The Next Crash: Muscle Cars?

[BigGuynRusty]

chopper wrote:
As a child of the 1970s I watched the muscle car market appreciate with a cynical eye. Sure, some of the cars are cool but owning them can be a PITA, especially considering the new Mustang and Dodge seem so good. Fuel injection, traction control, IRS, four-wheel disc brakes, etc etc.

$50k for a 396 SS Chevelle? $200k for a Hemi Challenger? I stood on the sidelines and laughed. The buyers on the TV car auctions seemed to be regular people out-bidding each other in order to pay through the nose for some over-powered lumberwagon WITH DRUM BRAKES. How much of that money came from home equity loans for homes now worth maybe 60% of that value?

My prediction: the housing slump and strangled credit market's next victim: muscle cars. 90% of those cars are, at best, $10k cars. At. The. Most.

The rare real MuscleCars will always have value, they are not making them anymore.
I've owned my share, and then some, and I agree somewhat with you Chopper.
But, it isn't about brakes, traction control, fuel injection, SatNav, back up cameras, and leather.
It is the visceral thrill, the pure release of logic, the absolute thrill ride of emotion.
I have owned the following.:
70 Chevelle 454 SS
70 Formula 455 Firebird
68 HEMI RoadRunner
70 Camaro SS 454
And many, many more.
But my 1998 Ford Contour SVT E1 could out accelerate, out brake, out handle every one of my other cars. This was with only a 151 cubic inch V6 and a five speed.
Yes it was faster, it was incredible, I could drive it summer and winter, no overheating, no weekly tuneups, no headaches!
*BUT*
It was not half the thrill as my other cars, that feeling of running the car through the gears, there is no parallel in modern musclecars.
Yes, I have driven the new Challenger, Mustang, and the Corvette, all faster, all better, but not the same. The only modern car I have driven that comes even remotely close is the Dodge Viper, it'll scare the bejeebus out of you if your're not careful, no electronic nanny, no intervention, just you and the engine.

BGnR