Resto to Retro
Ahhh….the sound of 454 cubic inches of raw untamed muscle coursing through my body, beckoning me to summon all of its inner demons with each crack of the throttle. Almost forgetting the laws of the land, I release the clutch, smash down on the “loud” pedal, and let rip every pony that existed in that motor all at once, singing to the tune of five thousand rpm, snapping both rear tires loose in a ballet of sideways movements that even the best ice skater would envy.
To look back on the time that you could actually do that and be admired by your friends and neighbors would take you to the days that you could buy one of the beast muscle cars for under four grand. People nowadays have spent years, countless hours a day and a ton of rolled up quarters and dimes to make that once famous entry into “cool” another reality. Although theres a simple solution that has come about within the last 10 years of automotive development.
Its the NEW age muscle cars!! Cant put together that 1968 Camaro sitting in your garage for the past 22 years? Buy a brand new one! With front and side airbags even. Want that rush of power that you missed since high school but cant seem to get it from your wifes minivan? Buy the new Dodge Charger!! Comes complete with a HEMI for all you wheel spinners out there.
What I’m getting at is that car companies are building our once beloved and most prized possessions for the lucky few that can afford them. Will this have an impact on your project car? Will this directly hit you in the wallet for resale value? Who knows. All I can say is that I really enjoy driving them. For the sake that I wasn’t around in the 60′s to really see what these cars were like off the showroom floors, I am given the chance to see several things with car companies building new hotrods and muscle cars.
I see that America, no matter how broke we are as a country, still has a grasp on what is cool to us, and that we are being thought about as owners and collectors of things that take us back to a better time and place. Nevermind the fact that filling once of these fuel hogs up is still costly, we forget all about that when we sit behind the wheel of that one car we never could have growing up.
So here’s the question…if history repeats itself, are we going to lose yet another era of cars that sacrificed practicality for fun? Or are we going to see this trend continue for further generations to enjoy? Think about this…cars wont fly like in the movies. I say keep building the oldies, bring back American heritage, and lastly….don’t forget about the big kids out there that still love to do that tire spinning ballet from time to time.
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Filed Under: Comparison • Muscle cars
The Camaro and Charger are hot. I saw them at the NYAS. The fact that they are a throwback, style is to the 60's is a huge plus. I have always been a sucker for older muscle cars. Another one to throw up there with the Camaro and Charger is the Dodge Challenger-6.1 liter, 425 horsepower…sweet!
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That's a great article, but the best point is in the last two paragraphs. That's exactly what I feel, 'cause I don't want automakers to focus only on performance, or only on mileage, or only on safety. I want American manufacturers to focus on building a good ol' American car, because that's what's missing from the industry nowadays. Cars are American tradition, and muscle cars are the heart and soul of American legend. This is what has been absent from the business for around 35 years now, and with the new Mustang, Challenger, Camaro, and others, I can only hope that the Big Three have finally woken up and will return to the industry what they took out.