Photo: ImportRace / YouTube
Currently, you can still buy an L-body Dodge Charger sedan or Challenger coupe, as well as a sixth-generation Chevy Camaro, but you’ll have to deal with potentially inconveniently located inventory, as the trio goes out of production in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the seventh-generation Ford Mustang S650 continues to march on undaunted and keeps the V8 flag alive: the next iteration of the Camaro is a mystery, and the eighth-generation Dodge Charger has moved on. Electric vehicle or paired with the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline-six engines, saying goodbye to the Hemi legacy.
Even better, the latest Mustang has gone the way of the 2025 model year with a 60th Anniversary edition that brings with it a bunch of goodies like a special package and digital gauges inspired by the 1990s Mustang SVT Cobra. Alas, that doesn’t mean the Mustang and Camaro or Mustang and Mopar rivals won’t meet again, especially when you factor in models that have been specially modified to stand out from the crowd at the local quarter-mile drag strip.
There is no need to take our word for granted, however, because we have an eloquent example. More precisely, the good people of racing-focused ImportRace channel on YouTube were on hand at Bradenton Motorsports Park to show us another Street Car Takeover. This new video (embedded below) focuses on a fifth-generation Chevy Camaro that won’t make any of the brand’s fans feel blue despite the paint job it’s been given.
Instead, it took to the track at BMP to battle it out with the S550 Ford Mustang GT, and both rocked the quarter-mile party with blistering performances. Alas, there could only be one winner, and that was the Camaro, which quickly cashed in the proceeds in under nine seconds: 8.9 seconds versus 9.09 seconds, to be more precise. It was close, but not close enough, right?
After that big skirmish, the blue Camaro continued to battle an old white pickup later in the night and confirmed its fighting credentials with another close quarter-mile encounter: 9.04 vs. 9.13. Not bad for that classic pickup, right? Last but not least, there was also a swaggering fastback on the scene, and the Camaro again ran a 9.11 vs. 9.54.
As for the fate of the Chevy Camaro, it hangs in the balance because the big boys at General Motors don’t know what to do with it: Some want it back as an affordable EV that could usher in a new era for sports cars. In the meantime, we’re all waiting for the 1,064-horsepower 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 to come out to play at the local quarter-mile drag strip and see if it can slam the limited-edition 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 and EV things like the 1,020-horsepower Tesla Model S, among many others.
