PUBLISHED 7 DAYS AGO
Combining sports car performance with muscle car power, pony cars are some of the fastest American vehicles ever made
10 Fastest Pony Cars Ever
PUBLISHED 7 DAYS AGO
Combining sports car performance with muscle car power, pony cars are some of the fastest American vehicles ever made
Pony cars are a lot like muscle cars or sports cars, in that there are multiple definitions for what they actually are. Common aspects of a pony car are an American-made, rear-wheel drive performance coupe with a long hood and a short decklid. Sometimes they are convertibles, but not always. Mostly they are compact, but some smaller-end midsize models qualify too. Basically, they are fast fun rides that are smaller than muscle cars, but just as powerful. An important distinction is that they are youth-oriented and affordable.
The name “pony car” is most associated with the Ford Mustang, but it wasn’t the first one out of the stable. The Plymouth Barracuda, introduced on April 1, 1964, beat the Mustang to showroom floors by two weeks. The Mustang was way more successful and inspired the car class name, so it gets more credit. The term pony car was coined by Car Life magazine editor Dennis Shattuck, reasoning that mustangs are horses, and ponies are little ones like the Ford.
Cars like the Chevrolet Corvair, the Ford Falcon, and the AMC Rambler American are considered proto-ponies, but the class didn’t really take off until the Mustang broke loose from the corral. This uniquely American car style has been so popular that Detroit is still cranking them out almost 60 years later. Not all pony cars are muscle cars, but some of them are and represent the fastest street machines ever made.
Information, as well as power and performance stats were sourced from Car and Driver, as well as Automobile Catalog.
10 1969 Plymouth Barracuda
Top Speed: 118 mph
Chrysler executives were well aware that Ford was working on an inexpensive sporty compact, that would eventually become the Mustang, and wanted to beat them to market with something that would appeal to young drivers. Because they had sunk so much money into the Turbine engine, development funds were tight, so they reworked the Plymouth Valiant into a cool(ish) fastback.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 440ci Super Commando V-8 |
| Engine Output | 375 horsepower, 480 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 5.6 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 13.9 seconds |
| Top Speed | 118 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)
It worked because the Plymouth Barracuda beat the Mustang by two weeks, but they clearly hadn’t made nearly as great of a pony car. It could have been worse though as Chrysler wanted to name the car the “Panda.” By the second generation, the Barracuda got a much-needing styling upgrade as well as some insane engine options. The 1969 Barracuda with a 440 under the hood was more like a stallion than a pony, but its small wheelbase kept it part of the class.
9 1968 AMC Javelin
Top Speed: 120 mph
AMC tried getting in the pony car game as early as 1963 with the Rambler Tarpon concept car, but internal research showed that consumers wanted powerful V-8s on sporty compacts. At the time, AMC was still developing their “GEN -2” lightweight V-8, so their entry into the pony car market would have to wait until 1967, when they introduced the Javelin.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 390ci V-8 |
| Engine Output | 315 horsepower, 425 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 5.7 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 14.4 seconds |
| Top Speed | 120 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)
Being the fourth-biggest American automaker at the time meant AMC didn’t have a ton development dollars, and they decided they couldn’t offer both a fastback and notchback version, so they mixed the two, creating a very distinctive profile. The 1968 Javelin finally received the gift of AMC’s 390cu engine, making it competitive with the other ponies on the range.
8 1968 Pontiac Firebird
Top Speed: 120 mph
General Motors built a series of concept vehicles in the 1950s called Firebirds, that were weird rocket cars with bubble canopies and jet intake turbine engines. Those never really caught on, but the name was solid, so they gave it to Pontiac to slap on their version of the Chevrolet Camaro. Both the Camaro and Firebird pony cars were billed as “Mustang killers” and while they were successful, not enough to topple the king horse.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 400ci V-8 |
| Engine Output | 335 horsepower, 430 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 5.1 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 13.5 seconds |
| Top Speed | 120 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)
GM is famous for ruining their cars’ legacy in the classic muscle era with a ban on engines bigger than 400 cubic inches in mid-size and compact models. While the first-gen Camaro’s biggest engine option was a 396, the Firebird went right up to the GM limit with a 400. Sure it would have been great for the early Firebirds to come with 455 V-8s, but the 400s weren’t exactly slow.
7 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
Top Speed: 122 mph
Even though the Ford Mustang was named after a WWII fighter plane (P-51 Mustang), it was the car name that put the pony in pony cars. Introduced two weeks after the Plymouth Barracuda in 1964, it was one of the most successful vehicle launches as well as the most enduring model, as it’s been in constant production for almost 60 years.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 428ci Cobra Jet V-8 |
| Engine Output | 335 horsepower, 440 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 5.8 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 13.9 seconds |
| Top Speed | 122 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)
The first generation Mustangs, from 1964 to 1973 came in a variety of shapes, with more engine options than a normal person could keep track, but the fastbacks with big V-8s were the coolest. They were also the fastest like the 1969 Mach 1, packing a beefy 428 Cobra Jet, being one of the few 13-second quarter-mile cars Ford produced in the golden age of street muscle.
6 1967 Shelby GT500
Top Speed: 128 mph
A Shelby GT car is a Ford Mustang, but technically the make is Shelby. Famed racer and car designer Carol Shelby made high-performance versions of Mustangs at his Shelby American company from 1965 through 1967 before they were moved in-house at Ford. It’s a little confusing and seems like a petty distinction, but what’s easy to get is how amazing the Shelby Mustangs were.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 428ci Cobra Jet V-8 |
| Engine Output | 335 horsepower, 440 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 6.5 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 15.0 seconds |
| Top Speed | 128 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Car and Driver)
The 1967 Shelby GT500 came with the mighty Cobra Jet 428 and was limited to 2,048 units, making it rare. Even more elusive was the single GT500, fitted with a 427, known as the “Super Snake.” This souped up version was capable of hitting a top speed of 170 mph, which is considerably faster that a normal GT500. Because it was a one-off, it doesn’t qualify for the list, but it more than redeemed itself by selling for $2.2 million at a Mecum auction in 2019.
5 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
Top Speed: 131 mph
In the same way that GM spread the pony car love across the Chevy Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird platforms, Ford gifted its Mercury division with their own version of the Mustang in the Cougar. Startin with the 1967 model year, the Cougar was supposed to be an upscale Mustang, with a slightly different front fascia. In 1970, the top performance trim was the Cougar Eliminator, which was the sister car to the Mach 1 and Boss fastbacks.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 428ci Cobra Jet V-8 |
| Engine Output | 335 horsepower, 440 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 7.2 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 14.7 seconds |
| Top Speed | 131 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)
The Cougar Eliminator however had a much different look with a wider hood scoop, rear spoiler, and aggressive front end. It was also faster than its Mustang kin in top end ferocity. Despite being the superior ride, only 2,268 Cougar Eliminators were sold in 1970, versus 40,970 Mach 1s and 7,512 Boss 302 and 429s in the same year. Clearly more people were brand name snobs, but that only served to make the Eliminator a rare collectible.
4 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
Top Speed: 134 mph
Dodge was late to the pony show, but their initial entry, the Challenger in 1970, was a thoroughbred of the classic era. Meant to compete with the high-end Mercury Cougars and Chevy Camaros, the Challenger was an upscale cousin car of the Plymouth Barracuda. With a 110-inch wheelbase, it was within the compact range and qualified as a pony car in the traditional sense.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 426ci Hemi V-8 |
| Engine Output | 425 horsepower, 490 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Four-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 4.7 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 13.3 seconds |
| Top Speed | 134 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)
Where it broke with tradition was in the performance department, being less of a sports car and more of a factory drag racer. With the 440 Six-Pack and 426 Hemi engine options, the first-gen Challengers weren’t just the fastest pony cars, they could blow every muscle car at the time off the road, including all other dominant Mopars. The 1970 Challenger R/T Hemi was the most powerful American production car until the 2000s.
3 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Top Speed: 198 mph
Chevy produced the Camaro from its introduction in 1967 until 2002, before taking an eight-year break. After the early 70s, the Camaro lost its power, with detuned engines, and starting with the third generation in 1982, got kind of ugly. With the 2010 reboot however, the once mighty pony car returned to its glory, with cool new styling and some serious horsepower under the hood.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 |
| Engine Output | 650 horsepower, 650 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Six-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 3.5 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 11.4 seconds |
| Top Speed | 198 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Road and Track)
ZL1 started out as an engine code and morphed into a high-performance package in 2012 that blasted out 580 horsepower, but the 2017 ZL1 cranked that up to 650 ponies, making it the fastest Camaro ever made. Even better, the ’17 package came with up upgraded suspension and handling, so drivers could reasonably use that awesome power without flying off the road.
2 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Top Speed: 200 mph
Technology had changed a great deal since the Shelby GT500 was made in 1967, so when Ford brought back the performance package for the fifth generation of the Mustang, they created their fastest pony car ever. According to Ford Performance, the GT500’s supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 was, “the highest-horsepower engine ever produced in North America to date.” Of course that was before the Hellcat, so it’s technically true.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 |
| Engine Output | 662 horsepower, 631 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Six-speed manual |
| 0-60 Time | 3.5 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 11.6 seconds |
| Top Speed | 200 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Road and Track)
Ford would make another version of the GT500 in 2019 that made more horsepower, but had a slower top speed. Since this is all about hitting those high miles per hour, the 2013 Shelby GT500 remains the lead horse in Ford’s fabled pony car stable. From 335 horsepower in ’67 to 662 horsepower 36 years later, the Mustang’s power nearly doubled.
1 2023 Dodge Challenger Demon 170
Top Speed: 215 mph
When Dodge rebooted the Challenger in 2008, they managed to capture the original flavor of the first-gen pony cars with an aggressive modern style. It was however a few inches longer with a 116-inch wheelbase, making a mid-size. There is no hard and fast rule that says pony cars have to be 110 inches or less, and since the third-gen Challengers look so similar to the originals, it stays in the class.
Power and Performance
| Engine | 6.2-liter Supercharged Hemi V-8 |
| Engine Output | 1,025 horsepower, 945 pound-feet of torque |
| Transmission | Eight-speed automatic |
| 0-60 Time | 1.66 seconds |
| Quarter-mile | 8.91 seconds |
| Top Speed | 215 mph |
(Performance specs sourced from Road and Track)
The 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat was packing a 707 horsepower 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 and could go 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, run a quater-mile in 11.2 seconds, and had a top speed of 199 mph. That would have been good enough to top this list, but Dodge created an even faster one that would become the undisputed king of the pony cars. As part of their “Last Call” special editions, the 2023 Challenger Demon 170 is simply the most powerful American production car ever built, and is somehow street legal.
