More in the Camaro vs Mustang wars. Now the word is that the 2011 Camaro will best the Mustang with 312 hp in the V-6. The saga continues!

From theDetroitBureau.com:

It looks like engineers at General Motors have caught Ford napping once again as the 2011 Camaro DOHC V6 engine is now rated at 312 horsepower at 6500 rpm, and 278 lb-ft of torque at 5100 rpm. That’s a lucky seven horsepower more than Mustangs brand new V6.

Camaro fuel economy numbers haven’t been released yet, but last year the GM V6 delivered 304 horsepower and 273 lb.-ft. of torque, and returned up to 29 mpg on the highway, but only 17 mpg in the city. (Click Here for First Look: 2010 Camaro Synergy Special Edition )

“The 304 horsepower in the 2010 Camaro was actually a conservative rating on our end,” said Tom Sutter, GM V-6 chief engineer. “But we knew already that this award-winning engine produced at least the amount of power we stated, but now we’ve gone the extra step in certifying the engine for this application and have verified an additional eight horsepower.”

Read the full article here.

The pony car wars are heating up! The Camaro has been outselling the Mustang recently, but the new 2011 Mustang will be getting a nice engine upgrade from Ford’s Brook Park plant in Ohio.

Ford Motor Co. will make a new 3.7-liter V-6 engine for the popular Mustang sports car at Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 in Brook Park next year, replacing an engine built in Germany.

The new engine, similar to one built in Lima for use in the Lincoln MKS luxury car, should go into production next year to be ready for 2011 Mustang production, said Mark Payne, vice president of the United Auto Workers Local 1250 in Brook Park.

Ford says the new engine will be more fuel-efficient and more powerful than the 4-liter V-6 it replaces. That engine, built in Cologne, Germany, produces 210 horsepower and gets 26 mpg on the highway. The upcoming 3.7-liter engine produces 305 horsepower and should get up to 30 mpg on the highway. Those power numbers are only a little bit shy of the 4.6-liter V-8 now offered in the Mustang.

“Mustang is completely transformed with this new engine,” Ford product development chief Derrick Kuzak said in a news release. “Everything people love about the car is still there, and now under the hood is a V-6 engine that uses premium technology to deliver the power, the feel, the fuel efficiency, even the sound of the best sports coupes in the world.”

Ford will showcase the 2011 Mustang this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Looks like the old rivalry between the Mustang and Camaro is back in full swing with the Camaro beating the Mustang for 5 straight months. We’ll check back next summer to see what the battle looks like! The real winners here are the consumers with a choice between 2 fabulous rides!

The Camaro outsold the Mustang by more than 3,000 last month — the fifth month in a row that Chevy outsold Ford since bringing back the storied car this spring.

Per the Detroit Free Press:

The battle between the two cars has been raging since the original Camaro went on sale in 1966 as a rival to the Mustang, which had launched two years earlier.

GM officials say the Camaro might even outsell the Mustang this year, which would be the first time it topped the Mustang since 1985. Through October, GM has sold 47,233 Camaros — 9,236 shy of the Mustang.

The Camaro “definitely could overtake Mustang as the segment leader by the end of the year,” Susan Docherty, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales, told reporters last month. She added: “We will hopefully do that with only nine months worth of sales versus 12.”

Read the entire article here.

It’s hard to imagine any Top 10 list that includes the Mustang II, but here it is on MSN’s new list of Mustang Mania.

1974 Mustang II
Today, this vehicle is universally detested by Mustang enthusiasts. As a performance car, it was a thorough disappointment. But then, the mid-’70s was an era of fuel shortages, vapid disco music and cars gone sad because manufacturers were struggling to meet new emission regulations. Therefore, the Mustang II was designed to be light, approachable and relatively fuel-efficient. The formula worked, at least at first; the 1974 model sold more than 322,000 copies — good enough for fourth on the Mustang annual sales chart. More importantly, the Mustang II was good enough to keep the Mustang brand alive during a dismal period in America’s automotive history.

A couple of points should be clarified. First, disco didn’t become the rage till Saturday Night Fever hit in 1977. As for the lack of power, that was true, though I had one of these cars, and the previous owner had dropped a much more powerful engine in the vehicle, so that Mustang rocked. It was also bright red, so it looked much better than the ugly version shown above.

That said, the feature has some great photos of classic Mustangs, so check it out.