You can’t compare 60’s muscle cars to today’s cars, even to today’s “family” cars. Hell, even 80’s era Porsche and Ferrari’s seem slow compared to mid-priced cars today. The technology has grown by leaps and bounds and left cars that even 20 to 25 years ago were amazing seem lacking by today’s standards.
Would his name be Necros? [The last poster from the '06 part of the thread]
I lust after another AMC AMX. It’s the car guaranteed to have me circling the block for another look. But no way would I want it for my every day ride. Bad fuel economy, bad storage space, truly horrible on snow and ice, slower than a ton of stuff on the road today.
But there is just something about the look, sound and feel of a 60s-70s muscle car. I haven’t been nearly good enough this year for Santa to bring me one of those.
This. It was easy to pull an engine from a muscle car and add high compression pistons, headers and a cam. This was a weekend garage project. It was nothing for a 1969 big block to run low 11’s with a couple hundred dollars of work.
It use to be fun working on cars.
The old guys aren’t faster but they sure look better. Gimme a 71 Hemi Cuda.
would you like that with or without a shaker hood scoop?
Last time I looked, the MacLaren F-1 (not really a muscle car) is still the fastest naturally aspirated road car. Only those dratted forced induction cars built after 2000 can beat it inside a mile.
I once drove a 1967 Camaro with a big V-8. what a pig-nose heavy and hard to steer. The coal cart rear suspension made you feel every bump, and the clutch spring was unforgiving. the car looked nice, but the new Camaro is superior in every way.
Now I’m too old to repeat my days of yesterday, but in my twenties back in 1966 I could out drive and out race anyone alive. I’ve raced from one end of this country to the next. I’ve passed 18 wheelers on two lane roads that led out of Illinois to Oklahoma racing in a 1965 Shelby GT-350 Mustang vs anything that would take me on, like a brand new 66 Chevy as we played leap frog with each other passing 18 wheelers like they were standing still, until a Oklahoma State trooper pulled us over and said, “follow me into the next town boys” and then he said, “you two boys have some pretty fast cars, but my gun and my radio are faster”
So we followed him in and he woke up the judge that also owned the local motel. The judge took one look at my Texas license and said “boy you’ve already had a rough day … Oklahoma beat Texas today so I’m going to let you go”
Sure they only made 535 GT-350’s but she could eat Corvettes in D/SP at the drag strip 13.5 sec in the quarter mile with stock tires and 4:56 rear end (Detroit locker rear end standard equipment).
She could do 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds and when that rear end clunked in with the standard traction bars she squat and ran like a charm. I remember showing off at a toll both outside of Boston one time after I paid the toll I hit it and didn’t see the speed bump right in front of me … She only weighed 2,600 lbs and when she hit that speed bump jumped up and down and was gone in nothing flat.
I entered the Maine turnpike and let her roll on to the Portland exit as fast as she could go. Two weeks later I get a ticket in the mail saying that there was no way I could’ve gone from one exit to the next that fast without speeding.
There was a big ole tachometer in the middle of the dash so I took a girlfriend for a ride and after the car was up to 120mph I said, “what do you think about that” the girlfriend looks over at the tachometer and says, “your only going 66” of course she was thinking 6600 rpm was 66mph, duh.
I can’t do those things anymore, but the memories linger on and of course I’ve got my pictures, but why do it all over again and wind up like Paul Willbur with hardly anything left to bury.
Sure the new cars are faster with solid state ignition and more horse power to the rear tires than you could possible ever use legally, but if you measure things in fun the 1960’s can never be repeated only dreamed of.
Like one time in Houston when I got caught speeding on a city street the cop said, “why don’t your just take it over there to that new highway and let it roar” He was talking about the Southwest freeway which had just been finished and that was before the loop 610 even existed.
Too bad ya’ll couldn’t have been there, but who’s got $65,000 for a new fast car now days? Not me 