The Golden Age of Muscle Cars...is right now!

[Hickster]

Oldsmobile?? Built in Oldsmar, Fl???

 

[Illegal_Demon]

I am actually in the market to buy a 97 LT4 SS. LOVED how that car looked and sounded. It's slow by today's lofty standards but I still want one. I'll daily drive it for sure. Oh and I'd take an LT4 Firehawk too if I can find one.

It's not American but a car that was way ahead of its time was the 91 3000GT Twin Turbo. All-wheel steering (yes), AWD, Active aero, antilock brakes, and even airbags. Oh and even a CD player. Car handled extremely well and had over 300HP when almost no one did. That car could be built to 700hp and was one of the original tuner cars that helped make the fast and the furious the great franchise that it still is today.

 

[1971demon]

Not quite the Golden Age to me. New cars are better and faster in every way but we will never be able to develop the memories on the street with these cars like we did with our classic muscle cars back in the day! The conditions today are too restrictive to enjoy the freedom we had with our cars in the late 60’s and early 70’s. American Graffiti was based on our lives back then but is no more. Just saying it’s way different now. I could write a book with what I did in this car but stories like that are not possible today. View attachment 9988

Was born in 53....in 1967 to 71...I worked at the only Donut shop in town...open 24 hrs...was a mecca for car guys...everything from 260 v8 Falcon sprints..to Hemi Cudas..and everything imaginable in between...It was a glorious time to be a kid my age...I worked the soft serve ice cream portion...traded ice cream cones for blasts down the street...I loved goin to work

 

[Purerock105]

I would add after reflecting on some of the comments that, and I'm mostly talking what was offered up the manufacturer. The 70's and 80's were mostly abysmal because of smog, fuel crisis, etc etc. The tail end of the 80's and into the 90's was certainly a transitional period before the 2000's and the first 400hp mass production vehicles. Then 500hp became the target, to where we are today.

 

[Force_Recon]

I disagree. Both as a former Turbo Regal owner and as a guy who still works on 80s crap boxes. There are so many technical/mechanical reasons that make the Turbo Regal a horrible muscle car for the average person - the half-digital/half-analogue EFI is the primary reason, built like shit, handled and braked like crap, G-Bodies are horrible cars. Same goes for the Fox body and those early-EFI 302s. And anyone who thinks a 400hp 8L V10 engine is a good performing power plant is blind (plus the Viper was rushed to marked with a lot of compromise.

From around 1993 on there were a series of clean-sheet designs where cars would have powerful engines with the ability to be uncorked (and even tuneable (no, mail order chips don't count), handled well, and braked well. Cars anyone could get in and enjoy right off the lot for a long time. I still look at the mid-90s Camaro SS vs Mustang Cobra as being a very telling comparison:

I sort of see where you’re coming from but I disagree for the simple fact that you’re missing the point to this thread. The topic is the golden age of muscle cars is now and yes we are living in the second muscle car era which as I stated began in the late 1980’s. The mustang and camero's of the days were making roughly 230 hp +/-. Fast forward from 1988 to today which is 32 years later and the coyote stang is making 460hp. It literally only doubled in that period of time. Over time the numbers will just keep increasing.

Now as for the cars being 80's crap boxes all I can say is that if you lived in that era that's what you had to chose from and we made do with what we had. My 1988 Monte SS which I bought in 1991 was a turd but it was a beautiful burgundy turd to me. Apparent someone liked it enough to steal it from me and I never saw it again. I walked out of the grocery store with a basket full of groceries and not a trunk to put them in. I picked up an 87 GN in 1992 and loved and miss that car to this day. I lost it in a Houston flood and not being able to restore I sold it to a mechanic. Picked up a 93 pony GT in 1995 and I still have it to this day.

Had those cars not started the horsepower wars back then the second muscle car era would have gotten a later start.

 

[Decay]

Having owned mid, late 60's early 70's cars (Camaros,Chevelles,Impala's, Cuda's, Fury's), the technology and the speed of these new cars blow my feeble mind.
My Scat got 22 MPG going to the track and ran a 12 1/4 mile.

 

[1971demon]

Having owned mid, late 60's early 70's cars (Camaros,Chevelles,Impala's, Cuda's, Fury's), the technology and the speed of these new cars blow my feeble mind.
My Scat got 22 MPG going to the track and ran a 12 1/4 mile.

and it turned...didn't overheat...didn't smell gas all the way...was comfortable..and cool radio...seems impossible...

 

[Hunter]

It's not so much revisionist history as a reorder on the timeline.

The 50's & 60's ushered in the birth of muscle and hot rodding, but at no time until the present has there been more production cars over 400hp and the aftermarket world is a booming.

By present, I would use 2015 as the starting point.
Introduction of the Hellcats, Corvette C7 Z06, Ford's Shelby GT350.

The Golden Age?
I agree.
A 700 HP car that runs great, killer sound system, A/C, with a smooth / comfortable suspension.
Some can argue when they think it may have started, but we, right now, are living in it.

 

[NoCoHC]

G bodies were absolute crap. No offense to current collectors but c'mon, even back then they were horrible cars. They threw a hail Mary by putting in a turbo and painting the trim black but the platform for those cars was terrible. Luxury boats with some hp a muscle car does not make imo.
Damn that's three of your posts now that I agree with. I need to re-evaluate my life.

You can't compare a G body to today's muscle cars, but they were the car to have in the 80s out of very limited choices. I grew up in the 80s and early 90s and got my driver's license in a Buick Grand National my dad owned. I later owned one myself. They were certainly inferior to anything being built today, but for the era they were awesome. They introduced a lot of Gen X kids to hot rodding. I had a lot of fun with alcohol injection kits, bigger turbos, downpipes, and the multitude of different chips I ordered for my low 12 second (at Colorado altitude) bolt on Buick GN. As much as I love the modern stuff and would never go back some of my best car memories are in a Buick GN.

 

[RedEye19FL]

You can't compare a G body to today's muscle cars, but they were the car to have in the 80s out of very limited choices. I grew up in the 80s and early 90s and got my driver's license in a Buick Grand National my dad owned. I later owned one myself. They were certainly inferior to anything being built today, but for the era they were awesome. They introduced a lot of Gen X kids to hot rodding. I had a lot of fun with alcohol injection kits, bigger turbos, downpipes, and the multitude of different chips I ordered for my low 12 second (at Colorado altitude) bolt on Buick GN. As much as I love the modern stuff and would never go back some of my best car memories are in a Buick GN.

I agree with you. Some of my best car memories were with my '87 Grand National. I only had a HyperTech Stage 2 chip and 160 thermostat, but it ran great, even with the turbo lag. Who would have thought a V6 could run that good!

 

[Hickster]

What is this the Florida ole fart thread. Born in 53,,, holy crap,, up a bit early or waiting for the last sun to come up?? Cars in the 70's grand pa. 260 HP the best ever. Got 1 foot in the grave and 1 in the 4 barrel with the 442 and 64 stanger. Makes me sound like a kid. Me being born in 57,, I grease my flops and feel young again. Dad bought mom a brand new 64 Barracuda, 1st year out with the fast back winder 1/2 mile long sporting a good 230 HP. Now that was a hot rod back then. I learned to drive at 14 in that critter. Send me to the beer and cig store so they would not miss a sip of that PBR out of the galvanized can and a puff off of the Parliaments. Then 4 years later the damn Chavells came out, 396's, GTOs 455's, and whom was not to miss the Road Runners with the 8 foot tall tails. Those were the days. Tear apart an engine in 2 days and rebuild a 4 barrel carb in 2 hours. Old 1980 Grand National Turbos. Damn fast as long as the fins would stay together and didn't fly apart and ruin the rest of the aluminum block. You guys make feel young again.

 

[Decay]

and it turned...didn't overheat...didn't smell gas all the way...was comfortable..and cool radio...seems impossible...

And I don't have a trunk full of tools and spare parts.....

 

[Slowpoke387]

You can't compare a G body to today's muscle cars, but they were the car to have in the 80s out of very limited choices. I grew up in the 80s and early 90s and got my driver's license in a Buick Grand National my dad owned. I later owned one myself. They were certainly inferior to anything being built today, but for the era they were awesome. They introduced a lot of Gen X kids to hot rodding. I had a lot of fun with alcohol injection kits, bigger turbos, downpipes, and the multitude of different chips I ordered for my low 12 second (at Colorado altitude) bolt on Buick GN. As much as I love the modern stuff and would never go back some of my best car memories are in a Buick GN.

Doesnt make them great muscle cars lol. I wasn't comparing them to today’s cars, was comparing them to what was out there then. The platform was a loose luxury car that they threw a turbo into and still drove and handled like crap compared to what else was out there, especially by GM. There were far better platforms to build on back then which were designed to be more of a muscle car out of the gate, and the G body wasnt one of them. Could you have a blast with them? Sure. Make great memories with them? Of course. We did that with lots of terrible platforms lol. But even back then that platform was plain awful compared to what else GM had. GN‘s were fun straight line cars that drove terrribly. Doesnt mean they werent fun, but they were designed as a luxury boat and got a turbo as an afterthought. People get emotional about them but fun memories arent always made with good cars.

 

[HRJ]

Today's are the best muscle cars, period. GT500s, Demons, Redeyes, ZL1s, Z06s, 5.0s, SS, Scat Packs...this is it, boys. Don't let the fog of nostalgia mislead ya. I've owned 64 and 67 GTOs, 71 440-6 Challenger, 73 SD Firebirds back when I thought that classic stuff was where it's at. One ride in a breathed on Fox body cured all of that.

 

[NoCoHC]

Doesnt make them great muscle cars lol. I wasn't comparing them to today’s cars, was comparing them to what was out there then. The platform was a loose luxury car that they threw a turbo into and still drove and handled like crap compared to what else was out there, especially by GM. There were far better platforms to build on back then which were designed to be more of a muscle car out of the gate, and the G body wasnt one of them. Could you have a blast with them? Sure. Make great memories with them? Of course. We did that with lots of terrible platforms lol. But even back then that platform was plain awful compared to what else GM had. GN‘s were fun straight line cars that drove terrribly. Doesnt mean they werent fun, but they were designed as a luxury boat and got a turbo as an afterthought. People get emotional about them but fun memories arent always made with good cars.

Don't really disagree with anything you are saying, but the classic muscle cars weren't great at any of the things you are talking about either other than having large engine bays and the ability to be built to go in a straight line. Of course with enough money and aftermarket parts you can make a formidable pro touring type car out of a classic A body, 80's G body, or third gen F body that will hang with modern cars on a road course or autocross track. I loved my GN for what it was, but you're right it wasn't a great car compared to vehicles being put out today. I wasn't really interested in third generation Chevy or Pontiac F bodies, and absolutely hate that era of Corvette, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who are nostalgic about them.