Hear that? Muscle cars are here again, revived and rejuiced

[Mr.DJ]

By Gene Grant

But check out the 2006 retro Dodge Challenger, with a gaudy 425 horsepower hemi V-8 and a standing-still attitude that looks as if it wants to eat something.

Ladies, you and I have to have a chat about your men.

Take a peek over the paper at the poor schlub. He is in serious trouble.
If he was anywhere from his mid-teens to late 20s around the year 1970, he's toast. There's a rumble in the distance and, much like the animals in the South Pacific that bolted inland hours before the tsunami, only certain species can hear it.

It's horsepower. The muscle car is back, and the bad news for you is that he's going to want one.

Let me explain. In the late '60s and early '70s - in the days before the first, second, third and fourth oil crises - auto manufacturers thrived on a simple credo: "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." When race-car drivers, especially drag racers, won a big race, it translated into young men storming the dealership doors the next day.

I had a 1969 Buick Skylark, never considered one of the killer cars of the era, but it was a rocket. This car had an insane horsepower-to-weight ratio that makes me wonder why I'm still on the planet. I smoked many a Mustang, Camaro or whatever you wanted to run, buddy. Summer was here, and the time was right for racing in the street.

Life was sweet. Fifty-three cents a gallon will do that. Then, Jimmy Carter was elected president.

Flash forward to last week's annual Detroit auto show. It seems as if a decision was made in the Motor City's collective design cubicle. If this most prideful of domestic industries is driving off a cliff, it's going out with the hammer down, one hand on the Hurst shifter and the other on the three-spoked steering wheel of a killer replica from its most glorious of glory days.

Read more here
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Source: The Albuquerque Tribune
By Gene Grant
Tribune Columnist
January 19, 2006

[Blah2008]

Good article.

Except for one thing: I am tired of people saying that gas is too expensive for the return of muscle cars. In this article, the author says "Life was sweet. Fifty-three cents a gallon will do that." when he talks about the late sixties and early seventies.

Well, I took some time to do a search on the overall inflation rate between 1972 (right before the oil crisis) and 2005. The result? Overall inflation of 364% !!

Yeah, you read it right.

Think about it: Cars were about $4000 back then. Houses were available for $20,000

So, what about gas prices? 364% over that 53 cents per gallon means that gas today should cost $1.93 per gallon in order to match the 1972 prices. Duh. That's pretty damn close to today's prices isn't it?

Gas prices only appear high today because they were so low in the late 90s and early 2000s. The reality is that gas prices today are pretty much in line with the rest of commodities like milk, bread, furniture, etc...

In other words, DCX, forget the doomsayers, get the gas prices out of the equation, and build the damn car.

Oh, and give it plenty of horsepower too!

Source for the data is here: http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/I...Calculator.asp

[bad2cudagirl]

I'm mad that they only talk about men wanting this car. I'm not some old dike that rides harleys and drives a semi for my job. I'm a woman in my early thirties, very girly and I love this car!!!!!! Pretty girls drag race too.

[firstmethod]

Originally Posted by bad2cudagirl

I'm mad that they only talk about men wanting this car. I'm not some old dike that rides harleys and drives a semi for my job. I'm a woman in my early thirties, very girly and I love this car!!!!!! Pretty girls drag race too.

Psst... happiness is a broken rear axle, spread the word to your friends. Maybe it would help coming from a woman because they always roll their eyes at me when I tell them (like this ).

[allhemi]

Originally Posted by bad2cudagirl

I'm mad that they only talk about men wanting this car. I'm not some old dike that rides harleys and drives a semi for my job. I'm a woman in my early thirties, very girly and I love this car!!!!!! Pretty girls drag race too.

You have got to be the best girl I have ever herd of!!

[bad2cudagirl]

Originally Posted by allhemi

You have got to be the best girl I have ever herd of!!

Thanks, spread that around would ya??

[allhemi]

Originally Posted by bad2cudagirl

Thanks, spread that around would ya??

Would be glad to!!

[Vanishing Point]

Originally Posted by bad2cudagirl

I'm mad that they only talk about men wanting this car. I'm not some old dike that rides harleys and drives a semi for my job. I'm a woman in my early thirties, very girly and I love this car!!!!!! Pretty girls drag race too.

Guns too!!...My kind of gal!!

[allhemi]

What a gal!!

[Vanishing Point]

Originally Posted by allhemi

What a gal!!

....That's what I'm talkin' bout!!