This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

While compared with the high horsepower cars of the late 1960s or today's modern muscle these muscle offerings from 1985 might seem a little tame, they were the most impressive performers that had rolled out of Detroit in sometime.

At today's "Camaro Homecoming event" in Oshawa, Canada, Al Oppenheiser from the Chevy Camaro team told folks that the Chevy Camaro ZL1 will come with an automatic transmission as an option. No word yet from Chevy's communications team.

The boys over at AutoExpress have divined the tea leaves, and tell us today that they've learned the 2014 Ford Mustang will, for the first time, ditch the decades-old live rear axle in favor of an independent rear suspension.

The V6 pony-car battle rages anew, as the hairdressers square off with their shears. (Kidding!) The V6 Camaro gets another power bump, this time a real one. Seems that SAE technicality wasn't enough to put that Mustang issue to bed.

General Motors will start building the supercharged Chevy Camaro Z28 on Jan. 1, 2012, according to people who heard the plan at a dealer meeting today. Happy next new year. (Thanks Justin) [Camaro5.com]

For the first time since 1985, the Chevy Camaro outsold the Ford Mustang over an entire year, with 81,371 buyers to the Mustang's 73,716. It's a great day not just for muscle cars, but for America. Here's why.

George Pipas, Ford's sales analyst, told a group of reporters this week the automaker isn't concerned that the Chevrolet Camaro will outsell the Mustang this year for the first time since 1985.

Closely chasing Evolution Performance's eight second Mustang is Lingenfelter Performance's LS9-powered 2010 Camaro. Their six-speed Camaro is consistently running low nine-second quarter miles and, judging by this video, they're well on their way to an eight-second run.

The 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 isn't the random number license output from Arizona's DMV, it's a limited edition 475hp Challenger we told you to expect last month. But where's the three-second 0-to-60 time Dodge's CEO allegedly promised? [Chrysler]

The fans at Camaro5 snagged this first video of the upcoming hot Camaro Z28 taking its laps at the Nürburgring, producing a heart-warming rumble from an LSA V8 expected to gin out at least 550 hp.

Not to be outdone by a $75,000 paint job, Hennessey has unveiled its take on the Camaro convertible, offering an LS9-powered 755-hp version to 24 buyers for $132,500. What ever will the prom queens of Lakewood choose?

Ford Racing's announced a 2.3-liter supercharger kit for the 2011 Mustang 5.0-liter V8, which makes a staggering 624-hp and 536 lb-ft of torque. Cost? $7,499. Sorta makes the $18,000 supercharged 550-hp Shelby GT500 option seem overpriced. [MustangsDaily]

Ford's tire-shredding 2011 Shelby GT500 drops its Virginia International Raceway lap time nine seconds in this video after dropping 120 pounds with a new aluminum block on its 550-hp supercharged V8.

In a bid to win the hearts and minds of secretaries and poseurs, the 2011 Chevy Camaro V6 turns the pony car wars dial to 11 12 — with a new 2011 Ford Mustang V6-beating power rating of 312 HP.

Some publications do burnouts with V6-engined Mustangs. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but we're not like those kind of publications. Instead, we've got this — the first burnout of a 2011 Ford Mustang GT. The 5.0 is back!

Doting parents decided to surprise their son Shane with a yellow and black Camaro SS for his 16th birthday. The dad says he wants to teach Shane to drive properly rather than just assume he won't hoon a slow car.

In an effort to save money, Ford says all future platforms must be global. But what of the Mustang and its all-American RWD coupeiness? Motor Trend's being optimistic about its fate and says the next version could even go global.