Imports?

[Mr 5 0]

Originally posted by Sketch :

You know, I used to knock Ricers quite a bit, and some I still do. But as far as racing and modding goes, a lot of them have more heart in their car than the agerage classic enthusiast.

I tend to disagree but how much 'heart' any particular modifier has for his car is impossible to quantify so I can find compromise here by simply adding that I believe most car modifiers are fairly equal in their enthusiasm for their respective machines - and all modifiers bow at the altar of speed.

Many Amrican muscle cars became the hots rods and classics of the world because they were cheap, and heavily customizable to a generation who whad fun with them, and put their heart and soul into them. Ricers do the same thing, just the cars have changed.

I agree completely.

Most imports are more reliable than American-built economy cars today, so kids buy them, and then spend their after-school time suping them up, and making them their very own modern day hot rods. Just like the past, some are still just flash and fancy, but some are real troopers, and can whoop most classic muscle in a race, be it staightaway or curved track.

Reliability is a debatable issue when you compare an American V-8 to a Japanese 4 and talk about performance. While the Mustang V-8 was made for performance, most standard four-cylinder engines used by 'ricers' were not and adding turbos and nitrous oxide to the four-cylinder engine can often weaken and eventually destroy them while a V-8 has a lot more room for modification and power-adders without destroying itself.

As for the curved track issue: yes, American musclecars were never really designed to be road racers and have always lacked in that area of performance, but few Mustang or Camaro buyers give a rats patoot about circle track racing, anyway. This is a european sport that has never caught on with American street racers, although it is growing as the 'ricers' try to emulate the drifting craze of Japanese racers. In any case, with the right parts, a new-generation Mustang or Camaro can road race all day if necessary but a lighter Japanese car will always have a structural advantage here. I don't see that as critical but simply one of those built-in things that occur when you compare apples (American muscle cars) to oranges (modified Japanese econocars).

It's not often the car I look at, but how much love and heart the owner has put into it. If I had the '76 Aussie Falcon XC Cobra GT that appeared in Mad Max, and a new Subaru WRX Impreza RT pulled up next to my engine, I'd race him. I don't care about car class or heritage. It's all about the people inside the car that matter.

I agree to a point - a race is a race - but to ignore the obvious rivalary between domestic and foreign muscle on the street would be naive.

And on the topic of heritage. that's a rather flimsy ground to be standing on. I think we all know that the first Mustangs were nothing more than Falcons with a bit more power, and a better skin. You want heritage, you have to look back to the scrawny little '60 Falcons to see your Mustang roots. Imports have heritage, too. It might not be as long, but it's there. You go out to a rally track, you'll see a lot of Subarus and Audis. Why? They're good cars, can have a lot of power, and have earned professional respect.

Here's where I do disagree, and strongly. Heritage: Americans were modifying and racing (street, salt flats) those old '30's and 40's Fords and Chevys back in the days before World War Two, long before europeans had a clue as to anything other than open-wheel racing by rich dilettantes sponsoring daredevil drivers in expensive automobiles for the amusement of the wealthy. The concept of the 'drag race' is as American as apple pie and the hobby of modifying a stock Chevy or Ford is also a very American pasttime. Both street racing and drag track racing as well as NASCAR all go back to the 1940's and '50's. Europeans had road racing for a long time, back to the teens, but 'the drags' and racing for the quarter-mile are a pure American hobby.

The Mustang was based on the lowly Falcon, as we all know, but that misses the point. All American Muscle cars of the 1960's were simply stock sedans with huge engines, either transplanted in a smaller chassis (GTO) or built for racing (the Ford 427) and then plunked into a Galaxie and modified (at the factory) to run on the street. The original 1964 1/2 Mustang was a genius of design, using available parts and a simplistic mechanical layout over a brilliantly designed new body that offered sports car cachet at a very affordable price. From the lowly Falcon six cylinder to the then-impressive 271 HP V-8, the original Mustang had it all - and everyone could own a Mustang, unlike european sport cars that were either a joke (the hapless MG) or overpriced and unreliable (Jaguar). We could ohh and ahhh at a Ferrari or even a Jaguar XKE but most Americans wanted a Corvette 327 (or later, a 427) or if they couldn't afford one, a Mustang V-8. Many a hit pop song was recorded about American muscle, from 'Rocket 88' in the late 1940's to 'Hot Rod Lincoln' to GTO and 409 back in the early to mid 1960's, an indication of Americas love affair with fast 'street' cars.

America has long had a love affair with cars that europe and Japan never had, partly due to the war devastation and then, high gas prices Americans never had to face. From early on, we've also had a smaller but more intense love affair with fast cars, especially ones that were fast from 0 to 60 and in a quarter-mile run. Japanese and european cars simply do not have that kind of 'heritage'. No lines of muscle cars like America produced in the cheap-gas 1960's era and certainly no love for acceleration as we Americans do. Road racing is great but not the same as a quarter mile race and you need a very well balanced car to do it successfully. American muscle - represented by the Mustang these days - offers great straight-line speed, high end power and a very respectable degree of handling, too, and all for under 30 large at your local Ford dealer. That's 'heritage' and the Mustang V-8 embodies it in a way no 'ricer', no matter how fast it is - can duplicate for the average American.

Go ahead and disagree if you want, I'm jsut stating what I've observed from years and years of going to car shows, both classic and modern, and talking to owners and modders. Though you might not want to admit it, that next three-year-old WRX that pulls up next to you with the racing mods is some kid's own "Mustang" or "Camaro" of sorts. It's a car he could afford, and has spent his time and energy turning into the ride he wanted, just like you all have done with your various cars.

I've gone to many car shows and spoken to modders too, and I've taken you up on your offer to 'disagree if you want' only to emphasize the thingss that separate American muscle cars from the modified Japanese econocars and 'new' musclecars coming off the Japnese and european assembly lines. I've already stipulated that a lot of young guys are totally into the Japanese cars and have abandoned the American muscle cars, probably for good. I regret that but I've admitted the reality of it, for better or worse. America is a big country and with our once-cheap gas, we built an automobile heritage based on relatively big cars with big engines that run fast. This is why I don't buy the: 'a car is a car' rationale. Times have changed but we're still proud of our long history of modifying cars and racing that some kid's Honda Civic, no matter how lovingly modified or how fast, cannot match in the minds and hearts of many Americans. We can respect them for their performance and the work that went into them, as you ask, but they just can't match the history and the attachment we have with a Ford Mustang. I have little interest in a four-cylinder car as a street racer but lots of interest in a modified Mustang. Maybe I'm a dying breed - but I doubt it. The Mustang is still popular and draws much interest and comments and will be around for years. So will modified Civics and Jettas and Corollas, I'm sure, but the Mustang is still the Gold Standard for many street racers and the car to beat - if you're a ricer. That says it all.