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Old 04-19-2013, 09:25 PM   #188
Boris632
 
Drives: 1955 210
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Rockford
Posts: 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc View Post
There's also the fact that times have simply changed. In 1962 the world population was about 3 billion. Now it's 7 billion. Back in the 60's everybody street raced. The streets weren't congested with traffic like they are now. It was a standard activity on Friday and Saturday night to cruise the local burger joints, street race, hang out in the parking lots of the burger joints and talk about cars, girls and whatever. With over twice as many people in the world now it's no longer easy or safe to street race. Too many drivers on the road and way too many are clueless and slow.

Building a dedicated street racer in these current times is not an image any of the car companies want to have since that's like stirring up a hornets nest of self-righteous do-gooders, public safety hounds, etc. You can imagine the crapstorm backlash that would happen if a car company built and advertised a "killer" street racer and some idiot managed to accomplish just that; kill someone and/or himself with it street racing.

Much better to build impressive, high-powered track cars that emphasize overall performance including handling and braking. Much better (and safer liability-wise) than building and advertising a car to do something that's illegal in every state.

Times have changed. And while that may be sad for some who wanted just the street racer, overall it's fantastic for the performance enthusiast. Start with an SS or 1LE and build your street machine. Don't say it's the warranty that's stopping you; you voided the warranty the moment you took the car to the dragstrip. And you will DEFINITELY not have a warranty if you get busted for street racing.

The performance cars we're able to buy and drive right now to me are simply mind-blowing. The capabilities, reliability, quality, fit and finish is just astounding when you compare them to the cars of the 60's and early 70's.
problem with this - street racing is still alive and well. The fad from Fast and the Furious has died off but if you ever want to get into a race they are available

And no - no factory wants the image but yet their cars all get faster and faster every generation. Why did Ford opt for the 5.8 for the new GT500 when the 5.4 made quite a bit of power?

Also a few years back there were two idiots street racing locally (an 01 Mustang and a 02 Z28) one lost control hitting a minivan killing the mother driving it.

There are plenty of dumb humans out there and some are capable of buying these cars. Hell I just saw a 2002 Z06 for 19k with 50k miles on it. Wait to the new batch of High school seniors get ahold of that car. 400hp in a tail happy car like that. And a bank will easily finance that loan if you a job even at the local McDs.

I am actually seriously thinking of a 14 1LE (i really love the redesign) and going this route of making both a track car and a strip car that i can drive daily. The Z/28 was what i wanted (the LS7 not the badge) but imo took it a bit too far. I personally would have offered it as a SS 427 then offered the brakes, aero, etc as the Z/28 option. Give those who wanted the LS7 the engine they wanted and those who wanted the track beast could get that.

Maybe I can get an accounting job at GM.

And I agree - the cars available today are great
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