Posted on 12/19/2013 11:44:56 AM PST by ETL
The website is in some other language but the photos are nice.
Pope-Hartford (1904-1914)
http://stubs-auto.fr/p/pope-hartford-1904-1914/
Technology and performance, then vs. now.
A 2013 BMW 328i has a turbocharged 164 cubic engine inline 4 cylinder, with 240 Hp, and an estimated 0 to 60 time of about 5.2 to 5.8 sec.
Subaru WRX STI Special edition 4.7 sec. (again 4 cyl turbo, all-wheel drive).
There sure was a whole lot more drama back in the day with a roaring V8 powerplant, spinning & smoking tires getting going.
But you can go faster with less drama today. Probably not as much fun, though.
I had a ‘66 Coronet with a 318. It would start shaking at around 90 mph, but once you hit 105 it would smooth out.
The big V8's oozed torque and hp at low RPMs and were fun to drive at any speed. You didn't have to try. The rice burners and turbo 4's require you to wind the engine out like speed racer to deliver the goods. BIG DIFFERENCE.
My parents had a ‘65 Galaxie wagon and that was fast.
Probably with a 352 or 390 motor.
1971 'Cuda340 Convert: 
1970 'Cuda440-6 
1970 'Cuda440 
Modern cars are WAYYYYYY better, but they were nice to look at and actually cheap to buy in the 1980's.
The 27,000 Mile Black 440-6 was bought for $6500 in 1986, the Convert was $7500 and I paid $5000 for the Purple 440 4bbl.
When i bought a 5.0 Mustangs in the late 1980's/early 1990's, and then a Turbobuicks in the mid 1990's, Old school Muscle cars were slow, ill handling tanks in comparison. Modify then to perform better and it kills their value. That is when I began to part ways with old school muscle. I don't regret for one minute selling them for a large wad of cash.
Engineering wise, I’m sure they are. Except in my mind they’re way too complex with too much reliance on computers and high tech gadgetry. Plus the old classics had much more style and cool factor. Today’s cars all look alike, too much resembling European and Japanese imports. You can have ‘em. I want nothing to do with them. Same for the music, movies, and TV shows of recent decades. :)
“The big V8’s oozed torque and hp at low RPMs and were fun to drive at any speed. You didn’t have to try. The rice burners and turbo 4’s require you to wind the engine out like speed racer to deliver the goods. BIG DIFFERENCE.”
I was there, too. I know all about the sound and fury and burning rubber. The drama equaled fun, as you say.
But the 0 - 60 mpg times are simple evidence of technology today. BTW the turbo delivers max torque at very low rpms, and they jump off at the start.
352. I wish someone could make those cars again. Once dad had it to 135 mph.
My dad had a ‘66 Galaxy 500 XL 7 Litre. My mom was scared to drive it, lol. A little overpowered. Sounded great, though.
I now have Ford Mustang GT V8. It is like coming home, effortless power and grace.
Not all modern cars are high revving. My 1986 Buick T-type Redlined @ 5,300 RPM stock and makes peak HP @ 5,000 RPM
Back in the 1990’s it ran low 12’s in 1/4 mile almost completley stock: K&N Filter, Sticky tires, $15 Chip, Cheap/free mods. With a $450 Turbo and $200 Fuel injectors, it ran 11.50’s@118 mph, driving it 180 miles one way to the track, getting 23 mpg, with the A/C on.
It was at that point I realized Old school mucle was dead to me.
My dad and I had collected about 15 old school muscle cars: Cuda’s, AMX’s, Torino Cobra/Cyclone Spoiler, Motion Camaro, Chevelles, etc. As pieces of art and icons of a bygone age, they are great, but as cars (their primary purpose) they are “not so much”.
Muscle cars were originally build to “go fast cheaply”. They were to provide an alternative to Cobra’s, Ferrari’s, Porsches, corvettes, etc. that anyone could afford.
That is why the whole craze of paying $40-$60-$100K for an old muscle car is alien to me. I’ve driven almost every one of them. Some are OK to drive while others are downright awful. Convertible ‘Cuda’s are a “loose collection of parts flying in close formation” and some idiots pay over $2 Million for one. I hope he never tries to drive it fast on the same road I’m on.
Tuning a modern car with a computer is 100 times easier than getting a 440-6bbl carburetors to run in the summer and the winter, without dieing in traffic. Been there, done that, aint going back.
Cool to me is beating a $100K European sportscar in a timed sporting event with $10K car, not paying $100K for a piece of art that gets its butt handed to it by a $2000 Craigslist Camry at a stoplight, then slides through the next light because its brakes suck.
My dad and I restored Muscle cars for 30+ years as father/son projects. We’d buy a car for $2K - $7K and restore them to their former glory. Today, Craigslist is full of “better” cars than the “muscle car era” cars, for the same $2K - $7K prices, and in Texas, currently 1989 and Older cars don’t require emissions testing, so you can build a Modern all Aluminum V-8 and put it into a lightweight modern Chassis with real suspension, real brakes, real seats and once again build a car that will beat $100K cars for $10K.
My son and I won’t be restoring any Old school muscle cars (unless some one literally gives me one), but I do see building LS1 6 speed Miata in our future.
I just cant do front wheel drive.
The best muscle cars have been upgraded with disk breaks and sway bars etc. Old school muscle cars suck in the MPG department but there is nothing I cant fix myself. No mechanic bills is a real plus.
It had manual steering and brakes, no air, not even an FM radio option, but it did have nice leather bucket seats and the SE package... it was an idiosyncratic car option-wise. Being black on black - with a black vinyl roof - and having factory "road" wheels, it was a sharp, somewhat sinister presence not unlike the Charger in the movie "Bullitt."
After I got my permanent license, I drove it like a typical teenaged idiot, and because it had a non-SureGrip 3:23 rear end, it was not a great quarter-miler per se, but it would hold its own. It was an exceptional "top-ender" on the local long, straight stretch, and it now embarrasses me to think how dangerous such antics really were. What I then lacked the wit to understand was the extent to which it was a tremendously reliable* all-around powerful piece of transportation with a bit of attitude... sort of a "Swiss army knife" of muscle cars.
Last I heard of it, the poor thing had been totalled by its third owner somewhere out in western Iowa.
Mr. niteowl77
*Except for the typical @#$%! semi-functional Mopar clock in the dash.
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