Old Muscle Cars vs. New Muscle Cars

[street-ride]

Thought I'd restart this thread..... if you could only own one (it's not your daily driver) ...
Old or new muscle?
Would you trade your Camaro for the old school?

[pickwithaustin]

Originally Posted by SlingShot

Back in the old days, the only big difference I see is the attitude of the owners. Today you have "Fanboys" back then it was more just "Car Guys" , it didn't matter what type of car you drove as long as it looked cool and was fast.

EXACTLY
This is why I often respond to today's type postings with, "You'd understand if you were a car guy," or, "Car guys get it..."

[CCMADONNA]

would i trade this for that? yes, in a heartbeat!

[L36L72LS3]

My 69 is pure unadulterated power. 600 Hp, T400 and 4:88 gears. The 2SSRS is powerful but sophisticated .







The 2076 original mile 69 can be bought for $240,000. I've owned it since 1984 and next year it gets sold. My retirement since the government doesn't give a shit about seniors.....

[Frisbey]

You young guys,
I'll agree, my 2013 RS/SS is a supperior car in every way,
But my '67 SS, it's hard to compete with a legend.

American Grafitti
We had a drive-in just like it
Ahhhhh, memories

[JCunningham]

Originally Posted by Fritostud

I am surprised noone has said anything about a combination of the two!! Personally, a 69 Z-28 with an LS-9, and all modern running gear is the way to go!!

You'll never be able to beat the soul that some of the old school cars had, but they can't touch today's technology! So why not combine the two??

thats the whole thing classic muscle cars have soul but new blow them away in every category.
a wet sump ls7 in a 73 or older camaro with new suspension and brakes would be awesome. I want a 70 Chevelle with a LSX454, modern suspension, and brakes is what i want

[macwest]

Love the old cars. I grew up building and modding pre 73 . Never been too much into owing concor's cars they are great for a museum but as a gear head I really like to mod what I own. Currently building my 71 cuda just finished the brakes now saving up to have the body repainted. I really like my camaro but the smell and sound of the old cars I just can not beat with anything new.

[street-ride]

Two yellow camaros ..same garage awesome!. I grew up in the 70s/80s and appreciate the classic muscle cars. I could only have one weekend warrior ...so I went with 2014 2ss 1le for safety, reliability and the warranty. I went with having all the modern high performance that was cheaper than the old school cars I really wanted. But, it was not an easy descison! Believe me I get it. If I could have two I'd easily have a late 60s or early 70s camaro, 72 nova or 1970 chevelle. I still cruise the Internet looking at for sale adds. Listening to videos and at carshows you can not beat the sound. I will say for me there are few aspects of my car that evoke the 80s, in my mind at least. I am also really enjoying the 1 le.
In the end, the brain is happy with my descison ........ the balls are still looking for a 1970 Chevelle with a manual transmission and some extra horse power added.

[gajagfan]

I much prefer our '13 1LE over our '69 with the 468. As L36L72LS3 put it, the old car is all about power in a straight line, vs the supreme handling, braking, comfort and reliability of the 1LE. I am in no hurry to sell the old car, and still like to fire it up on occasion, but could see selling it when the time comes to make the new car a 100% track car.
I must also confess that I think I fit the definition of a GM fanboy. Though I respect some of the competitors products, I could never see myself buying one, and really never see them as being as good for one reason or another. This "fanboy" thing is not new either. It was just as prominent back in the 70's and 80's as it is now.

[pickwithaustin]

I think today's younger car enthusiast feels that it's all only about how much power that can be cranked out of the car, whereas car guys appreciate much more than just how much horsepower, etc., a car can have programmed in or bolted on. There's far more to the whole car thing than just speed. For me, for instance, I don't feel a need to be "faster than the car next to me" kind of thing. I could care less if another car has more power, that really is not what it is all about. There is an element of that in there, but it is not the heart and soul of the whole car guy muscle car thing.

[Criticalmass]

Whatever the case, the original Muscle and Pony cars deserve respect. Without them, we'd all likely be driving imports. The old Muscle and Pony Cars back in the day were built for the open road. And the U.S. has a great many open, straight, roads, where you can see a whole lot of nothing for days on end (well, back then anyway, now those same roads are clogged with SUVs going slow in the fast lane).

And if I could have old or new, but not both. I'd stick with new. After 2 back surgeries, I'm not up to constantly tinkering with a '69 Mach 1.

[WoodBoss]

I was there for the tail end of that Era. I'm 51 and had a 68 Mustang w/289, 1969 Camaro 350 4 Speed, 1972 El Camino 350 4 Speed & a 1972 SS Camaro 396 with a 4 Speed. I loved them all especially the 69 Camaro, that is why I like this 2010 SS I have now. These newer cars have more power, handle way better are way more reliable and are a lot more user friendly . We live in a great era right now for the Muscle Car, it took 40 years for automobile manufacturers to start turning out muscle cars again. The crap they built from 1973 to 2009 was pitiful. Back then it was changing carb options, today it's a download from a tuner. This is a great time for the Muscle Car and I am delighted to see them, Ford, Chevy Dodge, Plymouth all have great options and should be appreciated. Fart Cans not so much!!!! They will just always be fart cans no matter how much "Fart Can Juice" is applied. Here is a pic of my 69 Camaro (Z/28 Clone) from around 1980. This was just before it went in for paint...I will have to find some of those pictures, cameras back then did not produce images like today unfortunately.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by street-ride

Thought I'd restart this thread..... if you could only own one (it's not your daily driver) ...
Old or new muscle?

Answer . . . a combination of both, old-school character with just a little of the newer technology. Trust me, this approach worked just fine in DD service back when I was still involved with that commuting-to-work thing

Think "Pro-Touring". Seriously. The 1979 Malibu I once owned - an original 305/4-barrel/4-speed car and in many ways the direct descendant of the earlier Chevelles - ultimately ended up with an EFI'ed 355, a 5 speed MT and some suspension development.


Norm

[ChrisBlair]

I think this is one of the oldest threads on this forum.

back in the 'classic' muscle car days, obviously times were different. Perception of safety was different. The way we ordered cars was different. How this type of car was regarded was different.

No safety mandates that said the bumpers had to do this or the airbags had to be here and there.

Want a new car the way you wanted it? You might have six or seven engine choices per overall model, three different body styles (No post coupe, coupe, convertible), four+ different transmissions to choose from, four+ rear gear ratios. Want a radio? No? OK. heater? No? Fine. Check this box. The Big Three ruled and their rules were like a buffet.

Want more performance? Machine shops were in every city. Speed shops all around.

Sure the cars were usually junk (hey, I have owned the same GM car built in October of 1969 for the last 26 years, so I feel I have a valid opinion) ...but that was as good as it got, really. They were made to last 5 or 6 years or so. Certainly the majority of people didn't plan on keeping these cars for 20 years plus.

Want to borrow a car? Ask a buddy, you can have it for a weekend or so. And used cars? A few hundred bucks.

Fast forward to the '80s, suddenly guys want their youth back and these cars get popular again. In 1983 you could fake a 1st gen z/28 for sale and probably get away with it; the knowledge was not widespread because the cars were not held on the pedestal we put them on now. Some of the rarer cars like GS Stage 1 cars had no unique VIN and it wasn't until the mid to late '80s that the data was really compiled to know what trans and distributor and carb codes would be correct for an original GS455 with an original factory Stage 1 package.

Then twenty years of, well, kinda crap performance for mainstream cars. No offense to 4 Gen guys but man my '70 Buick ate most every '90s Camaro it came up against. The really hot ones were so rare I never came across an example. 5.0s? I had more torque than a used car lot of 5.0s. Monte SS? Man, that stood for Super Slow. I took a stock GN owner for a ride in my Buick in the late '90s...his eyes were like dinner plates, and I was only running a 3.31:1 rear gear.

So the 21st century comes around and the time is ripe for this nonsense again. But today, a car buyer wants oodles of options. Standard options. heavy options. And crash safety. Weight. And smoothness and quiet. And efficiency.

Ford could never sell a car built just like an original GT350 today. if it were possible. People say they'd buy it. They wouldn't except for a very small percentage. very noisy. Crackles pops, snaps from the rear end. No place to put the kiddie seat. Useless interior, where's the a/c? Where's my power seat? heated seat? cooled seat? Where's the damn cupholders??? Can't plug in my phone. Can't use my iPod. No power windows. No power trunk. Engine's loud and peaky, how come I pull 4K rpms in third so fast? 6K redline? No rev limiter? Sounds like a bad lifter all the damned time. Gotta adjust my valves by hand? Transmission is graunchy, clutch is heavy, brakes suck. A Ford Transit handles better! LOLWTFBBQ, this FGT350 sux is what the tweets would say.

Different cars for different times. Can't compare really. It's like comparing Jim Brown to a current NFL star.