Everything old is new again

One of Ford's most successful recent cars is more than 40 years old, and other carmakers have been quick to catch up to the past. The 2006 Ford Mustang used the 1960s body style on a modern platform and proved to be a big seller. Dodge and Chevrolet noted this success and realized they had legendary muscle-car designs gathering dust in the attic, then followed Ford by showing off their own revived concepts at the Detroit Auto Show. Dodger rolled out the Challenger, based on the 1970 model, and Chevrolet reached back to 1969 for its revived Camaro. The Dodge Challenger concept has a clean body design, 1970s-style short leather seats, and a modern control interface featuring a performance analyzer in an LCD. Its 6.2-liter hemi V-8 gives it a 0-to-60mph time of 4.5 seconds. The Camaro is a little gaudier, with heavily flared rear fenders and a pointed nose. It uses a 6.0-liter V-8. Both cars have six-speed manual transmissions. Marketing professionals at Pontiac must feel as if they've squandered the GTO name by now.