Chairman Mao Zedong, a fan of the red but not so much of the white or the blue, once said, “I got more hoes than the ozone.” Oh wait, it might have been Abraham Lincoln who said that.
The quote we were Google-searching for from Chairman Mao was something about asymmetric warfare, about how a fighter must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea, which is way more poetic and stuff. And what we have here is a classic asymmetric fight; a battle in which one side is conventionally powerful and established and the other is a fish.
All of this brings us inextricably to the showdown that neither Chevrolet nor Ford probably had in mind: the one between the Corvette and the new Shelby GT350. We set out to find the best American sports car that a successful, but not necessarily rich, person could attain. We would want road-course competence from our winner, but not at the expense of real-world drivability, since it is sadly the real world in which we spend most of our time. Our winner should look fast, sound fast, and be fast. But most important, it should be thrilling to drive.
Playing the role of the established powerhouse is the seventh-generation Corvette. We chose an example with the Z51 performance package to bring the track prowess we were looking for. And because driver engagement and enjoyment are paramount in this test, we chose the seven-speed manual transmission. Chevy provided just such a car, loaded up with the 2LT package of niceties ($4455), Magnetic Ride Control shocks ($1795), the data-and-video system for recording laps ($1795), the vibrant but extra-cost Laguna Blue paint ($995), and “sueded microfiber” seat inserts ($395). This ballooned the Z51’s suggested price from $61,395 to a whopping $70,830. But if you were to spec out a more basic performance Z51, you could easily cut $7000 from what this car cost.
Our insurgent, the Shelby GT350, is a car that would easily swim through the sea of EcoBoost and GT Mustangs undetected, were it not for its ripping exhaust note. Mustangs were never really intended to battle Corvettes. Hell, they have at various times shared platforms with Falcons, Pintos, and Fairmonts. But this one—this frankly shockingly special version—can put up a legitimate fight even though it’s more than 300 pounds heavier and is more than five inches taller than the Corvette. We specified a regular GT350 with the optional Track package instead of the R version because we wanted as much on-road sophistication as possible, and also because we wanted tires that roughly match the stickiness and longevity of the Corvette’s. The Track package—which brings magnetic shocks, a front strut-tower brace, firmer springs, and oil coolers for the engine, transmission, and differential—rings in at a not-insubstantial $6500. The only other option on our test car was the $475 “Over-the-Top Racing Stripes.” Unfortunately, once you opt for the Track package, Ford locks out the navigation system, upgraded stereo, and a few other goodies available to standard GT350 buyers.
All in, our GT350 cost $56,970. That’s a substantial discount from our Corvette. The Chevy makes back all the points it loses for its inflated sticker in our features and amenities category—and then some. After all, this is supposed to be an asymmetrical fight.
We bombed around Willow Springs International Raceway in Southern California, gleefully roasting Michelins. We strapped on our instruments for our normal battery of proving-grounds tests. And we assaulted some of the country’s finest roads between our high-desert test facilities and the clogged thoroughfares of Los Angeles. In the final accounting, it was the insurgent that wound up with more hoes.