Have high powered factory cars ruined hotrodding???

[lilbowtie]

The car shows around her all look like a Dodge dealers sales lot. I built my car, so sick of *ssh*les with 100,000 cars looking down their noses at me and my old Chevy.

We have the Hines Drive Cruise here that you would like -- No cars newer than 1990 allowed !!

 

[81cutlass]

1924
Horse Guy-"I can't keep up with those new Model T's, they are ruining riding horses!"

1950
Model T guy- "I can't keep up with those new Hudson Hornets, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1957
Hudson Hornet Guy-"I can't keep up with those new chevy Bel Air, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1964
Bel Air Guy-"I can't keep up with those new 442, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1971
442 Guy-"I can't keep up with those new street Hemi's, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1986
Street Hemi Guy-"I can't keep up with those new Grand Nationals, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1998
GN Guy-"I can't keep up with those new z28 Camaros, they are ruining hotrodding!"

2004
z28 Camaro Guy-"I can't keep up with those new Cobras, they are ruining hotrodding!"

2012
Cobra guy-"I can't keep up with those new Hellcats, they are ruining hotrodding!"

Its an endless cycle and it will be fine. The only thing we have to worry about is what replaces the car.

 

[Mikej89]

When it comes to "cool", nothing impresses like a classic.

Absolutely... My 1978 Caddy gets way more attention than most the new stuff.

 

[Mikej89]

Nearly 100% stock V-6 Honda accords and Toyota Camry's have been running 13 second 1/4 miles for almost 10 years now. Unless you live in Denver, It has been 20 years since 14 second quarters were "fast".

What does a new bone stock Accord run? Going back to 2003, those SVT Cobras were the meanest stock cars out there other than high ends and they ran high 12's. So putting that into perspective, a 14 sec car was pretty good.

The faster new car are, the cheaper older fast cars are. It is great to be able to buy a car for cheaper than it would cost to build it. My daily driver was over $80,000 new and super rare. I paid $4,500 for it.

I'm really curious to know what kind of car it is!

 

[UNGN]

1998
GN Guy-"I can't keep up with those new z28 Camaros, they are ruining hotrodding!"

Only a really pathetic GN guy would have said that is 1998.

Heads/Cam AND Nitrous Z28's could beat my T-type in 2001, but it was 100% stock appearing with even a stock appearing air cleaner.

It wasn't until LS1 guys started turboing them that they got too fast for GN's.

 

[81cutlass]

Only a really pathetic GN guy would have said that is 1998.

Heads/Cam AND Nitrous Z28's could beat my T-type in 2001, but it was 100% stock appearing with even a stock appearing air cleaner.

It wasn't until LS1 guys started turboing them that they got too fast for GN's.

Yeah that one was a bit of a stretch! 🙂 I had to pick something for the case of argument haha

 

[oldmansmonte]

I just had this debate with a friend of mine. He was the guy who always had to have the fastest car. In recent years he built an incredible 95 Trans Am. Made it look like a '97 or something? Repainted it, brand new LT4 Motor(last NOS one left in the country at a dealer in Ohio). Car is gorgeous and fast. Naturally aspirated and it Dyno'd at like 410hp at the crank. Ran about 8.8(1/8 mile) at a local track consistently. Few naturally aspirated V8's could ever touch it. As soon as the project was done he bought a 97 Viper. Why? Because faster. Kept the TA. Strange.

Now he's all down because so many regular factory cars run great numbers now. Some TV show showed a Camry or an Accord beating a 67 Vette in a road course time? I'm like 'so what'? I get it, wife's '15 Equinox 3.6 V6 AWD will beat my Monte Carlo in a race. In fact it will beat many cars in a race. That just how it is now with so much forced air induction, direct injection, and VVT on the road. Cars go and stop faster and more efficient than ever.

But that doesn't take into account at all driving and ownership experience. The feel of drive my Monte is nothing like driving the Equinox. No one is going to stop and have a 5 minute conversation with me at a gas station about my wifes Equinox. Just because some Toyota, Subaru or Demon is faster, doesn't erase from the world the awesomeness you feel driving a '75 Caprice drop top on a sunny day. At least you can't think that way. Cars are worth more than 0-60 times. It doesn't always have to be a dick comparing contest.

 

[Mikej89]

1924
Horse Guy-"I can't keep up with those new Model T's, they are ruining riding horses!"

1950
Model T guy- "I can't keep up with those new Hudson Hornets, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1957
Hudson Hornet Guy-"I can't keep up with those new chevy Bel Air, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1964
Bel Air Guy-"I can't keep up with those new 442, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1971
442 Guy-"I can't keep up with those new street Hemi's, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1986
Street Hemi Guy-"I can't keep up with those new Grand Nationals, they are ruining hotrodding!"

1998
GN Guy-"I can't keep up with those new z28 Camaros, they are ruining hotrodding!"

2004
z28 Camaro Guy-"I can't keep up with those new Cobras, they are ruining hotrodding!"

2012
Cobra guy-"I can't keep up with those new Hellcats, they are ruining hotrodding!"

Its an endless cycle and it will be fine. The only thing we have to worry about is what replaces the car.

The Street Hemi actually came out in 1966. I get your point but things didn't change that much over a lot of that span.

1966 Plymouth Belvedere Hemi: 13.5 1/4 mi (high 12's with modern tires)

1987 Buick GNX: About the same. Stock regular GN's weren't actually faster than the original 426 Hemi cars.

2004 SVT Cobra: High 12's

So as you can see over that nearly 40 year span things didn't change that much. I like the idea of building engines and such. When all you have to do is go buy a new Hellcat, add drag radials, and run low 10's where's the fun in that? That isn't hotrodding.

 

[UNGN]

What does a new bone stock Accord run? Going back to 2003, those SVT Cobras were the meanest stock cars out there other than high ends and they ran high 12's. So putting that into perspective, a 14 sec car was pretty good.

Back around 2007, the 266HP Camry's could run high 13's with the typical "Free mods" and good air that got '80's cars into the low 14's. 100% Stock off the showroom floor they ran 14.3. My 89 5.0 ran 14.8's stock and 14.1's with "free mods", so the camry is starting almost 1/2 second quicker.

By 2000 everybody with a Buick Turbo was running 11's unless it was still a stock injector/stock turbo car (and those ran mid to low 12's), so high 12 second cars were meh and were easily destroyed at the track. The '03 Cobra had potential to be a super easy low 11 second car, so that is why it got the car people enthused, not that is ran high 12's stock.

My T-type was stock appearing. You can't imagine how demoralizing it was at the local 1/8 mile track when I'd beat a Viper or some other $50K car, then I pop the hood and it all looked stock. It was especially demoralizing to guys that had traded in their GN for a '93 Camaro (because it had 275 HP), then something faster, then something faster, then something faster and still get beat by a stock appearing T-type.

I'm really curious to know what kind of car it is!

I bought a Jaguar XK8 coupe last year to do an LS1/T56 swap, but it runs and drives so good with the stock motor I keep putting the conversion off. Maybe next fall. These are excellent driving/handing cars that need a "car guy" owner, because paying someone to fix stuff would bankrupt a rich guy, They are easy to work on and designed to be repaired and many parts are in the junkyard on other Jag models for cheap (I had to replace the alternator: $35 off of an XJ8)

 

[oldmansmonte]

The Street Hemi actually came out in 1966. I get your point but things didn't change that much over a lot of that span.

1966 Plymouth Belvedere Hemi: 13.5 1/4 mi (high 12's with modern tires)

1987 Buick GNX: About the same. Stock regular GN's weren't actually faster than the original 426 Hemi cars.

2004 SVT Cobra: High 12's

So as you can see over that nearly 40 year span things didn't change that much. I like the idea of building engines and such. When all you have to do is go buy a new Hellcat, add drag radials, and run low 10's where's the fun in that? That isn't hotrodding.

Correct it's not. At that point it's exchanging big $$$ to the local car dealer for track times. These things are all coming with computerized launch control now. They've completely taken all skill out of it. It's not a hobby its an expense.

Hellcat/Demon(and all others like it) are owners that are afraid of 2 things. 1) Turning a wrench 2) Having someone else have a faster than them when going in a straight line.