Get the older ones boss.

have you seen the interior of the new ones? i almost **** in my pants.
i think they look freaking horrible. A civic has better interior.

 

In addition to my 2009 C2S 911 coupe, I've got a 2001 Z06 Corvette with a Lingenfelter 427 (580 hsp) and a lot of DRM chassis and track mods. It's a totally different kind of fun with it's Saturn 5 rocket like acceleration and loud exhaust. The two cars scratch different itch's for me so I've got to have both.

I also have a 2005 Ford GT with 700 hsp after a pulley and tune mod. It's mid engine design gives it the most neutral handling of the three cars and coupled with it's excellent build and power makes it a true supercar and likely a good long term investment too. The mid engine design makes me want to buy the new Porsche Spyder for this kind of balance as well as the drop top.

I had a 67 427 Corvette Coupe a while back. As much as I love these old cars they really in most cases are more garage art than usable transportation. My reasons include: They break down easily, many are too valuable to risk an accident or mechanical failure with, they don't handle well, getting fuel for them is hard and they are often uncomfortable to drive with out A/C or power etc.

Which has lead me to consider the new Camaro, Mustang Shelby GT-500 or Challenger SRT-8. I have driven all three. The handling is the strength of the Camaro, being the closest of the three to a sports car, but still well off what a new Corvette provides. The styling is by far the weakest of the the three IMHO. The Shelby is the easily the fastest in a straight line with exciting thrust but very nose heavy and poor in the corners with lots of understeer. It's external styling is very good, but I find the interior lacking and a bit cheap looking. The Challenger has the best styling both inside and out with a very well executed interior. It is the heaviest and largest at 4100 lbs so it's acceleration is well behind the Shelby and slightly behind the Camaro. It's a boulevard cruiser with a ride which is surprisingly posh and I think it would be comfortable even on longer trips with a family. It also has more wallowing and body roll in corners than I would like. If you are drag racing the cars, get the Shelby. For plenty of street muscle and it's appearance, interior and ride, I would pick the Challenger SRT-8. Camaro is last for me as it looks squashed, like somebody sat on it.

One last pitch for a C5 or C6 Corvette. One will give you all of the acceleration or more of the three mentioned above and come much closer to the sports car handling you are used to with a Porsche.
They are much lighter than the muscle cars. Of course they are only two seaters, but you can get a convertible.

 

I assume it is 580hsp in NA form - why don`t you have turbo/SC on it? I was told Z06 handles FI really well.

 

67 Mustang GTA resto-mod, 2010 Shelby GT500 and an 06 Viper SRT10 along with the 997 2S Cab.

All very different to drive, makes for interesting weekends for sure.

 

The Lingenfelter (LPE) is naturally aspirated. I used to have a supercharger on the stock motor prior to the LPE. A SC gives you lots of horsepower pretty cheap but with two disadvantages I found for my use which included the track. The SC added about 60 pounds of weight up high over the nose of the car which noticably changed the stance of the car. I had to have the suspension adjusted so it didn't look jacked up. Even after this it didn't handle as well as the weight increased and center of gravity got higher. Superchargers also make your motor run hotter when under lots of acceleration. Oil temps rose so I had to install a larger radiator with built in oil cooler. I didn't consider a Turbo as the power comes on in too much of a rush, something that can be dangerous coming out of corners on a track. All of this was 5-6 years ago so technology may have solved some of these problems. I also think it is different if you add SC or Turbo as opposed to have it designed into the car from the get go.

 

I also have a 2010 Jeep SRT8.

 

Better example of a muscle SUV (and a very quick one) but not a muscle car.

 

Wow, I am really surprised at the number of prominent 6speeders who are also muscle car owners! I thought I was getting wierd in my attraction to these US cars, but I see I am at least in good company!

I really like the idea of working on an older one, but having a really nice new one that will become a classic, could be cool, too- the Shelby Mustang, Viper, or Camaro would do that rather well, I believe. Of them, I like the looks of the Shelby best.
CATTMAN