American Muscle Cars

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Just wondering what people thought of them? I have just come back from Florida and I can say that I haven't had a good opinion on these cars, but this is mainly due to watching top gear and hearing them getting slagged off constantly!

 

But I saw a load of Mustang's and Camaro's and id have to say I think (especially the Camaro) they look like really good cars. I mean take the Camaro, it's got a 6.2L V8 and it costs under $30000! Granted its only 400hp but still thats really good price! Standing next to these cars they are massive and just looked like no other car id seen before. Coming back over here all the cars look really small, maybe its just my taste but I quite like the big car with big engine! Your probably going to say handling is shit though because of the grid system in america but to be honest I get the most thrills out of my rado going in a straight line anyway lol!

 

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[Abdul 0]

I like em, would drive a camaro happily if it were rhd.

[DANG60 0]

I really like them. Not just camaros most of them. I think my favs are the old chevy and ford pickups. B it like the one off forest gump :D

[Jim 1]

I love them. Would love to own one - the current crop are awesome.

 

Not so keen on the Camaro but the Challenger and the Mustang are just stunning. I watched a video on the net the other day where they tracked a 2011 5.0 Mustang and an E90 M3... and the Mustang actually BEAT the M3 on a track and on things like circular / g-force track (to show levels of grip / max cornering speed). I was absolutely staggered. I thought the M3 was virtually untouchable on a track but the Mustang gave it a pasting AND it costs half what the M3 does.

[Danny B 0]

I had a pretty low opinion like you, but in a similar way, after spending 6 months in Australia I loved the big engined beasts they have out there......I was pinning after an SS ute on my return :lol:

 

I think its about having the right car for the right country......doing huge miles on highways in a 2.0 Golf doesnt make sense when for similar money you can get a 4.0 V8 - this only becomes ridiculously obvious once you go to these countries though.

[corozin 0]

I'm less sure about modern muscle cars but I love the old ones. Snapped this two weeks ago in Poole. Seriously want !

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I watched a video on the net the other day where they tracked a 2011 5.0 Mustang and an E90 M3... and the Mustang actually BEAT the M3 on a track and on things like circular / g-force track (to show levels of grip / max cornering speed).

 

Wow, thats really interesting, considering hamster on Top Gear said the rear wheels were held together by a big girder! They must be getting better at handling. I suppose its all fit for purpose, over here we have mostly windy roads so good cornering is essential (well maybe), but in America its all straight so no need. Yeah the mustangs look awesome too! Only saw like 2 Golfs over there, no Corrado's :(

[mic_VR 3]

Love American muscle cars, quite a few of them I'd give up the corrado for. Really want a V8 as my next car.

[robrado974 1]

love em ,i always wanted a dodge charger 69, big block hemi engine the rt one , the rumble of a v8 is awsome .

[Jim 1]

Top Gear said the rear wheels were held together by a big girder! They must be getting better at handling. I suppose its all fit for purpose, over here we have mostly windy roads so good cornering is essential (well maybe), but in America its all straight so no need. Yeah the mustangs look awesome too! Only saw like 2 Golfs over there, no Corrado's :(

 

I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself:

 

 

I think the Americans are starting to realise what they have to do to compete these days - all out HP isn't going to cut it.

[SIMONG 0]

i really really want the new shape mustang i think they look the nuts. when i went to america a couple of years back i had one for two weeks and drove it everywhere! it was just the base model V6, think it was a 4-litre, but was fully loaded with all the mod cons you could need! then your lookin at the higer spec supercharged V8 models. when they get a bit cheaper im "allowed" to get one.

 

the year after that i had a charger. it was nice but not as good as the stang. one thing for sure it was a fookin massive whale of a car. again it was a V6 but not sure on size. my mum went to the states the other xmas and managed to smash all the side of her charger in a car park. she had the option of hitting someone in a car and going through the hole rigma role of insure or getting sued by some american. so she went for the wall.

 

the covertte is super nice lookin also and i saw a new shape challenger on the M6 the other week and it looked like a right beast!

[Wullie 1]

When I stayed in Canada I was fortunate enough to own a 1965 Corvette Stingray convertible with the 6.5 litre big block engine. It was phenomenal in a straight line but going round corners and stopping were another thing entirely. I bought it at a farm closing down sale for the princely sum of $200 canadian but it was a bit of a mess, having been lying in a barn for a lot of years.

 

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It took a couple of days to change the fluids etc and it fired up after about five or six attempts. Another three months saw it "roadworthy" and I used it on and off in between time off the road for restoration work.

 

After about a years work it was almost back to scratch, ( I had a lot of help as the farmer I worked for was into cars in a big way, though he preferred even older stuff.) but due to family commitments I had to return to Scotland and left it with him to finish intending to return to Canada later. I never did return though and Al sold it for me for $8,000 when he had finished putting a new soft top on it.

 

My favourite "Trick" in it was to place a silver dollar on the dash and bet the passenger he couln't pick it up. As the reached forward I just dropped the clutch and took off, they got pushed back into the seat and the dollar would end up in their lap.

 

Been looking in the loft for some later pics but after several house moves I can't seem to locate them. Will keep looking though.

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6.5L is crazy for a car made in 1965! It's weird pretty much all the cars over there have at least a V6. We had a Dodge people carrier and it had a V6 3.2L that did 17mpg average! Although petrol prices over there are super cheap, so it was probably the equivalent of running a 35mpg car over here. I thought it was funny because I saw a massive billboard advertising the new ford fiesta and it's main selling point on the ad was the 40 miles to the gallon that it did, as if no car over there does that haha!

[Jam.e.s 0]

The best new muscle car is the new mustang 5.0. It has 412 horsepower and starts at 35,000 CAD.

[Jam.e.s 0]

I saw a massive billboard advertising the new ford fiesta and it's main selling point on the ad was the 40 miles to the gallon that it did, as if no car over there does that haha!

Few cars over here do get that high of mileage. This is mostly because displacement doesn`t go below 1.8 very often and diesel is rare in small cars.

[luke w 0]

I love old American Muscle cars. My old man has had a few back in the day, his best being a 66 Mustang Coupe, 302ci engine, 4 speed manual, 10" Mag slots on the rear, proper 80s style 8)

 

Not a big fan of the newer stuff to be fair, and I always take Americans' reviews of their own stuff with a pinch of salt. EVO magazine did say that the 2011 Mustang is a big improvement on the old one, but faster, better handling, etc, than a new M3, don't believe a word of it.

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EDIT: Posted in wrong topic somehow??

[Kevin Bacon 5]

My favourite "Trick" in it was to place a silver dollar on the dash and bet the passenger he couln't pick it up. As the reached forward I just dropped the clutch and took off, they got pushed back into the seat and the dollar would end up in their lap.

 

Sounds like the same thing Shelby dealers with the 8 litre Cobras. Legend has it they taped a 50 buck note to the screen and during hard acceleration, if the passenger could lean forward and take it, it was their's :D

 

Incidentally, the original, proper Shelby Cobra is my favourtist US muscle car, followed by the Z06, then the original mustang rag top :D

 

The Turncoat british press did and do criticise American cars but you can't compare an Apple to an Orange. American cars are big to suit their roads. Even the car park spaces are massive and at an angle so that doors don't bang into eachother. If for instance you're driving through Death Valley, which is a very long, very wide, very straight road, why would the Americans want to sit there in a cramped little Eurobox when they can relax and spread out in a big car?

 

Just because the UK chose a lane width before the war and have never changed it (same with the stupid narrow railway gauge). We are hardly in a position to criticise other country's cars!. We don't even have a car industry any more.

 

And IIRC, the Corvette and Dodge Viper used carbon Fibre and other composites way before us 'superior' Europeans :D

[luke w 0]

Don't get me wrong, if I lived over there I'd run an old barge as a daily, something from the 70s and Pro Street style, like this :D

 

 

As for no car industry, that is sort of true in the sense that every mainstream British manufacturer is foreign owned. But there is a thriving motorsport industry, a majority of F1 cars are designed and built over here, as are Indy cars. Then there are the small independant engineering companies that design and build parts for major manufacturers, such as Ricardo Transmissions who designed and supplied the DSG gearbox for the Veyron.

 

The Corvette and Viper used GRP composites, not carbon fibre.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

That is nice /\ :salute:

 

Yeah that's what I meant, we don't have a wholely British owned and funded car company any more. Apart from the niche market oddities like Bristol and Aerial perhaps.

 

Absolutely we still lead the world in Automotive innovation and motorsports :notworthy: But didn't want to get into that in this thread :D

 

Them there US folks are mighty handy with the spanners themselves and surely spawned the whole modifications genre?

[corozin 0]

Just because the UK chose a lane width before the war and have never changed it (same with the stupid narrow railway gauge). We are hardly in a position to criticise other country's cars!. We don't even have a car industry any more.

The delightful irony of course is that the AC Ace was a delightful, small (underpowered) little British sports car which fitted our old roads rally nicely, something the muscled up Cobra doesn't do quite as well.

[The_Dude 0]

I love American muscle cars, new and old. I've wanted a Cobra since I was a small lad, but wouldn't say no to a Charger, Mustang or Stingray.

A fella a few doors down from me is restoring an old american car. I forget what it is, its not a bona fide muscle car, but still has a 5 and a bit litre hemi under the bonnet! It does look pretty agricultural tho and not very efficient. Incidentally, he also has a spare 7.2l with gearbox if anyone fancies a project! Ive been told it does run but he doesn't have a starter motor to be able to prove that it does.

[C488ADO 0]

my dad loves his american muscle.....he's restoring an old 64 thunderbird right now bit of a long old project this .....but going to be totally awesome when done ...

 

 

tyre shredding beast!!

 

ive posted this before but here goes anyway...

 

 

this is just the boot!!!! lol

 

[robrado974 1]

i want to see this nath!!!. didnt clarkson test the stang a while back , huge engine that would scare your neigbours to death but not alot of power he said . is it me ....how can you have somethin like a 6 litre v8 thats got no power?.

[C488ADO 0]

thats a small block in there rob......still pushing out 450bhp and approx 530 ftlbs torque it will see the old girl alright!

 

everything has been worked on it and its all good shichzzz

 

cant wait to see how it goes compared to srt10