Bring Back the High Compression Hemi V-8

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Nomen Nescio, Nov 27, 2003.

  1. Nomen Nescio

    Nomen Nescio Guest

    The muscle cars have been pretty much gone for 30 years. If Chrysler will
    bring them back, they will have a total monopoly on the market.

    Dust off the old tooling and start cranking out those cars of yesteryear
    that could do zero to 60 in 7.5 seconds and 110 mph in the quarter mile.

    Don't modify anything. Leave the 10:1 compression just like it was.
    Install the Hurst shifter. Sell them with whitewalls. Don't mess with
    sucess.

    As for contemporary fuels, there is no problem at all. High test gas is
    available at any airport. You can buy all the 110 octane you want.

    As for emissions and crash safety, these cars won't pass. But that is no
    problem at all. Sell them overseas! There is a huge foreign market out
    there because thats where the money is. The money went because we buy
    everything foreign. Now is the chance to sell them something. They won't
    buy our regular cars because they make the same thing overseas. But they
    don't make muscle cars and that's where we have them over a barrel. Our
    Asian friends have been driving 4 cylinder Coronas for long enough and
    they're chomping at the bit for some bad-ass power. What I say is true
    because they are buying up our old, beat up muscle cars and paying up to
    half a million for them! To sell them new ones for a hundred grand will be
    like selling hot dogs and cold beer at a Dodger's game.

    Of course, we will drool when we hear that Asians are driving around in new
    Hemi V-8s with two four barrels and four speed Hursts and roaring dual
    exhausts. But that's life. We will have to be content with our V-6s that
    sound like a Hoover vacuum cleaner on 90 volts.
     
    Nomen Nescio, Nov 27, 2003
    #1
  2. Nomen Nescio

    Mike Hall Guest

    Anybody that considers DC to be making bad decisions of late should consider
    how things would be with this idiot at the helm.. Nomen, pls note that BMW,
    Mercedes and Porsche have been turning out high power cars for a while now..
    the AMG Merc's, M5/M3/M635 BM's, 911 Carrera Turbo Porsche's..
     
    Mike Hall, Nov 27, 2003
    #2
  3. A few years ago there was a comparison of several muscle cars with
    several modern performance cars. I forget which magazine did the test,
    but I'm thinking maybe Popular Mechanics. Anyway, there was no contest.
    The modern cars smoked the muscle cars in every way possible: straight
    line performance, braking, handling, fuel economy, etc. Wasn't even close.


    Matt
     
    Matthew S. Whiting, Nov 28, 2003
    #3
  4. Nomen Nescio

    Rick Blaine Guest

    Yeah, well 30+ years of technology ought to account for something.
     
    Rick Blaine, Nov 28, 2003
    #4
  5. The problem is however that Nomen is on to something, and this is what it
    is.

    Today's "muscle cars" are purely bred at the factory as muscle cars - and
    carry
    a pretty high price tag. 30 years ago the difference between the expensive
    factory muscle cars and the grocery getter cars was a few inexpensive
    bolt-on
    hi-pro performance parts. Today you cannot buy a grocery getter and hop-it
    up because the computer is setup to make it stay a grocery-getter.

    So today, the real muscle cars - corvettes, etc. - with the formula being a
    big
    fat V8 of 6-7 liters stuffed into a tiny 2 seater lightweight sedan
    chassis -
    are rich man's play toys, they are out of reach of the average person.

    So sure, Noman's advice has the right idea. If an automaker started
    producing and
    pricing muscle cars the same price as regular sedans, then they would be
    swamped
    with business. What Noman is of course, ignorant of, is that it is
    impossible due
    to CAFE and also because high-power cheap grocery getters would destroy the
    automakers high-end market and they would lose money.

    Ted
     
    Ted Mittelstaedt, Nov 28, 2003
    #5
  6. Nomen Nescio

    Lloyd Parker Guest

    True. An SRT-4, for example, is faster to 60 than that. Heck, I bet a Park
    Avenue Ultra would top 7.5.
     
    Lloyd Parker, Nov 28, 2003
    #6
  7. Nomen Nescio

    Lloyd Parker Guest

    Similarly, if a computer maker would put the equivalent of a Cray into a
    machine and sell it for the same price as a Dell Dimension....
     
    Lloyd Parker, Nov 28, 2003
    #7
  8. CAFE is the small part of the problem, EPA is the major part. No way to
    ensure emissions compliance with home-brew cars. It is a shame to be
    sure, but a fact of life. Would be nice if they would have a lottery
    each year and give out so many "hot rodder" exemptions, but I don't see
    this every happening as the eco-fanatics would be all over it.

    As for the muscle cars of today, I was thinking more along the lines of
    small, turbocharged, high reving engines. Don't sound nearly as good as
    the big iron of the 60s, but the power to weight is pretty good in some
    of the cars like the Subaru WRX (hope I got the right model here from
    memory).


    Matt
     
    Matthew S. Whiting, Nov 28, 2003
    #8
  9. Nomen Nescio

    Hemi4268 Guest

    Dust off the old tooling and start cranking out those cars of yesteryear
    Just about ALL the tooling was junked to make the K car. Remember those.
    Anyway, that is why you can just about make a complete 1st gen camero from
    ordered parts from GM but you have to pay $2800 for a set of NOS fenders for a
    71 Cuda.

    Larry
     
    Hemi4268, Nov 28, 2003
    #9
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