Video: Chris Harris Compares 2013 GT500 Vs. Camaro ZL1

It’s a great time to be a gearhead, and even better if you’ve got extra money to lay down on some top-end muscle cars. The two juggernauts of American motoring right now are the 580 horsepower Camaro ZL1 and the 662 horsepower Shelby GT500. But leave it to a British auto journalist to compare these two muscle cars with a discerning European eye.

Chris Harris took the Camaro ZL1 and Shelby GT500 for a drive through New York City. And what he found in his 15-minute expose might surprise you.

Harris starts out on the streets in the Camaro ZL1, and he has some very good things to say about it. The gear shifter, for example, he says seems like it was plucked from a BMW M5. He also likes the drivability of the Camaro on surface streets, despite a well-known issue with visability out of the Camaro’s oddly-shaped greenhouse. He loves driving the ZL1.

The GT500 is a different story. He’s not too happy with the sitting position, and he finds the Shelby to be a bit more difficult to drive than the Camaro. Even so, the 662 horsepower has him laughing and cursing and squealing with joy. On the track though, the Shelby is Harris’s clear favorite.

We won’t spoil the video for you, though his final pick as the winner might surprise you. It sure surprised us.