Do you guys realize just how spoiled we are?

[big dave]

If it weren't for the 662 hp Shelby and the 707 hp Hellcat, the ZL1 would be on the top of the ponycar heap. Recently I have found myself getting bored with my stock 11 second car...what gives? Surely some of you guys are just too young to remember when 300 hp was a BIG number. Hell, the Supra was the car to beat running low 13s...now it's an antique! Wow, it just seemed like yesterday! Without revealing my age, I remember when owing a 13 second car meant there weren't too many street cars faster than you.
Who would care to share some stories of the "good old days"?

[Trans damm]

I'm 32. I remember my 02 WS6 being a "monster" with 325hp lol. I wish all these cars came out 10 years earlier.

[FASTDIESEL]

Memphis Motorsports Park. NMCA King of the Street races, 1989, Thurs nights.

Runnered-up 7 weeks and one once, in my wife's 12.20 ET. '79 Camaro Z-28, DD!!! Low 12's was FAST!!!!

[big dave]

4

Originally Posted by Trans damm

I'm 32. I remember my 02 WS6 being a "monster" with 325hp lol. I wish all these cars came out 10 years earlier.

Yeah you're right, the ls was a monster...at that time though, I owned a 275 hp lt1.

Originally Posted by FASTDIESEL

Memphis Motorsports Park. NMCA King of the Street races, 1989, Thurs nights.

Runnered-up 7 weeks and one once, in my wife's 12.20 ET. '79 Camaro Z-28, DD!!! Low 12's was FAST!!!!

Low 12s In the late 80s? Yeah, you were the king of the street.

[CanadianZL1#992]

When I was 16, my 19 year old cousin bought a brand new buick GN. That was the car to have and the car to beat in the late 80's. 'We spent a lot of Friday nights hunting mustangs. Lol

[big dave]

Originally Posted by CanadianZL1#992

When I was 16, my 19 year old cousin bought a brand new buick GN. That was the car to have and the car to beat in the late 80's. 'We spent a lot of Friday nights hunting mustangs. Lol

No kidding! I remember going to the new car show back in '86 and the salesman was telling me how the GN would be quicker than the Vette. I told him to his face he was full of s@$t...I was wrong. lol.

[Murder 1]

I had a 4th gen SLP Camaro. It was 436 hp at the wheels with a 135 dry shot and although far from the fastest in my BIG car club, there would be people coming for other car crews to my area to race me. Of course i would challenge C5Registry (Corvette), F.A.S.T. Blue Oval Corral or whoever. I was high 11s on the hit, but didn't spray much. I had a 15 lb. bottle. Our heavy hitters were in the 600 + h.p. range, but they were down a lot. Back then if you could run 11s without being down that was great ! 2NASSTY was one of our more prolific cars with his Impala SS.

My Camaro's next owner made it faster but it was down now and then. I think he got high 10s with a bigger cam, drag suspension, ET streets and 250 wet shot.

I turned key every day and enjoyed it as a more medium level threat. It was really more of an autocross car because those had 1LE suspensions on crack. It was fun to really work for performance and try to find power. Our turbo 3.8 guys worked on their stuff too. The r&d SLP car was another Camaro called Devil505. We'd test mods in his and then put them on Ghost 1. The one from Orlando, Speed Racer; he ran h.p. levels like we have now because he went with a s/c. It was insane power for then. Probably 60% of the people reading this post are over 650 at the wheels.

Last night I won a trophy at a car show with over 60 entries and basically the only cars I even acknowledged in my head were mine and a Stage III Roush Mustang that was sick ! Nothing else...

There was a modded 87 Grand National there that the owner said he got pulled HARD by a convertible ZL1 in Bradenton... sounds like 97Chameleon T/A got him Marty has gotten a lot of people over the years.

Now 700,800,900 hp is out there, but still not prevalent. We are fortunate to be able to afford these wonderful cars that are the epitome of performance for their time. These are DREAM cars that we have. Many people can't even afford an SS

Grand Nationals came out when I was in high school, so by the time I got real money Lumina Z34 was my first adult car in 1991.

[benji276289]

I owned a 1985 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with a whopping 210 hp.

[Iroc Drew]

My buddy had a 1970 Buick GSX with the Stage 1 455. Factory rated at 360 HP. Prowling the narrow streets of Chicago we were kings of the street. He ran a blistering 13.70 at Great Lakes Dragaway. Car was stock. The 510 ft lb of torque is what threw you back in your seat. Any car that can dip in the 13's back than was respectable. Gotta love technology and new muscle.

[mat300z]

When I was in high school bought a 86 Chrysler Laser XE turbo...that car was pretty quick with 160hp and the turbo whistle was awesome

When I graduated I had bought me a 90 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo with 320hp stock. For the time that car was pretty quick also. I did the wastegate mod on it put one of my girlfriends friends in the passenger seat and we launched it. The street was at a dead end and was 2 lanes in both directions and a center turning lane...spun the car across all 4 lanes and hit the curb sideways shattering the rim and bending the super hicas steering control arm.. tie rods whatever you want to call it. 600 dollar mistake and lots of embarrassment with my whole group of friends watching not to mention I scared the sh!@t out of my passenger.

[2013ZL1FUN]

My 67 RS/SS Conv 1967 Camaro with 300 HP engine would go 14.2 in the quarter !

[NinoSS]

Op is 100% correct. My current car is plenty fast enough with 442whp and gears. With DR's I would be high 11's, but the cars being produced today straight off the showroom floor are getting ridiculous... In a good way...

[Emvici]

as I read some of these posts, I begin to realize that unless there were Cars built with 200hp we would never have an appreciation for what 400 hp meant, and so on. I wasn't one to have been able to afford to build up some of my past cars but I really had some nice ones that were all stock. First car my parents bought for me was a 71 cuda 340, then I owned a 69 cougar xr7 (unforuantely had the winsor) but I loved the car. I run off memories of rolling down a back road and man those memories are almost as good as still being there. So remember if cars started out with 600 hp we would not have any real appreciation for what that means.

[lbls1]

My first car had a 350 4-barrel with a whopping 170 hp (decent for a '77 car). I remember when the '92 corvette lt1 made big news by breaking the 300 hp barrier (which seemed unheard of in the early nineties. Back then, 200 hp was considered good power. I also remembered how much I wondered what it would be like to own one of those sixties muscle cars; I thought one of those cars could rule the road.

Fast forward from the mid to late nineties, with Camaro Z28, Impala SS, Corvette Grand Sport, SLP's Camaros from '96 thru their marvelous end in '02, and of course Mustang GT and Cobra; You could see that there was a lot to envy out there (even for '90s material).

Now fast forward to 2010 and beyond; Who would ever think that 400 net hp is just entry level for the american muscle type cars? Who would also think that it was legal (not even considering possible) for a customer to buy a 500+ hp car right off the showroom floor? We have certainly come a long way.