Great article on owning a muscle car

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IN reading this my 69 396/375 4 speed 4.11 gear Chevelle comes to mind

Manual steering, brakes and real heavy clutch

This car was a monster to drive, 12 sec street car in the mid 70's. Sitting at a stop light as the car was shaking itself to death it was in neutral to keep the pressure off the left leg. Not for the weak!

It wasn't a car that many would want to drive daily. But it was a blast to drive!

Run hard and put away wet, rusted some in 76 when I got it from a buddy that wanted down payment money for a new Laguna S3

Have owned and driven many fast cars, none faster than this till I drove my buddies superchargered SRT Hurst stage 4 Challenger. That car was as mild manored as any carvive driven. 6 speed that was as smooth and light as can be, 550 hp at the tip of my right foot. But sitting at a stop light it was like any other new Challenger, easy to drive. SUPER FAST, but not the same as driving a real MUSCLE CAR.

It was almost like this guy drove my Chevelle and my buddies Challenger, my thought exactly.
 
ye Greg a lot ( most) of that is fact! but no one said it is easy, cheap, or that safe either!!!!

had a buddy that, he was about in that late 60's age. his grandma bought him a new 66 or 7 GTO. 389 4 spped... (unlike me). I see him back in mid 90's...... I mentioned to him, he ought to get him another GTO..... he said, emphatically NO, he had lost ALL his close friends (dead, wrecks!) wrecking those high powered so called musclecars!!!! vividly recalls the gore detals of every mishap. I understood perfectly. had my dad let me have what I wanted back them at 16 yrs old, I might have also joined those statistics! something for people to realize if they don't already!!!
 
The old cars are just different. Stab the gas and they're squatting back on their haunches, lifting the front corner, air intake is growling as the car is coming to life....

They don't have all the personality engineered out.
 
I think that -- All of You Guys should get rid of them - give them to me. -- :burnout:--
 
Sounds like a flapping conservative nanny wrote this. TL;DR.

Most people need their hand held throughout life. I do not. All of us that lived through our twenties 'high powered sports car' owners know what end the barrel is on, and how to shoot it; SAFELY.

My car brakes great, corners great, isn't rusted out, and is OMG.... FAST
 
Good article. It does hit the head on some points, especially the difference between modern "muscle" cars and old school ones. I know a guy with a 2013 corvette, and he always loves to say how it'll do "170 kph down the highway no problem" and how its faster than my Scamp. But I just tell him it's not nearly as fun. The hard to find stuff part is definitely true from a resto point of view.

I have a hard time with the "don't drive it in rain, snow, or if it might rain or snow or if someone sneezes directly in front of it" attitude. My car is a car. it's meant to be driven. I drive it anyday it's above 0 and there isn't snow on the ground. I've driven it at least one day of the month since I got it. Dec, Jan, Feb included. And the only reason I don't drive it on snow is cause it has whopping 205/70/15 radials on it. 6" of tread on the ground. Doesn't bode well with 400 horse. The thing slips on the ice just idling around the street. If I had some bigger meats I'd definitely give it a try. These car's are meant to be driven, are meant to be taken out and stretch their legs.

Considering them to "not be daily drivers" is just a damn shame in my opinion. Anything is a daily driver if you got the balls for it.
 
My '69 Barracuda is a daily driver. I try to avoid driving in the rain but sometimes it can't be helped. I live in a very corrosive environment so keeping the car dry is extremely important to keeping it from rusting. But I drive it as much as I can and really enjoy it!! The article made many good points but unfortunately most young kids don't quite understand?? My son (21 year old) , who drives a '46 Chevy 2 Dr Coupe, seems to be a "motor head". He doesn't know much about old school engines/mechanics but he loves this car that I built for him. The '46 Chevy has a healthy Corvette 350 engine and 3.73 gears. I was really surprised when he told me that he wanted to buy a 454 to replace the 350. He's a quiet type of person but evidently he has a "motor head" streak in him. I've told him what type big block would work best but he's still deciding.
He's studying to be an engineer so he should be able to afford whatever engine he likes. It's nice to know that he likes "power" and that he wants "more power"...Just like his Dad!!

treblig
 
Lustle said:
Good article. .
Click to expand...

I didn't think so. I got just this far:
===================================================

"Muscle cars were — let’s not mince words — dangerous.

It is why they are no longer made. It is why they were — effectively — outlawed. First by the insurance mafia, which (with government’s help) made it increasingly impossible, financially, to own one"
====================================================


Um, OK. "Dangerous" Here's the facts. A 440-6 car (my old RR) was no slouch bach then. I didn't manage to have ONE accident caused by it being out of control. I drove it every single day. Back then, "it was my car."

And NOW you can by a 'stang or charger right off the shelf, along with quite a few others, that would beat that old girl to death.
 
the part i hope young first time owners of our old high performance " muscle cars" realize, is that 1. they need better brakes to be on par somewhat with todays cars, and 2. that speed like so many things in our society, can kill. just fact.

was an overpowered, poor braking car for its power, and with the bias tire technology of that era,..... dangerous??? I say yes....

yes I've done silly ( stupid ) things like most older guys on here. NOT proud to admit it... running top end down I 75>> 3 abreast??? stupid? yes..



dangerous>>> yes in any car! ,



that article doesn't point out any problems, costs, hardships we aren't aware of, but for some new rabbits in the race, maybe??
 
My God, they werent as bad as this guy describes them. I lived with muscle cars for years when i was a teen and in my mid 20s. Big block mopar B bodies was my thing. My 69 charger 440, 4 speed was totally livable. He must be wimpy, or cant set points LOL!!!

After getting set up in my career, and getting life in order, now I'm redoing a 67 notchback cuda i picked up awhile back by installing bigger cordoba power disc brakes, faster ratio power steering, completely stiffened up chassis, polyurethane suspension, and heavy duty front and rear sway bars. I drove a bone stock 68 fastback barracuda back in 1987, and cant wait to drive this modified 67 when its done.
 
67Dart273 said:
I didn't think so. I got just this far:
===================================================

"Muscle cars were — let’s not mince words — dangerous.

It is why they are no longer made. It is why they were — effectively — outlawed. First by the insurance mafia, which (with government’s help) made it increasingly impossible, financially, to own one"
====================================================


Um, OK. "Dangerous" Here's the facts. A 440-6 car (my old RR) was no slouch bach then. I didn't manage to have ONE accident caused by it being out of control. I drove it every single day. Back then, "it was my car."

And NOW you can by a 'stang or charger right off the shelf, along with quite a few others, that would beat that old girl to death.
Click to expand...

You should read further. He mentions how the advances in modern technology have made the 600+ horsepower cars now safer than our classics. You just can't argue that point. The suspensions now are better and handle better. The brakes now are better and brake better. The chassis now are better and respond better. The bodies are stiffer and handle crashes better.

The fact is, modern technology has made modern muscle cars a lot safer than our classics. There's no argument otherwise. Anyone saying that a modern muscle car is more dangerous than an off the show room floor style car from 1965-1972 is just delusional.
 
Is this guy trying to scare people away from older cars?
What a negative write up.
 
lol, I love the way the duster feels sometimes
cruising in second gear, about 2800 RPM...drop the hammer and the entire car feels to just lift off the road as the rear end tries to pass up the front

I can only image how she would do if she actually managed to get some traction
 
Any car is only as safe as the nut behind the wheel. The only modern technology that has improved the safety of motoring is the radial tire - other than that it's a wash. What I do find is that today's 'safe' makes cars where the drivers are less attentive to either their surroundings or to the capabilities of their car. Gadgets that distract that come right from the factory, and 'safety' features like automatic braking are two examples that come to mind. So even with all the supposed new 'safety' items built into today's cars, are they really any safer? I doubt it. Maybe you SHOULD be afraid of that 400 horsepower beast with the ragged handling - you might live longer, and pay more attention. Otherwise it's Darwin at work. Better than a car with traction control, automatic braking , ad nauseum that lulls you into a false sense of security, til you do something stupid and put it in a ditch.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Is this guy trying to scare people away from older cars?
What a negative write up.
Click to expand...

I don't know if scare so much as over exaggerate. He seems to embellish some of the "problems" of owning a classic car. But who among us can say that we haven't run into at least a few of the problems he mentions?
 
That article was very negative. Besides my Duster has factory Power Disc Brakes, Electronic ignition, and Power Steering.
 
No, this is NOT a great article, it's not even outstanding in it's mediocrity. It just plain sucks. The author is a whiny little ***** who would complain about tax liabilities if he won the powerball lottery. I wouldn't be suprised if he wears a rubber when he makes love to his wife because he's afraid that he could get an STD, because God knows what she did back in college and he can't trust what she told him because he knows women will say and do anything for that diamond ring...

I wonder, did this winner help write that crap the EPA is trying to push through, which is getting kicked around in another thread.

The article's author has an axe to grind.
 
If he's addressing a younger crowd it does make a lot of sense though. The guys who have never seen this kind of real horsepower, brakes or steering surely don't know how to drive it or control it well. My own kids think they can get in it and stomp on the gas, burning the rubber of the tires, that it'l go straight and brake like a dream and they'll just be smiling all the way down the road because it handles like their moms lexus....boy are they dreaming. All the while I'm trying to teach them to respect what it can and can't do reasonably. Plus having not much driving experience to begin with doesn't help.
I'm the last of six boys all raised driving in the sixties with a mechanic father that loved racing and taught us all how to drive them right and respect their physical limits. God I loved that man. Wish he was still with us.
 
Ottmundr said:
No, this is NOT a great article, it's not even outstanding in it's mediocrity. It just plain sucks. The author is a whiny little ***** who would complain about tax liabilities if he won the powerball lottery. I wouldn't be suprised if he wears a rubber when he makes love to his wife because he's afraid that he could get an STD, because God knows what she did back in college and he can't trust what she told him because he knows women will say and do anything for that diamond ring...

I wonder, did this winner help write that crap the EPA is trying to push through, which is getting kicked around in another thread.

The article's author has an axe to grind.
Click to expand...

:sign5:::laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing: :drinkers:
 
As far as the rust issue goes, yeah that goes without saying. If these cars are old, they are gonna have rust issues. Thank God for AMD and others repopping the pieces to fix this issue. And who in their right mind is NOT going to park their restored classic in a garage. Oh yeah, im gonna leave my barracuda parked on the street, or under a carport at night. I think this article is meant for joe average who really would like one but doesnt realize the upkeep, and care that would be required in driving, storing, maintaining, and insuring one of these. Hell i know what it takes but then again, i have been messing with these types of cars since the mid 1980s. The article may have done a favor, in keeping these types of vehicles away from people that probably shouldent own them. Look in the cars left for dead thread. Theres quite a few pix from recent times of smashed up muscle cars of which i can only assume an inexperienced driver totaled for the reasons though a bit imbellished mentioned in the article.
 
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