. I'll take your Camaro raising eyebrows at GM right now!

 

I could not have said it better myself. I do not need any more hp than the 285 my LT1 puts out...put that kind of output in a nice, baseline 5th gen priced about $24k in present dollars, and I'd buy one in a hearbeat...