The Return of the Muscle Car

Opinion Journal ^ | 04/23/03 | COLLIN LEVEY

[Pokey78]

Horsepower and martial valor couldn't have come at a better time.

The French semiologist Roland Barthes once said he considered cars "almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Of course the 1969 Convertible Firebird is better than the 67 and 68...

[Capriole]

I used to have a friend from Tokyo who went to college in Chicago. When he moved here (mid 80's), he bought a Buick Grand National (one of GM's last true muscle cars). When his mother (a quiet, reserved woman) came to visit, all she saw was a Buick Regal. She had no clue. That is until people challenged her to race more than once at stop lights...

This brings back some happy memories. Fifteen years ago my late father-in-law gave up driving and gave me his 1979 Olds Cutlass. It was faded and didn't look like anything but an old man's car. So when some yuppie scum driving a BMW would pull up to a stoplight next to me, all he saw was a pretty suburban mommy in an old, uncool car, with a backseat full of groceries. What the yuppies never knew was that someone had dropped a 454 V-8 into that old car and had taken off the emissions equipment. I did so enjoy dragging away from the light and making the bimmers and Porsches eat my tailpipe. They could not hope to accelerate as fast or keep up to me. It was so childish on my part, and so satisfying.

[billbears]

A Honda Civic or Accord, an Acura, or a Dodge neon with a 135 - 160 hp motor will easily go as fast as it's possible to go in all but a few places in America today while getting 35 mpg and still feeling tight and new after 150,000 miles.

Yes, but will they do a 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds? Or 0-60 in under 5.5?

[Servant of the Nine]

Anyone who buys a high performance front wheel drive car has a deathwish. They make the notoriously squirrely handling of the rear engined Porche look civilized.

That's dated info. Try actually driving Neon.

I have. If a front wheel drive car is handling well, then you aren't driving it 10/10ths. see post 141

SO9

[Servant of the Nine]

oops, post 140

So9

[ContemptofCourt]

Very sweet...my first car was a '66 Mustang that I completely rebuilt back in the late-80s.

Wonder what the insurance rates will be on this thing, once a bunch of teeny-boppers start wrapping that 400 hp machine around trees.....

[Snerfling]

What a clueless, out-of-touch article. I live in a SoCal beach city that is the center of the universe in terms of hot rods and muscle cars. Practically every car that is run in any of the car mags can be seen driven around on a daily basis.

Because this area is home to so many car lovers, if one would like to discern current automotive trends, all they would have to do is drive around for a day or so. While it is true that there is a massive horsepower trend going on, it sure as hell isn't in sports/muscle cars.

No, dear readers, the true muscle/power trend is in trucks. Just 2 years ago, a full size Dodge Ram V-10 would stand out; now, people are buying F-350 dualies with who-knows-what under the hood, putting in massive air shocks and oversized off-road tires, and jacking them up 4-6+ ft so they look like something from the monster car circuit.

The kicker is that these aren't low-end jobs being put together by kids - these are $50-60k rides being purchased/built-out by adults for street traffic. And, last but least, proudly displaying Bush 2004 stickers.

[Snerfling]

And, last but NOT least, proudly displaying Bush 2004 stickers

[j_tull]

'70 had an dumbed down Cadillac engine

Do not concur my friend. The LS-6 was a Chevy MK IV big block, solid lifters, rectangular port heads, and a big old Holley. This engine was shared with the Chevelle and few of either were made. The more common LS-5 had the oval port (truck motor) heads, hydraulic lifters and a Quadrajunk.

[Freeper]

The Corvette may be a lot of things, but it was NEVER a muscle car.

You are correct!

The Corvette C5 is nothing less than A WORLD CLASS MACHINE!

[steve-b]

Visiting the annual International Auto Show is like visiting a kissing booth with the Swedish Bikini Team

You know the rules around here....

[wardaddy]

You know....an original 240Z in the early 70s sold for around 3K brand new?

[tubebender]

FRee Republic doesn't have enough capacity to handle all the cars my ego would want me to post...:-)

[LisaAnne]

Yes, I know. But I was too broke to buy one then, so I dated a guy who owned one. ;o)

[wardaddy]

Well...good for him..;>)

[Bonaparte]

"Are you selling the Roadmaster?"

Afraid not, sorry. I just pulled the image off the net. I was looking (unsuccessfully) for one with the "full chrome package" and all the little extras you could buy back then, such as the exterior "sun visor" in your choice of green, amber, red or blue. Many of these old monsters were still available with the plush wool mohair upholstery and had the "gothic" portholes at the fenders to complement that armed-to-the-teeth chrome grin at the grille.

[Dead Dog]

It needs a stick.

[BenR2]

Super pic! Some buyer must be VERY happy!

[oldtimer]

Am a car nut including a new 2003 Vette. Have German vehicles and am done with new ones.

Just brought home a new Infiniti Q45 for the weekend, and ... there is nothing else I can say right now.

[Lx]

It is cool looking Continetntal, but then, I've always been partial to Continentals.