I know street racing is a forbidden subject here, but I'm speaking of about 45 years ago in an historical context and hopefully the mods will tolerate it. (If not, feel free to delete). Our residential street ended at a "T" with a fairly busy highway, and the intersection had a traffic light. Cars activated the light on demand by running over a plate in the side road. But the intersection itself had a push-button for pedestrians.

Before I had a license, we would sometimes sit around the corner watching approaching traffic on the main road. When a hot car came along, we'd try to time it so a quick punch of the button would stop it first out at the light, and hopefully a thumbs-up to the driver would result in a show.

However, once in a while we'd get lucky and manage to catch TWO hot cars with the light. You can imagine the results when we did!

 

My first brand new "muscle car" was a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner, 383, 4 speed. It was red with "dog dish" hubcaps & red stripe tires. Wish I still had it.

 

Keep up the good work F22! Washed brains can be cleansed!

 

I remember the two biggest thrill rides I ever had as a youngster...about 10 or 11. Dad had a 68 or 69 Catalina with that HARD speaker grill in the middle of the back seat. I was sitting in the back with my head between the front seats and he said "Hold on!" I didn't hold on hard enough and the thrust threw me back against that speaker...I loved it Second time was a ride in my uncle's 67 vette with the 327/4 speed vert. That ride was both exciting and frightening at the same time. So what was my first car? '63 Plymouth Belvedere with the 225 slant six and pushbutton auto. Little bit of a letdown but it still got me to town where I could see all the muscle cars cruising

astepup said that

 

At 16 my first car was a 64 GTO. A bunch of cars since then, most pretty quick. Now on my 4th Vette.

 

I dunno... I grew up in the muscle car heyday, and believe me, I know whatcha mean. Some of my favorites were the 57 Nomad with a nasty 327. (The dads of the girls I dated didn't like the button-tuffed pad in the back worth a damn!) The there was the 327 I put in a Vega. But, the king of the RUMPITY-RUMP was the 71 El Camino with a solid lifter 427 in it. (Soombitch would rattle windows just idling!)

All that said tho, it is my ZR-1 that blow them ALL away! It is the most outrageous car I have owned. The LT5 loves to be modded and responds with some incredible performance increases for a DIY'er. Idles like the family station wagon, and screams like a banshee at WOT - pulling like a freight train all the way to redline - which is up there a bit too! And! It corners well too!

No, TODAY is THE era of the muscle cars! Production cars today have good manners, get great gas mileage, and many will trample what we as kids used to think were "hot stuff". Memories are like wine...They get sweeter with time. But, the fact is, the new stuff is the new KING. Don't miss the chance to buy a C6 Z06 before Obamamotors starts making Yugos with bowties...

P.

 

My first chevy '55 Convertible, 265 V8 with 2 bbl, auto 'Powerslide" black with red interior. Cost $55.00
My second chevy '56 210 2 door. 6 cyl. 3 on the tree. radio delete cost $15.00
My third chevy, '57 4 door. No motor or trans Cost $10.00. It had a 283 4 bbl dual exhaust and powerglide which went into a '29 Ford.
My 4th car '59 Pontiac Bonneville 389 with Triples. Smashed in the rear by a dump truck. Cost $15.00. '57's body was flawless, interior was just as good. Salmon pink with white accent on side / fin area.
Next weekend the '57 had a 389 with triples. Engine was transplanted within 6 hours, by myself and three high school buddies. Cost to convert about $35.00 for driveshaft trim and re weld, 2 thrush mufflers some pipe bending and a case of beer. Had the Bonneville picked up by the junkyard they paid me $7.50. Gas was $.21 / gallon for American (Amoco, now BP) Premium or Sunoco 260. That was 1966.

 

Yeah, but back then, girls about 18 to 20 would give us a second glance!

There are people who drive a Corvette, and there are Corvette People. There is a difference.

 

I was around a group of people the other day and this girl was talking about how fast her VW was. She asked if anyone wanted to see her engine and several youngsters went over and looked at her engine covers. I just don't know what to say.

 

Now I know every single person is gonna give me the "well you didn't live it you don't get it" so let me start off by saying my dad was born in 50. He had impalla 327, galaxy 500, and my uncle had road runner etc... and i knew nothing of newer cars till i was maybe 17, only the stories and cars my dad showed me of older stuff. My dad also says the same thing that newer cars have no lines like old cars do, but he's not totally closed minded to newer stuff. I don't understand the no soul comment at all. Times have changed and so has everything. Our surroundings and society forced it. But I'm sure so many of you look at a subaru WRX and laugh. Yet it amongst other things are the building block of today's speed scene. It serves the same purpose a 383 road runner did, speed for somewhat cheap. Because it goes about it differently it has no soul? That's just being closed minded, nothing more. The new charger? I think the old mopars with HUGE 440 written over the fender is overdone, flashy, gaudy, yet just plain awesome! Because the new charger has 4 doors its not a muscle car everyone says. Yet other then the challenger, camaro, mustang and vette, what other american car actually has lines to it... the 300c and charger. Take a look at a good pic of an all black srt8 charger and compare it to an all black 69 charger... you really think the old one has better looks to it?!? An old charger is a by the book fast back with an abyss for a grill vs a new one with deep front fascia, hood scoop, and angry headlights for eyes. Yet it has four doors so its lame to most. The hp comment I don't understand either, other then looks that is all old cars were about. First thing everyone bought for old cars was headers or a cam. No one cared about changing their drum brakes, no one cared about handling tons. Which is why I feel newer cars try harder and think they do have a soul

 

Figured I'd add I'm 22 young, but not so dumb. So I'm very open to hear opinions of why people feel the way they do about new cars. And no matter, no hard feelings to anyone.

 

My second car was a 69 Camaro RS that I bought in '88. I was hooked on muscle after I had a ride in a fixed up Cougar with a good running 351.

I'm gonna have to start scanning some of those old pics...

 

The thing I always wonder is how the loss of the mechanical interface allows people to understand how cars work. I kind of came up in both the carb and fuel injection era simultaneously. Fiddling with fuel mix and changing the springs and weights in your distributor while running on a 4 gas smog machine taught me almost as much as with modern dynos and laptop interfaces.

I mean, I get it, but how smart do kids have to be to pick up on these abstract concepts that are all in software now. Anyways, seems most kids are coddled and only see the car as a place to recharge their personal electronics on their way to school. Jesus, I mean we would be embarrassed to not have a lic on the day of our 16th B-day, much less get mom to take us to school (I walked).

 

I'm sure it's a generation thing. No doubt the guys of the NEXT generation back who had to tinker with flathead Fords, lower their '32 coupes, etc felt the 60's kids just didn't have to be too smart to go buy a Roadrunner, Mustang or Camaro and stomp their foot. So to THEM the 60's muscle cars probably didn't have any soul because they were cookie-cutter, bought-from-the-dealer instead of something which had been sweated over and created in a barn with skinned knuckles etc.





There are people who drive a Corvette, and there are Corvette People. There is a difference.

 

Yep, I turned 50 this year, bought my first vette and I take my 2 year old son everyweekend to see his grandparents in the seat right next to me, air bag off. To him, high revving is "too fast daddy!". When we are cruising down the road, I hit the gas and let him feel the torque. He looks at me and says "Again!". We do this like 5 times in a row. So yes, I beat on my car, kinda sorta. I have already planted the seed. We wash the car together and cruise "just the boyz, no back seat". Of course my 19 year old daughter thought the car was a midlife crisis, well, for those who think so, I drive my mid-life crisis around in my mid-life crisis. When I was 17, my dad and I rebuilt the engine on my 68 Camaro. This boy, will be one of us!

 

I think it has more to due with even on a good day they come off as utilitarian...

 

And my question to anyone who has no interest in any non camaro, mustang, challenger is why? The only immediate respones Ive ever heard arnt exactly great ones. Mainly "its not a v8" and "it has four doors" are what I hear people say more then anything. Im really interested to hear what the older crowd has to say.

PS sorry for high jack OP, but I think this kinda intertwines.

 

For me personally, it's just that they seem to come from the same mold. That mold is called japan. They look the same or similar, have no individual characteristics, and just seem “boring”.

Again, me personally, those aren't any of my complaints really. They could be a saving point on an otherwise nondescript vehicle but I don't insist on a V-8 or whatever...

JMO

 

Being 51, I can offer my opinion. I think some of the non-Camaro-Mustang-Challenger cars have some real panache' to them. I saw a Dodge SRT8 Magnum cross the auction block awhile back and I liked it! It was bad-a$$ and I would've drove it! The Dodge Ram SRT10 is certainly not a wimpy truck either. And I've seen Dodge Chargers that have come off decently, with the right stance, wheels and mods that make them stand out in a neat, attractive kind of way.

The 'four door' thing has been with us a long time. An old hot-rodder friend of mine who's owned at least 30 cars has a die-hard, "never a four door attitude". It's only recently, with Aston Martin and Porsche, both releasing four door sport coupes, are you starting to see that erode.

As far as styling, the Subaru doesn't elicit any kind of 'excitement', nor do the Mitsu' Evo's, though they're both very capable cars. The Nissan Soul looks like a box with a wet diaper wrapped around the bottom. I know some of you love the Scion, but the whole utilitarian cube thing is just that, it's a box. The box dates back to the Crosley design of the 30's and it was only popular because of how cheap they were to run. I too own a box, a white Ford Focus wagon, who's main purpose is to haul my butt, my bike and my babe to rides in the mountains. I keep it somewhat clean (the interior is something else though....).

The quarterly Motor Trend mag 'Motor Trend Classic', which at $15 ain't cheap, (but oh, how excellent!) recently re-reviewed the Honda CRX, which I owned back in the day. Now there's an example of a car that got great gas mileage, looked great, handled really well and just came off superbly as a complete package! It was easy to hot-rod, easy to work on and there wasn't a plastic cover on the engine either. The only drawback was the CVCC which works excellent, until that mass of vacuum lines starts rotting, then you'd better be replacing them soon and carefully at that, but even at ten years old, the ol' CRX was quite happy.

 

And whats up with the GTO? I had a 67 and that was a beautiful car. Today it's nothing special at all, it blends right in with all of the ricers.