bojanglez403

It sucks that everytime i hit "the valley" our local street racing /gathering strip of city road all i see is ricers and imports! why did i have to be born in the **** and the furious era? Is it just central texas that has this problem or is it a country wide problem? ive seen 2 classic american cars total, besides myself. There needs to be a comeback and soon, cant have our future generations driving hondas with bumble bee exahaust wearing YOLO shirts.

Octania

Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do...

Maybe that's all that can be had.
The days of a W30 behind any barn out in the sticks are long gone.

Lead by example I guess

Boldsmobile

yes, thats mostly what they have the ability to acquire.

you ever think the old guys during the musclecar era looked at us the same way?

how about the musclecar era guys looking at the 80s pro era the same way?

cherokeepeople

thats what they grew up with.to them our old cars are big slow bad handling slow stopping.dinasaurs.as say the cars from the 30's 40's and 50's are to us.if you want to hang with older cars about your only choice is to find some lowriders.they appreciate the styling of the older cars.i just wish they didn't have to put hydraulics on em and 22 inch wire wheels with 3000 spokes.when i take my dads old 66 pontiac catalina out they all give thumbs up.

Eddie Hansen

I agree with that , wherei live there is a smathering of old muscle cars, then the fox body mustangs and newercamaros, and of course the imports with neon lights , coffee can exhaust, and mandatory goofy azz giant thumping bass....

Some are doing exactly what we. Did, buy 10 year old cars and fix them up or hang out in them. because they are cheap and plentiful, my first car was a 68 firebird, paid 300 bucks for it had a 350 poncho, bought a 455 from a wagon for a 100 bucks , but some glass packs and i was a boy racer . You can see how expensive muscle car s are and how relatively speaking unreliable they are compared to a computer car. Theculture is different too, cars are no longer the key thing that sort of defines you as it used to be, now its ur social media, your twitter, instagram and every other kind of happy horsesh% t you dont have to go to jack in the box or the drive in to hang , they just send whateverit is out to cyberspace... and bs on line as it were. Their phones, theirink, their ear gauges are more important then their wheels, they prefer number of followers than horsepower numbers...when I look back not sure I want my kid doing the stuff we did, on n off the road

Professur

Just remember which car won Fast and Furious ....

oldcutlass

Can't fault the younger generation for playing with what they know. My 67 Cutlass (1st car) was only 9 years old when I got it.

J-(Chicago)

Good post.

oldcutlass

Would that be the one with the Blower glued to the hood?

J-(Chicago)

True. Looking out the window, my entire driveway is full of old junk from the 70's and 80's. I still drive a 1988 Chevrolet with 105,000 miles on it.

That very 1988 Chevy was only slightly COOL even back then.....but only so because it was new and shiny. That was 27 years ago.

rustyroger

In the modern era you can buy a cheap car that will park on a dime, unfailingly start on demand, give great gas mileage, go round bends like it's on rails and whip your *** in a drag race.
Plus any auto parts store has everything on the shelf you might need to maintain them or hop them up if you want to.

But where's the fun in that?.

Roger.

J-(Chicago)

We like what we know for sure. America was a bit more of an industrial country years back as well, therefore many more of its members had a closer relationship with our machinery and pride in it so it seems.

Now that every make under the sun being on the road is commonplace here, that pride is diluted.

The car defines the man, as the designer purse defines the woman.
Did they really ever though?

Professur

And the 15 speed gear box

Allan R

There's quite a following for Nismo and TRD just to name a couple. Ever notice that there are more imports on the road now than NA production? Tooners are part of a growing niche market that's not going to disappear any more than The Beatles. So enjoy the strip and the races, it's not going to change anytime soon.

rustyroger

They still do.
Chevys, Fords, and Plymouths said "Hey look guys, I bought a new car!, Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Imperials said, "I've made it to the top, follow me if you can".

Now a Hyundai or Kia, and a Mercedes Benz or Lexus do the job.

Roger.

71cutlass350

I guess I'm one of the smarter ones from the younger generation being 17 myself. I have the good taste to prefer good ol American muscle rather than a riced up Honda!

MDchanic

Those damn mop-headed kids.

Nothing but noise...

- Eric

Professur

Koda

The old RWD cars are indeed out of style. I do agree with people will run what is available, and while there is the occasional mustang, camaro, or challenger out there, people will run FWD cars mostly.

A point I want to make is that there are two distinct crowds out there, the tuners and the ricers. A ricer takes a stock import, usually a Honda, and bolts on visual and auditory accessories, like the fart can, ground effects, spoilers, tinted windows and large font saying either the brand of your gear, if you're white, or your name if you're Latino, i.e. MENENDEZ in Olde English font across the top of your back window. Sometimes the ricer will choose an American car of not much worth, like a Neon or an Impala to do his stuff to it.

Now the tuner, on the other hand, usually selects his vehicle from ones that were set up right from the factory. The old Supras, the turboed Subarus, etc. His money is spent on suspension, powertrain, and brake upgrades, and he will destroy pretty much anything south of a modern day domestic muscle car due to power to weight ratio and handling. This guy is the modern day sleeper; his car will look like a normal import, just a little more sporty.

People don't get the distinction between the two, just like they don't get the stock resto vs resto mod vs race car like we have. The king of the streets is still an old RWD car with 1000 hp, so we will still win.

MDchanic

This is the same as it was when I was a kid, only then, these kids (okay, their grandparents ) would take a 6 cylinder Nova, add a Cherry Bomb muffler, jack up the rear leaf springs, paint the differential cover silver, install little blue lights on the rear, where springs attach, and put mag wheels and stripes on it (the black kids would skip the stripes and the lift, but polish it till it shined like a mirror, the Hispanic kids would add something fringey to the interior).

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, as they say.

- Eric

Octania

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, as they say."

pretty high-falutin' there, sir

I never took French but I reckon that is "the more things change, the more they stay the same" ?

MDchanic

Ayup.

Sounds smarter though.

- Eric

Professur

J-(Chicago)

It's funny because It's true. Here's a picture from when I was 17.


$50 car that was available 2 blocks down the road, CHECK
Hood from junkyard with Stripes, CHECK
Centerline champ 500 wheels CHECK
Hood pins CHECK
Headers and Cherry Bombs CHECK
Jacked up rear springs CHECK
140 horsepower and a 2.41 rear ratio CHECK


I would have rather bought that W30 in the local tradin' times for 4 thousand dollars, but I Didn't have it. Good thing I Didn't. I would have defiled it with all sorts of youthful ugliness.

ctsplicer

Old,stock American iron will still beat Jap junk any time.Case in point.

oldcutlass

Now thats funny! Why even bother tho.

coppercutlass

Now here is where I'm at. I'm 25 and my car is well older than me. Technology is pretty amazing. You can take a k20 honda engine swap it into an older crx and run low 12's all day n/a with a stock tune. Not bad for a 4 banger. I have pulled up to the light with a subaru wrx and race the guy and once I was in the top of 3rd he was gone. I caughthim at the next light and he said "we where bumper to bumper up until you ran out of gears". I love the classics but we drive prehistoric machines compared to what's out there now. To be honest I would rather do the crx with a k20 honda swap than buy a new challanger or camaro. The mustang would be the bst bang for the buck but it still not hot rodding. I will admit I used to hate ricers but once you realize what can be done with technology its amazing to see how they can crank 300hp n/a from a 4 banger. You can't beat the sound of a healthy lopey v8 but in all honesty there are many capable 4 bangers that will keep up with out cars easily nowadays. The srt4 neon with factory mods is a 12 sec player all day , the subaru wrx is another good contender along with the mitsubishi evo. Very very capable with just simple mods and tuning . What we need to realize is that there is very capable "ricers" weather or not we like to admit it. Look at the tesla. Back when I raced rc cars every one was into nitro gas rc cars. Ialways liked electric better and the ondemand tq. Of electric is amazing. Battery technology has really come a long way specially the last 10 years . Now with lipo batteries you can get an electric rc car to do 100 mph plus. The elctric cars like the tesla may not sound cool but holy hell with the tq. On demand its capable of its damn right impressive.

Koda

I would not make that statement. Who knows what was under the hood of that Mopar? Was it stock? A big block? Torque, power to weight ratio, and driver skill are what matters in drag racing, not whether a car is 4 years old, or 40, or Japanese, or GM. There is Japanese junk that will beat every American muscle car ever made, and there is Japanese junk that will be beaten by every one of those same muscle cars. I've beaten tuners with muscle cars, and I've beaten muscle cars with tuners; it's the car that matters, not what type of car it is.

Eddie Hansen

We builld old cars for a myriad of reasons, reliving the old days, appreciation for all things mechanical, etc etc, but if you think about it, think about how you got into cars to begin with, you would read dog earred hot rod magazines, pumped gas at the local service station, doodled pictures in class, you were outside on your stingray bike or your cobbled together schwinn or murray paper bike, watched the coolest guy in the hood drive his black 57 up and down jericho turnpike, you know the one.... had the pack of marlboros on the dash, beer pull tab chain drapped around the rear view you heard tell he took a guy in a chevelle for a hundred bucks, .that guy worked for s and k speed ... you and your friends would sit and actually talk during lunch, you needed to make a call better hope you had a dime and hall pass, you talked cars , girls, and maybe what your going to do in life, whether the draft will still be in effect when we graduated ( it did as I entered high school) , you would catch a ride with (pick any or all that applies) your older sibling, cousin, friends sibling cousin, etc neighbor who had a bitchin set of wheels, and head somewhere like the beach , drags, drive in etc, and there were more cool cars and guys your own age from different parts of town or towns would be hanging trying to look tough, mighthave had your first beer and maybe a smoke, but you watched, dreamed, and if younwere lucky worked on cars. You might have pumped gas after school, younwere required to check the oil and fluids, the wipers when you washed the windows, or add air to the tires, after a while the boss might let you fix flats, change oil, then starters then maybe brakes you lived cars... and the gear head has been forged.. but as I said throw kids together at a lunch table everybody is texting tweeting following, etc etc, they talk apple like we talked edelbrock, they talk mp3 we talked mags. Sure you get some kids like that today, but where they going to learn ? damn few gas stations have service bays that arent filled up with milk bread and burritos, even less where the pump jockey would check your oil, or even pump your gas if your not in jersey if a kid has a car , good chance mom n dad gave it, its a hand me down, etc, and if they decide to work on it they will ask their friends to help and they are driving imports too. If parents gave it I know that it has to be dependable, 5 star crash rating, etc because they can not afford that insurance and we dont want anything to happen to our kids the way it happened to that or those kids back in school. The culture is just different sorry I kind of went off on a tangent my apologies.... speed on bruthas..

Diego

So I gotta wonder why you care what others choose to drive?

Their tastes, what they do with their hard-earned money, etc. is their business - not yours.

If it burns you to no end, use the power of the Internet to organize a gathering of cars that meet your qualifications. Just be sure to choose your words wisely because if you use the word "***" I can think of one car collector who won't feel welcome - it just ain't cool to denigrate others.

coppercutlass

@ eddie. I got into muscle cars because I loved them growing up and they are cheap. I bought my 72 as a rust bucket while learning collision repair and used it to expand my skills. I don't want to be the fastest. I can certainly give the import guys a run for their money but ., for me its about driving something I built top to bottom. I built my engine , built my trans , built my rear end did all my body work. Most car guys respect that a lot . For me going fast I just wanna be able to run the pro class at the local track. So 13.00 or faster and I'm in lol. There will always be someone faster . Most tunners don't do a lot of their own work . They send a lot of stuff out and do minor bolt ons themselves. With the knowledge I have learned I could build my self a wicked little tunner but the cutlass is just wayyyyyy cooooler and gets more thumbs up than any import would. Plus it just looks bad ***. Its hard to look tough in an import.

Eddie Hansen

@copper and as a car guy I do respect your achievements you would be the "kid" that would hang out , watching and learning, and dreaming, you are theexception rather than the rule .

I dont mind foreign cars or ricers tuners.. would I hang out and text with them? Probably not

Datsun made cool cars before the 240z opel gts were way cool... alfas , morris minors etc etc itall works mydream caris still an e type jag roadster

James dean the epitome of cool drove a little 4 cylinder porsche spider right its all. Good
I was tryingto say majority of kids nowadays arent into cars or mYbe notinto building cars as we were back in day and for a number of reasons.

jpc647

Why do people use the tuner cars for racing/the strip. Because they're plentiful.

And because all the gray haired guys (no offense) have scooped up the muscle cars and prices have surged out of reach for an avid car person.

A standard A-Body cutlass is slower than half the family sedans being produced today, so it's hard to justify spending 5-8k on a rust free good running cutlass, to rip it apart and spend 4k more to overhaul it to be faster than my neighbors Camry.

It's economics. Besides, people want some economy too. New cars, new computers, new tunes, they can be adjusted with 2 minutes and a switch, that 11 second acura now get 28mpg on the highway with a different tune. Nevermind the handling advantages.... That's a whole nothing discussion.

I couldn't spend 2 years working on an old muscle car to get it to get 28mpg. I own both, a Cutlass and a "Ricer" for everyday. And my Ricer would walk all over the majority of Classic "Muscle" cars on the road...

Just my 2 cents, from a guy who couldn't wait to buy an A-Body GM car, only to quickly find out the limitations of them.

Cooper, you were spot on in your last paragraph, we do drive prehistoric machines, and they are limited. And the tuners do have technology and high redlines on their side. We only have the looks.

oldcutlass

I think the main reason we played with our cars is we didn't have all the financial distractions kids today have. No cell phones, video games, internet, what else were we going to do with all that time on our hands. In addition our parents for damn sure weren't buying us expensive cars to drive or not buying us cars at all. So out of necessity we had to make what we had fit our personal needs. As mentioned above cars were an extension of our personalities.

illumined

The Charger turned that Honda into fried rice

coppercutlass

@ Eddie I think kids now a days are just not in touch with reality. If there is not an app. for it on their I phone it aint happening lol. My brother Is 10 years younger and it's sad that he cant fix a flat on his bike. Im the opposite I cant relate to most people my age. My cell phone is so outdated , Not only do I own an classic olds but I also drive a Saturn so there is a theme there for driving obsolete cars lol.

illumined

Indeed, we are a lost generation. Sadly I'm one of them, can't fix anything car related or otherwise.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/scie...professor.html

By the way you drive a Saturn? Yuck......

DewChugr

People like the OP are the worst thing happening to the car enthusiast hobby.

I'd doubt that charger is stock or there is more to the story than that. It was maybe a mid 13 second car stock? It doesn't take that much for a turbo Civic to handle that.

I guess I don't feel the need to put other people down for the kind of car they want to build. I respect anyone that takes the time to build their own car. It's good for the hobby, it's good for people with car related businesses and good for the economy. I don't have any interest in owning one of the "hooptie/donk" or whatever you call them, or a 55 Chevy or a giant diesel truck, but it's cool that people want to customize the looks or performance of their vehicle.

My son is all about cars. When he turned 16 we gave him the 97 Civic that we bought new. Not long after he bought it he got a set of wheels and coil overs put on it. He got that done at my nephews shop. He raced autocross while he was in the school auto program and hist first season won best in class 3 of the 4 events he was in, 2 in his car 1 in the school car.

Since then he's done pretty much everything buy himself. He's upgraded the front brakes, discs in the back, short throw shifter, racing seat, custom digital dash, carbon hood. He swapped in an Integra GSR with limited slip. He built his own turbo setup for it, on his own. He welded up a really nice catch can. He tunes it himself with his pc. He and a buddy designed and built a launch controller. This motor was putting out about 350hp @ 2300 pounds. All that and still 37 miles per gallon.

We have a neighbor that had an 06 GTO who would taunt him on the street. My son said the guy thought his goat was fast, but he learned it wasn't that fast. The guy since sold it and bought a subaru. With that engine he's also beat a mildly modified C5 FRC vette, numerous modded f-bodys, 70 GTO and others (at the track). This spring he's working on a built sleeved motor that should have 500-500hp and he thinks low 10s. It's funny at the track when some *** hole with an opinion like the OP in a cammed ls Camaro talks **** about "ricer" and other crap and then gets beat by a lowly Civic, holy crap the excuses rain down. Last summer he decided he wanted to build a custom tube front end for the Civic that he could quickly pull off to access the motor. Since the car was going to be down for a long time and he wanted to race he bought another civic and upgraded the brakes and swapped over his turbo motor and suspension.


He also built a bad *** Cherokee, recently bought a 1st gen RX7 he's going to put a 5.3 in to race as well as other stuff. He says hes going to put a turbo stroked jeep motor in the Cherokee next.
A couple of his other projects.


There's a LOT of muscle cars and older cars in the area, but apparently most people are afraid to drive them since I only see most of them at shows. There are lots of fbody and Mustangs, Challengers, Vettes and stuff around here as well as some pretty nice imports.

How Many kids are going to have the money to build an old 442 or cuda? How many of their parents want them driving something so much far less safe than a modern car? Think about this, if all the kids that drive imports drove muscle cars can you imagine how expensive they would be and how hard it would be to find parts for them. Look at it this way, everyone driving an import car is doing you a favor. You don't know if maybe that kid really wants a 65 GTO, but doesn't have the time/money/skills/workspace/knowlege/friends to get it done. Maybe the kid down the street with the "ricer" has some valuable skill you don't and could help you with your car sometime.

Look at my 71 with a 350, the things a pig and couldn't get out of it's own way. Before he put the turbo on the Civic it would probably beat the Cutlass.

The Whole hobby would be far better off if ****** quit bad mouthing others with different interests and got to know people.

coppercutlass

@ Illumined I ended up with that Saturn after selling my olds 5.9 cummins powered 94 dodge ram. The guy gave me cash and the Saturn. Its been 3 years and that Saturn had not given up. Its a 5 speed car has a big ol coffee can exhaust that was was there before ., and I scored some ricer type wheels with good rubber from the junkyard . Its the epitome of a "ricer" lol or the kind we like to laugh at atleast . Its a real p.o.s but for 2 years I put on 600 miles a week and its still kicking with 220k miles .

ctsplicer

DewChugr,your son is one in a million.Most kids don't want to work on their car.They want someone else to do the work while they take the credit.2 of my 3 sons are like yours.They love to experiment and come up with ways to squeeze every last ounce out of those engines.My 14 year old grandson is looking for a 70 chevelle for us to build together.As for our "prehistoric" cars,so much can be done with them.The possibilities are endless.I mean look at some of these twin turbo set-ups and the superchargers with Nitrous.Seriously,the sky's the limit and the there's always outer space.