It may not make sense to some here, especially the younger enthusiasts, but...who cares about all this outrageous horsepower available to anyone with the cash to just walk in a buy one?
Back in my youth (in the 70's), you could buy a lukewarm "performance car" ( any 2-barrel, single exhaist small block in a pony or a few other 2-doors cars would fit that bill), and you could spend more mony and "step it up"...a bit. There was a limit, and it was pretty low.
Chrysler went the furthest in offering the real speed enthusiasts the "goods" needed to end up with a real hot performance car: multiple carb intakes, high compression, stripped down/ giant motor cars, fiberglass hoods, etc...
Ford and GM (and maybe AMC?) offered some great stuff to, obviously but there was always room to go "bigger" for the "serious" guy.
Open up the exhaust, headers, better indunction/ fuel managament, clipped springs and other suspension mods...and any variety of internal engine mods.
Cruise around in a car that had custom cam, heads, headers, suspension, etc...back then and you got some serious kudos as a guy that knew cars and knew how to build 'em.
Today, you can buy such bewilderingly powerful and optimized cars already built that there is no need to do any "custom" stuff yourself. A new GT500 with 550 horses, or a Hellcat with 707 horses, or any one of a dozen other super-awsome new cars are avaialable to anyone who wants to write the check and drive away.
When you see a new 700+ HP Saleen, or a new Hellcat driving down the road, do you think to yourself "Wow, that guy sure must be a real knowledgable car guy and wrench-turner!", or do you thinkl "OK, there goes another guy who can afford to indulge in excess without the scraped knuckles to get there."
I'm not saying anything negative about those guys...I absolutely wish I could drop 60-100 large on another playtoy whenever I wanted to!
But, yesterday's kick-ass cars used to say as much about the owner/ driver of the car as it did about the car itself.
Today's kick-ass cars don't say anything about the owener/ driver, its all about the car.