Muscle car Myths

[Luke]

Ok all we all have hero cars, cars that are legendary and command instant respect cars that are spoken about in hushed awe because of a huge racing pedigree. Sometimes the street version is such a disappointment and so far from its on track brother that you wonder why they become so coveted. In Australia we have a car called a Torana A9X it is the nations most winning production car a circuit racing legend they sell in the 100-200+ thousand dollar range these days. It is however 1 of the most uninspiring muscle cars you can drive in stock form. Especially compared to the L34 Torana, which proved to be fast and successful, yet a little bit fragile in Australian touring car racing and on the street. The L34 was superseded by the evolutionary A9X option.The A9X was delivered with a standard 5.0 but used the L34 motor in races which was developed by repco for the LH SL/R 5000 H.O. L34. The A9X version of the torana had a 2.6 Salisbury diff with disc brakes and had the option of the t10 4 speed. Hardly any cars were delivered with t10 option so in effect the immortalized A9X was a stock car with a better diff. Yet the A9X trades heavily on all its on track Sucess where it had the stout motor and a few racing mods. I was lucky enough to drive/abuse 1 of these cars back in the early 90s when 6 grand brought a very good 1,to me its only saving grace was its very good manners at speed. It just took along time for that 2.6 diff to get it to speed. Other legend cars that have been a let down are the XC Cobras still felt gruntier than that A9X,and too a far lesser degree the mighty GTHO phase 3.Now this car was fast dont get me wrong but off the line and around town I would take an XA GT or even a XY GT.The HOey had the legs but was a bit doughy down low so what are perceived as lesser cars would take it too the Legend car from stop light to stop light. I will stop writing as Iam now expecting most of Aussies car nuts to come around with pitch forks and cans of petrol to burn infidel me out for blaspheme

L34

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A9X

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A9X in race trim

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XC Cobra

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[4Vforever]

No Luke totally agree with you about the A9X, as it was the most disappointing car I have ever driven. I remember seeing one for sale and thought I've got to have it. So I get the old man to come and check it all out with me. He reckons good thing an A9X, go well and so forth. Get to the car yard and take it for a test drive, all I can say is, what a gutless piece of crap it really was. By the time I hit third gear I said to dad this thing is a slow piece of s--t, made him real happy because he came down for nothing really. Got back to the yard where they're expecting a sale, then I tell them what pile of s--t the car was and told them I'd been in stock 253's quicker than that. A row then started to happen, so I jump my old Kingswood and fry the tyres and yelling that's how a 308 is supposed to go. The 351 Cobras like you say go better, but not like the earlier cars, then again they were so choked up and bogged down by pollution laws adr27a that it's amazing they went aswell as they did. Hear what you are saying about the P3's too, just a pig of a thing down low and especially around town. The exact reason why my best mate didn't buy one back in the early 90's. Another one that springs to mind are Brock Commodores, all hype and not much else (quicker than an A9X though) guys back then would line up with their Brockies against my pos old HJ Kingswood and the look on their face when this ugly old HJ would blow them in the weeds was priceless. Then again a lot of people learnt the hard way lining up against that old pos HJ Kingswood though. LOL. Still some of the best fun I've ever had was with car and if it never got written off I would probably still own it today.

 

[Luke]

Cool stuff 4V. How about E55 Chargers nothing to make them look anything special and so choked up they couldn't outrun a 318 but put some pipes on it and a good carb and that 340 would hunt. Hear what your saying with the HJ and this brings me to Myth 2. How many people back in the day got well functioning quick stock muscle cars then tuned them to a stand still. More stuffed them up than got it right, Poor cam choices stupid carby sizes and generally crap combos. Spent a furtune to build a pig that on the odd day would work marginally better than a stocker,the trick was to run these blokes multiple times in 1 night because they generally went off song or broke. It was funny to run some body when all you had was a 308 with a TQ20 or a TQ30 or similar cam in a clevo, a holley and a good tune,while they had the worlds cammiest 351 or 350 that wouldn't run more than a night a week. There where guys with genuine monsters buy they where rare.


Should add my own 73 Mach 1 to this list. Stock H code looks good sounds nice but its all front at the moment. Bit like a night club bouncer or old tart all fur coat and no knickers. Crossfire/Missfire Corvettes fit here too.

 

[4Vforever]

Yeah Luke E55's are an awesome car, stock fairly doey, but yeah like you said, pipes and carb and give her a bit more advance and wholly hell what a machine. Nearly bought one, an absolutely beautiful car, ex show car and heaps of balls, but the salesman stuffed the deal up (had a few great cars I didn't buy like that) still one of the cars I most regret not buying. I know what you mean about guys that would put all these "trick" bits in their engines and go nowhere. One I remember was an XW wagon, sounded tough as, got talked up. My best mate had a HJ at the time aswell, but had a 202, baby cam, extractors, twin point, triple su's and I done a bit of a pocket port on the head. Well let's just say that all the XW saw was my mates tail lights, we pissed ourselves laughing and my mate told the guy not to worry about trying to race my car then as I used to blow him into the weeds. On the opposite side my really good mate had an XD 302C which was handed to him when his dad died. Gave it a full reco with a RV15 Erson cam, performer, a nice set of mild heads I did for it and a 600 Holley, pipes were stock manifolds at the time with a great sounding system that was installed when his dad had it (still one of the best sounding engines while cruising I've ever heard) Wasn't to many cars on the street that could put it to shame and no one would believe it was only a 302. Also another one comes to mind was the HQ 350, they went alright, but compared to the HT/G's they were pretty ordinary.

 

[Mister 4x4]

First and foremost - the name: Dodge "Charger." Totally disappointed that Dodge would plop the rich-heritage name of "Charger" onto a 4-door anemic family car.

The rental car I had was a V6 with very uninspiring feelings of any kind of 'performance' to be had. It felt sloppy in the turns, brakes pretty much sucked, and V6 or not, it felt too heavy for the powerplant. Overall - not impressed.

Now - it IS a mean-looking car. I just don't agree with name "Charger" being affiliated with it.

I'm just glad they haven't ruined the "Road Runner" name by slapping it onto a Neon or something (like they did with "Dart").

 

[Boss1Ray]

Eric - Gotta say I am also not a fan of the Chargers, but a friend has one and it is CRAZY fast. It handles excellent - especially for a 4-door sedan! It does have the hopped up setup with huge brakes, upgraded suspension and super strong motor...

BTW he also owns a really nice and quick late model Challenger among others.

Ray

 

[mdunlap]

First and foremost - the name: Dodge "Charger." Totally disappointed that Dodge would plop the rich-heritage name of "Charger" onto a 4-door anemic family car.

I'm just glad they haven't ruined the "Road Runner" name by slapping it onto a Neon or something (like they did with "Dart").

Remember this one? Dodge and Shelby both want to scrub their badge off!

 

[CZ-75]

First and foremost - the name: Dodge "Charger." Totally disappointed that Dodge would plop the rich-heritage name of "Charger" onto a 4-door anemic family car.

I'm just glad they haven't ruined the "Road Runner" name by slapping it onto a Neon or something (like they did with "Dart").

Remember this one? Dodge and Shelby both want to scrub their badge off!

I had a blue one with silver stripes. It was my second car, and I loved it! SucH fun to drive, but the trim was awful... Pieces would fall off

 

[jorgem2]

First and foremost - the name: Dodge "Charger." Totally disappointed that Dodge would plop the rich-heritage name of "Charger" onto a 4-door anemic family car.

The rental car I had was a V6 with very uninspiring feelings of any kind of 'performance' to be had. It felt sloppy in the turns, brakes pretty much sucked, and V6 or not, it felt too heavy for the powerplant. Overall - not impressed.

Now - it IS a mean-looking car. I just don't agree with name "Charger" being affiliated with it.

I'm just glad they haven't ruined the "Road Runner" name by slapping it onto a Neon or something (like they did with "Dart").

I think the Dodge Charger name is now ok to use on the fastest 4 door car in the world.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I think the Dodge Charger name is now ok to use on the fastest 4 door car in the world.

Nah - "Charger" on that car is still just wrong, IMHO - Chargers were always 2-doors (I'll accept the hatchback years, since it's only fair... even Mustangs got hatchbacks when they downsized). Again, that car is very cool - can't dispute the numbers (after it took 'em so long to get there... whatever). But, it'll still not "Charger name-worthy" to me.

I say it's no different than if Ford would've slapped the Mustang tag on a Contour - would you still be OK with it after something like that?

If people are justified in hating the 2004-2006 Pontiac GTOs for being a high-performance, rear-wheel drive Grand Prix (which is what it was back in the day), then I think I can hate the Chargers for having 4-doors. rofl

 

[Luke]

To the rest of the world the charger is just wrong. Should never of been a 4dr it has also ruined the superbee name. We love fast sedans here but that car should never of been called Charger

 

[Totalled]

Those toranas look like a '70 monte carlo and a vega had rough sex and that was the result.

 

[csgt428]

To the rest of the world the charger is just wrong. Should never of been a 4dr it has also ruined the superbee name. We love fast sedans here but that car should never of been called Charger

I have a 70 Torino Cobra 429 drag pac that everyone thought was a charger. It had the Dukes of Hazard wheels when I first got it and hideaway headlights I put on it. (since removed) I got a lot of "Nice Charger!" comments. Ha ha It outran all the Ford muscle of the day (even the Bosses) and most of the rest as well..... No myth here. Not bad for a "Sedan"!