Quote:
Originally Posted by DkknightX
Muscle cars were built to be affordable. Power was at the center of muscle cars back in the 60's and 70's. Performance, handling, suspension, all was an afterthought at that time. Today, muscle cars are all about finesse, performance, and refinement. My gripe with today's cars is the sheer amount of computer controlled parts. I find it annoying that all these sensors and everything can trip at a moment's notice for doing virtually nothing and they are a pain in the ass to reset. Examples:
- I think the muscle cars of yesteryear were simple, easy to upgrade, even for casual drivers/owners. Didn't have to worry about calibrations, and all these transmission sensors in auto transmissions like you do in modern cars. This was probably the sole reason I will never own an automatic transmission anymore. One sensor trip and it's right to AAMCO for a $2000.00 job just to lift the transmission out to get to the bad sensor so it would STOP tripping the "Check Engine" light. Done with that crap.
- I hate the idea of trying to mod my vehicle and if you don't "tune" things exactly, the car's computer gets all flustered and puts out all this crap about error reports, etc. If I owned a '68 Camaro, I'd never have to worry about problems replacing tires or adding a supercharger. All these car companies want to reaffirm that they have elements of control on you by creating "sensitive" computers to error out so that you are either dissuaded from modding your car or you have to pay THEM to do it. Unless you are a gearhead, an average car guy like me would find all of this nonsense a waste of time and money.
Give me an old muscle car to mod, but unfortunately if you want refinement, power and finesse of modern muscle cars, you'll have to deal with a lot of crap. At least I've experienced this.
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I agree A LOT with just about all of this. My first car (at 15) was a 1967 Mustang and while it was 9 seconds, it was damn fast with it's 390 we rebuild and put in there.
I am a computer nerd (that's what I came to school for, and that's what my job is going to be) but I LOATHE that just about everything is controlled by computers. It was much more fun working on just a raw engine where spark, air, and fuel were all you had to worry about. Now you have to worry about all the sensors, programming, and crap. I'd love to spend hours upon hours of just tinkering with the engine, but you just can't now days.
I will give a +1 to the attitude. Whenever I would go to shows, drive-ins, get togethers, etc. it was all fun with everyone sitting around BS'ing about those times, having a laugh and whatnot. Now it seems like most 'enthusiasts' are divided by the models.
See the Camaro vs GTO thread for proof.
I like to go cruising a lot in Lubbock, and that 'art' seems to be lost as well. I can't make a loop without some random tween pulling beside me and lurching every few seconds for the next however many miles. I'm all for hot rodding, but seems hardly anyone knows how to cruise and appreciate it. More often than not when I do get someone cruising with me I'll pull in to chat and they'll start spouting nonsense "man what you got, i got a grand on me lets race, i'll wreck your sh!t, blah blah"... WTF!? I was more interested if you know where we can get non-ethanol 91 octane gas. I knew what you had when you pulled beside me I'm not interested in racing.