Actually, GM/Chevrolet has consistently beaten Ford. Example, Ford claims the F150 is the number one seller, by a narrow margin, over the Chevy 1500. Add the functionally equivalent GMC 1500, and the numbers are reversed, dramatically. Everyone knows a Chevy and a GMC are the same truck, outside of some trim. Combine the two in sales and see where Ford ranks.
Further, the small block Chevy remained in constant production from 1955 until 1997 in cars. That's 42 years. Nothing Ford built approaches that. The various performance small block Chevy engines, the 302, the 327, and the 350, have dominated their Ford competitors for decades. The big block Chevy, was in constant production from 1965 until 2010, that's 45 years. No big block Ford has ever built has even come close in performance or longevity.
You want to talk about the "pony cars"? The 67 350 SS Camaro beat the small block Ford Mustang, that's what drove Ford to put FE engines in Mustangs. Woops, that didn't work so well. The 67, 68, and 69 396/375, Camaro and later, the 69 Camaro 427/425, cleaned the clocks of their 67, 68, 69, and 70 FE 390 and 428 Mustang counterparts. Same for the 402/375 Camaro. Oh, the 302 Z/28 consistently outperformed the small block Mustang in 67, 68, and 69. The 350 LT-1 Z/28 easily beat the Mustang 351C. And don't even bother with those limited "Boss" engines. They stink on the street, and they don't live on the track, the RPM required to make them run competitively keeps them from living consistently. There's no need to even bring up the 69 ZL-1 Camaro, nothing Ford built could touch it.
By the way, in order to make the FE compete, to some degree, with the big block Chevy, NHRA had to allow the FE racers to grind their cranks down and put big block Chevy rods in them. Boy, I bet that was a tough pill to swallow.
You surely do not want to compare the performance of the LT-1 F body, never mind the LS series F body, to the Mustangs of that era. No Mustang of that era even competes, despite the LT series and LS series Chevy engines having been penalized multiple times for being too fast, in an attempt to reign them in.
Lest we forget, the nasty little 66 Chevy II L-79 327/350HP was killing everything Ford had, and in fact the national championship that year came down to Bill Jenkins' 66 Chevy II in A/S and Jere Stahl's 66 Hemi Belvedere, settled by Jenkins' redlight start at the World Finals. Nary a Ford even in the running. And a 327 Chevy going head to head with a 426 Hemi. Go figure.
Now, yes, the Mustang remained "in production", since Ford decided to take what amounted to a Pinto, and do a "skin job". So, for several years, Ford had a "Mustang". Chevrolet, rather than do something of that nature to the Camaro line, hibernated it, since the smog cars of the seventies, while better than the Mustangs of that era, were disappointing at best.
The best years of the Mustang, compared to the Camaro, were the Fox body years. There Ford had a winner. They beat the Camaro handily in cost and ease of modification. Somehow they remain a non factor in Stock and Super Stock, with only a couple of them really fast. And you really don't want to talk road course, either, the Guldstrand prepped Camaros with Traco blueprinted engines ate the prepared mustangs for lunch. But on the street, the Fox body Mustang was a real player in the youth market, it was light, cheap, relatively simple, and the aftermarket loved them.
I'm not a fan of the new Camaro, it's too big and too heavy. Chevy used the design they did because they didn't want to pay a kid who drew a better car. And once again, the car is too expensive. However, there's nothing any of the Ford engines can do to compete without a blower. The modular Ford is not even in the ballpark with the LS series that is now 14 years old, and still uses a cam in the block and rocker arms. You certainly don't want to start comparing what the aftermarket parts on the normally aspirated LS will do with the aftermarket normally aspirated modular series.
Sorry, but the idea of Chevy always trying to play catch up to Ford is patently false. Don't even think about NASCAR, Chevy still has Ford nailed in NASCAR for wins, and winning percentage. Despite NASCAR allowing a Thunderbird coupe in to run in a sedan class, and allowing Ford to continue to use a canted valve engine they had not sold in the U.S. in years, while holding Chevy to a mid sized sedan with an inline valve wedge head engine that was still in production.
Chevrolet still pretty much dominates Stock and Super Stock, with only the "ringers", cars that had to have the rules rewritten in order to compete, being faster. Chevrolet is not now, nor have they ever, had a car that was not a production car, certified for sale to the general public, and meeting all safety and emissions standards, accepted by NHRA for Stock or Super Stock. Ford and Chrysler have been bringing "ringers" for decades. Cars that they had to send out as incomplete for outside assembly. Like the Thunderbolt, built for Ford by Dearborn Steel Tubing, or the Boss 429, built by Kar Kraft or some other outside vendor. No, the Z-11 63 Impala was a factory car, as were all of the L-72 427/425 cars, from the Camaro, to the Chevelle, the Corvette, and even the Impala. Even the ZL-1 Camaro was built right on the assembly line. As was the 67 L-88 Corvette that the Hemi boys in NHRA cried loud enough to get removed from the guide over a techinicality (when they were racing lightweight farmed out 'Cudas and Darts). Nope, not a farmed out ringer in the stable, all production street cars with all safety and emissions equipment. You sure can't say that about ANY 2008 and up Mustang in Stock or Super Stock.
No, Chevy has consistently beaten Ford in various arenas for about 55 years, ever since the 55 Chevy and the first 265 small block V-8 rolled off the line. Parts for that old antique still outsell anything Ford ever produced.
Funny, Ford refused to sign with NHRA, and refused to return to Stock and Super Stock, until NHRA agreed to rewrite the rules and allow the aftermarket built crate motor Mustangs compete in regular Stock classes. And to this day, Ford refuses to issue specs to allow their real production car to race in Stock against other production cars. And you still think Chevy is trying to catch Ford and keep up? Ford won't even race their Mustang you can buy and drive on the street.
