Perusing Motor Trend on the throne, I contemplated angus mackenzie’s rant “the future of the american muscle car.” My first thought: when did capital letters go out of style? My second thought: spending nine paragraphs forwarding the not-so-radical idea that american muscle cars will become lighter, rear wheel-drive, turbo-V6 or diesel-powered somethingorothers is an awful waste of editorial space. But then, we are talking about Motor Trend, a walk-softly-and-carry-a-small-shtick buff book. And as my mentor said, there are no boring stories, only… Anyway, the American muscle car’s eventual evolution– or lack thereof– is a fascinating topic. How do automakers adapt these snorting, snuffling, gas-sucking examples of automotive Americana for a federally-mandated fuel-efficient future? Can they? Should they? Instead of debating it below, I invite our Best and Brightest to put fingers to keyboards and share their thougths on this life-or-death-car subject in long form. Send 800 words– not one word more or less— to robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com. Put MUSCLE CAR in the subject bar. Get it done by next Wednesday, September 10. Justin and I will sort through the entries and publish the three best (wihout editing) for a final vote. The winner will receive a one-year subscription to the UK’s Octane magazine. Let’s show angus how it’s done.
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What if you only get two submissions?
My first thought: when did capital letters go out of style?
e.e. cummings tried to force them out of style but it didn’t stick and the persistent little bast@#&$ remain entrenched. angus mackenzie must be a poseur.
How on earth can anybody stretch the word ‘No’ to 800 words?
Muscle Car: big-car engine in midsize (or smaller) passenger coupe body.
Challenger, Camaro, Mustang – pony cars, not muscle cars.
Charger – sedan
Uh, there aren’t any muscle cars being sold today.
Nice try.
driving course :
How on earth can anybody stretch the word ‘No’ to 800 words?
Try stretching a General Motors Death Watch to 195 episodes. I kid. I think.
Any number of bookstores I have visited have young adults drooling over hopped-up car magazines and talking about all the horsepower and hoonerism they’ll do once they can afford those rides, and the gas the rides will burn.
Also keep in mind 25% of the market is made up of enthusiasts who could care less how much gas costs as long as they get the speed and attitude they wish from their vehicles.
No, the muscle car is not dead. It’s evolving, waiting full re-incarnation with the next generation of more efficient but just as ridiculously overpowered engines.
I doubt any car with over 350 hp will have a future. :X
I don’t have the time to write this, although I wish I did. Those who are attempting to write this should consider not just what the muscle car is, but what it represents.
The muscle car is a high performance, affordable, rear-wheel-drive car. Regardless of CAFE or the price of oil technology can save the high performance, affordable, rear-wheel-drive car. My personal bet would be nuke plants and LiIon batteries.
What faces much more of a threat is the freedom to be wild and free and reckless that the muscle car represents. An increasingly draconian society (driven by nanny-statists on the left and law-and-order conservatives and profiteering private contractors on the right) filled with speed cameras, toll roads and government monitored black boxes and GPS threatens to kill that in short order.
The Mustang and others have survived the 70s fuel crisis and detuned malaise of the 80s and jellybean styling of the 90s to emerge stronger than ever today carrying the styling, sound and feeling that made the originals legends. Their high performance and very efficient V8 engines provide all the fury of the originals while returning nearly 20mpg city and over 25mpg on the open road, far removed from the trucks, SUVs and crossovers that make up over half of what is already on our roads.
The muscle car is not a car that can or should be tamed. It represents four-wheeled freedom, lust, and marching to a different beat then the dull colored appliances from abroad that pollute our roads.
The muscle car has a future if the Big Three can get the rest of their product portfolios in order. Ford seems to understand just how vital the Mustang is to it’s image and how carefully they have to nurture that name. All three need to prune their portfolios not of muscle cars that people want to buy, but of the endless amount of gas-guzzling trucks, SUVs and crossovers they produce. They also need to offer new fuel efficient cars.
With a balanced and smart portfolio the automakers can afford to offer the muscle cars a large portion of their fanbases crave and that are known to each company without worrying about CAFE or other nonsense.
@no_slushbox – While I do totally agree with you about the draconian society part, I can still have a ton of fun obeying the laws while driving a muscle car. Muscle cars aren’t just about going fast, they’re about feeling cool while driving them. I have an old, unreliable, scary-to-drive, gas hog, impractical Jeep (I know not a muscle car) that I’m afraid to off-road anymore because of the repair costs. But when I drive up a canyon on the dirt roads, I feel great even though I’m going 10mph sucking down gas at 8mpg. So police/nanny state or not, I can enjoy a cool car.
damnit Robert. When is the next haiku contest? I don’t have time for your 800 words.
To be a real muscle car, you need to be a rear-drive “intermediate” (read smallish) coupe or convert with the biggest, hairiest V-8 engine from the maker. Once the mainstream intermediates went FWD, the concept died. I realize it is attempting a rebirth, but I think the world has moved on, and not a lot of people care anymore. Those that still do, prefer to invest in classics from 30-40 years ago…
Muscle cars were high performance like a 12-gauge is accurate.
I’d rather get a free subscription to Hemming’s Muscle Machines, a magazine about American muscle cars, than that other uppity rag.
Anyway, who has time to write essays about this stuff? Don’t people have jobs or families? Hell this little blurb I just wrote meant I ignored my wife for 5 minutes….and Glenn Beck on CNN.
eggsalad- AMG CL63,BMW M6, no one said today’s muscle cars had to be American.
“wihout editing”
That’s rather subtle. Which muscle cars are not. There are enough people who like something brash and honest around that they won’t go away. They might be hybrids in the future, like the old Accord hybrid, or they might be lighter and perhaps less powerful, but it seems to me that a muscle car has to look good, pull from the line with conviction, be simple, and hold corners in the same regard that Ms. Pelosi holds Mr. Rove.
Does it have to use ICE? I could imagine a muscle car powered by super powerful electric motors. Lots of torque and still environmentally friendly.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,No,NO.
Oh Damn, now I have to pad out the remaining seven hundred words… uh, maybe.
I really think market force’s will decide this one. I think any question, correctly asked, tends to answer itself but what is a Muscle car? I know what they were, but what will they be?
I still think of a lot of muscle car things as a fad, hyperbole and ignorance. I think its been dying for a long long time. I have a right to be wrong. A V8 Bimmer or Benz seems like a muscle car to me. I need to drive some muscle cars to get them I guess. Since I do not see that happening for me or a bunch of folk, it will loose some hype. The Challenger, Mustang and Camaro are pretty modern though, I wonder if many people will even care if its V6 or not? V8 or 20″ rims and stripes? The times are different. Only one of my friends is even thinking about a muscle car, he already has his Monte_Carlo. I mean aren’t muscle cars dead already? Isnt the Challenger a 300C coupe and the Camaro American Rice? The Mustang is a secretary car/ V8 thrill ride. Muscle car? Whats a muscle car?
eggsalad wrote:
“Muscle Car: big-car engine in midsize (or smaller) passenger coupe body.
Challenger, Camaro, Mustang – pony cars, not muscle cars.”
Back in the 60’s and 70’s those cars WOULD be considered “midsized” cars. Since cars nowadays have grown smaller we just dont have landyachts on the road anymore to compare them to.
The definition of a musclecar is a big engined RWD coupe that looks good with the back end jacked up, traction bars, with raised white letter tires and either Cragar S/S’s or American Racing Torque Thrust D wheels on it….that pretty much leaves out all the German cars mentioned above.
Muscle cars basically appeal to the rednecks and older guys trying to relive their youth. Most kids today would rather have something like a WRX.
No.
Reasons:
1. Peak Oil
2. They are a products of the 2.8 who are flirting with bankruptcy.
3. Government mandates for increased fuel economy.
4. Declining real income for the demographic that buys them and the high prices of the cars themselves.
5. Rising material costs for steel and plastic and the larger use of these in muscle cars.
6. The image is so 1970’s. Those who drive them are mostly fat and balding or wearing gray hair in a pony tail. Either that or someone younger with earrings and tattoos which are equally revolting.
7. Electric plug in hybrids produced from the likes of Toyota and Honda will out perform them.
8. They are a relic of a by gone era just like hoopty cars. Time moves on despite those who want to relive the past.
… and publish the three best (wihout editing)…
Classic.
I thought the real question was – “Does the American car have a future?
This vegetarian may have just written a better article than the one published by the man named “Angus”… but I will leave it up to TTAC to decide. I think they are still on the fence about my recent high praise for the 1993 Ford Escort as winter beater (which I admit was written when I was at least one sheet to the wind), and I am sure my tirade against all things VW (that I will write and submit soon) may meet a similar fate. Needless to say, this is still a great site, and I’m having a lot of fun.
Someone mentioned Haiku:
No, Time goes forward.
Once the old transcend this world.
Mustang has no chance.
In high school I lusted after my buddy’s Integra GS-R and the R32 GT-R I hopped up in Gran Turismo. Not a Mustang. Not a Camaro.
The result? Seriously considering a WRX or Mazdaspeed 3. Why? Great power, great handling and exceedingly practical 5-door configuration (have a daughter and can only afford one car).
Muscle Car: big-car engine in midsize (or smaller) passenger coupe body.
The concept is the same, but the game has changed. Neo-muscle car: big-car power in practical bodies.
# driving course :
September 4th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
How on earth can anybody stretch the word ‘No’ to 800 words?
something like “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
Uh, Mrb00st, that’s still only 1 word… just lots of characters.
Of course the musclecar has as future–it doesn’t HAVE to be about big cubic inches–while the MOST memorable musclecars were big block monsters, there were just as many with relatively efficient small engines–the 340 Duster, Darts and Demons… the Buick Grand National and GNX… the 94-96 Impala SS… the L76 Chevelle and LT-1 Camaros…
I think the real question is whether or not the manufacturers will TAKE the steps necessary to ensure the survival of the musclecar–let’s face it, muscle cars are about three things in general:
1. Fast in a straight line
2. The feel and sound of a rumbling V8 in a muscular body
3. The ability to wrench on it without SERIOUS complications
Everything else in this equation is secondary. Everyone here seems to be talking about small displacement v6s and 4cylinders… But why not a small displacement V8? You all know as well as I do that manufacturers put tons of effort into making an engine sound and feel “just right.” So there’s no reason they couldn’t do it with a 3.5 or 4.0 litre, direction-injection, variable-valve-timing, variable-intake-runner V8? Something that could knock down 30+ mpg on the highway with a significant overdrive like the T-56… But still run 13s or 12s in the 1/4 mile.
The current crop of muscle cars are wretched excess based on direct competition between the Big 3. It’s the same for BMW/Mercedes/Audi horsepower battle. That will eventually taper off as the industry focuses more on effeciency. That doesn’t mean we can’t have an effecient muscle car.
Variety is another strong piece of the muscle car puzzle–having a bazillion options to build your own at a dealer… Offer more performance options, handling options, and luxury options at affordable prices to make buying the car unique and fun.
I would totally buy, say, a new Chevy Nova SS with a 4.0 litre DOHC, all-aluminum, direct-injected, Variable Valve Timing V8. Make it 3000-3100 lbs, 300-320 horsepower @ 7000 rpm or so, and with a T-56 it’d still get 30 mpg. Why the hell not?
Musclecars are usually powerful coupes, that stress their abilitiies in straight line acceleration but neglect either cornering, agility ,ergonomy or economy and are that of mass production.
Muscles cars rather deal with emotional cache than common sense. The more parity of potential consumer is decreasing the more his emotional attachment decreases. Thus today muscle cars have less space for sales potential as the economy is shrinking. Muscle cars have never been associated with sophistication, innovation or high quality that `s why they have always had space within Detroit` manufacturing paradigm. As for today`s pony cars, they are not qiuet pony. Pony cars would be considered small, underpowered versions of Camaro or Mustang with basic OHV or SOHC engines and a curb weight under 3000lb.While todays 400plus versions with huge weight would fall out of that category.
To answer the question posed in the title: yes. If the muscle car can survive the ’70s, when the eco-nerds first attempted to legislate the fun out of driving, they can survive this latest attempt via upping CAFE. There will always be that niche, global warming be damned. Not everyone wants a Prius, me included. I always wanted a Camaro, and that won’t change.
I can’t stretch that to 800 words, so I’m out, but that’s my opinion. Ford without a Mustang is like Chevy without a Corvette- think about that before replying.
The muscle car will be replaced by the next generation iPhone, or, more precisely, an application that runs on the next generation iPhone. Probably within the Second Life universe.
I thought I was joking, but, actually, I’m pretty serious. I predict that in 10-20 years my (now-toddler) kids won’t give a hoot about cars…they’ll be using automated Segways to get around and devoting their attention to virtual worlds. To them, (muscle) cars will be sorry remnants of the 20th century.
This is more of an article about the the convergence of technologies and the incredible social shift which our society is experiencing. Pretty lofty stuff.
“Send 800 words– not one word more or less– to robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com.”
It’s an interesting writing exercise, but I must admit I’ve never understood the 800-words-fits-all format. It’s not like you are constrained by printing costs.
Your rule reminds me of my first journalism professor, a crusty old school type we endearingly referred to as “Sid Vicious.” He insisted that we keep all of our stories to 500 words or less. His basic argument: If the Bible could tell the entire story of creation in that amount of space, why would our prosaic news require more words?
Working with the 500-word limit did enforce useful discipline, particularly when learning journalistic-style writing. However, I think Sid took it too far. A publication he edited also conformed to that standard. I found the format rather boring because even some excellent long-form writers were required to fit all of their stories into that box.
Eight-hundred words seems like a reasonable length for TTAC’s subject matter. But not one word more or less for a muscle car essay? Maybe some other time.
To add to Matthew’s comment; within 20 to 40 years, our youth will __live__ in a virtual world at least part of the time.
Devices that allow direct connection and real-time sharing of information between human brain and computers are evolving fast. Once they allow someone to get _exactly_ the same sensations of driving a muscle car from a computers’ virtual simulation, it’s all over.
World War II, The Apollo Moon Mission, and Muscle cars!
Come on Folks, cant we in American please find something that is NOT 40 years old or older to lust after and/or feel a great deal of pride over?
I really cant believe that Folk still care about Muscle cars today. It is freakin 2008 already! It is time to move on. Why not take it back to the 1920 and 1930 and start building retro Dussies with wooden frame bodies, American cars were really great then too!
All this talk about cars from 40 years ago is so sad because the popularity of these cars is directly related to the fact that the US auto industry has NOTHING to show for itself for the forty years in between that era and today.
Trust me if GM, Ford, and Chysler had been SUCCESSFUL with such tech as smaller multi-valve alloy engines, turbochargers, IRS, or even good competent FWD pocket rockets, and had built up a legacy for this stuff folk in the USA folks would be happy to let the 1960s concept of Muscle pass into history.
In the day and age were a bread and butter FWD compact or mid-sized sedan can equal or surpase the strait line and skidpad perfromance of any EQUALLY PRICED RWD coupe WTF is the point of a so-called Muscle car? There will never be any real performance advantage again but the compromises will remain. Today a Camry v6 will give a Automatic equiped Mustang GT a serious “run for it money”. Laugh at the Camry all you want but when you cant outrun it in a stang something is wrong with the whole idea of the stang a performance car!
Yes, the Stang can pull ahead but it can’t pull away!
To me, muscle cars are RWD coupes with bad aero, bad interiors, bad suspensions and big engines at low prices
If they get smaller engines, better interiors and better suspensions, and more expensive, they will just be RWD coupes with bad aerodynamics
I will take a 350Z or say a Genesis coupe instead
The spirit of the muscle car lives on in the Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza WRX STi with turbochargers providing the substitute for cubic inches.
I thought about it for a moment, then nearly fell asleep.
After realizing that I am not sleep deprived today, and that I’ve already had my coffee, it occurred to me that I would surely lose the contest, because I simply do not care about the subject anymore.
Even in the automotive industry, there are so many questions that are much more important than anything having to do with “muscle cars.”
Before I doze off, I will say that I think I can blame the makers of my old Trans Am and Corvette for this. If it weren’t for the Trans Am, I would have been happy, and I would never have driven a Miata. If it weren’t for the Corvette, I would have been happy and I would never have driven a Z3.
The Miata opened my eyes, ears, and other senses to new possibilities. The Z3 sealed the deal; over and done.
whatdoiknow1- you are so damn right, we have to move on, and take pride in our products, except that the ones worth a notice are always imports. What are we going to brag about ? Make fraternity of Tupperware? Dead Zippo lighters Society? Badge slapping movement of 21st century? If you can`t make it, fake it. Americans have alot of great cars, but as in Orwell, foreigners have always better ones.Unfortunately.
Farago:
As the 3rd place winner of a previous TTAC contest on muscle cars, I tried to do this. But I failed. I got 170 words into it and realized that it was not about Muscle Cars, but about something much different. So I can’t finish. But I would like to share my draft, and share my thoughts:
I saw the most amazing display on vacation this summer, strolling down Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, CO. It was an outdoor rock concert. People dancing. Music blaring. The occasional whiff of something not-quite-legal in the air. The amazing part? Not one person was under 50 years old. Not even the musicians. But this was no easy listening troupe of mandolin players, no, this was a classic rock band playing classic rock music. These were the sounds of youth. But the youth were elsewhere.
Such is the future of the muscle car. They were once a symbol of youth and virility and technical prowess. But not in today’s world. And not in tomorrow’s. The newest batch of rabid teens and young adults are finding their symbols elsewhere. In things totally unexpected and totally foreign to us. The era of the combustible engine as a symbol of power and speed and social acceptance is passing. Rest in peace.
Now, go buy a copy of Spores and start creating creatures for battle. And prove you are a man.
@eggsalad:
There is always debate over this, but I don’t believe that “pony car” and “muscle car” are mutually exclusive terms. A pony car is a smallish sporty car, regardless of engine. A muscle car is defined more by having a powerful engine for its size. (I think there was a QOTD about this topic already.)
While a “real” Charger should only have two doors by definition, the current incarnation, particularly the R/T, SRT8 and Super Bee variants, is definitely targetting the muscle car market. If the Charger doesn’t count as a muscle car because it has 4 doors, then neither did the 1994-96 Chevy Impala SS and 2003-04 Mercury Marauder, which were also targetted at that market.
I hate the argument that 4 doors cannot be musclecars. By saying so, you not only veto the Impala SS and the Marauder, you also remove the current Charger, Magnum and 300C, as well as every muscular station wagon that’s been built (94-96 Caprice and Roadmaster Estates, V8 Nova and Falcon wagons, 440 Mopar wagons, including the famous Draggin’ Wagon)…
Muscle cars are:
1. RWD
2. American
3. Powerful V8s (one exception is given here, for the GNX)
4. Designed primarily for straightline performance, with other features secondary.
A Mercedes E55 AMG is a performance sedan, not a musclecar. It’s German, it handles and is luxurious.
A Toyota Supra is a sports or GT car, not a musclecar. It has a twin turbo inline-6, it’s made in Japan and it handles relatively well.
Neither a Dodge Viper or Corvette is not a musclecar. They’re 2 seats, built with exotic speed and handling in mind, with acceleration also a factor. They’re sports cars.
So yes, the Charger is a musclecar. I don’t like that it’s a 4-door either personally–they could’ve called it a Fury or a Belvedere and not “insulted” the Charger. But oh well.
The criteria I listed, you’ll notice, also doesn’t argue against muscle existing in the future.
Oh, and as for the earlier comment, pony cars are indeed different from muscle cars. Pony cars are a small class of cars created in the late 60s to early 70s as a sort of “sporty” answer to the muscle car. These cars are also RWD, V8 and American, but tend to be lighter than most musclecars, with smallblocks, and are intended to be more balanced and handle well. It’s a small group, only two of which still exist–although everyone seems to just call them musclecars, and that’s a shame I think.
Camaro
Mustang
‘Cuda
Challenger
AMC Javalin
AMC AMX
Mercury Cougar (before it went fat)
And, personally, I believe the versions of these cars with BIG BLOCKS no longer qualify as pony cars, because they all become drag cars at that point. A ZL-1 Camaro, a Hemi ‘Cuda, or a 428 Cougar is no longer a balanced, handling machine.
And to elaborate–the smallblock Novas and Falcons, the 340 Dusters and Darts, etc… Don’t qualify as pony cars… they may be light and have V8s, but they’re still basically straightline cars.
@Tigeraid:
The base model pony cars typically came with grocery-getter 6-cylinder engines, but are still considered pony cars. Smallblock V8s were optional. Big block V8s became available later, as they couldn’t easily be shoe-horned into the engine compartments of the earliest examples.
If, as you say, the big block powered versions are no longer pony cars, aren’t they then muscle cars? The fact that many 440 and Hemi ‘Cudas, 427 Mustangs, and 396 Camaros became drag cars, as you suggest, supports my thinking that they were muscle cars.
Another important thing that differentiates “pony cars” is the long hood, short tail styling. Mechanically, there was nothing different between the first Ford Mustang and the Ford Falcon, or the first Barracuda and the Plymouth Valiant.
The Nova, and Duster don’t really have the right look. (FYI, the Duster was a rebodied Dodge Dart, so mechanically identical.) As for the Dodge Dart, Ford Falcon and their corporate siblings, I’d say it was a matter of marketing. These were offered as 4-door sedans as well as 2-doors, while the cars accepted to be “pony cars” were only available as two-door hardtops and some as convertibles. I don’t know why you’d say that these were “basically straightline cars” though. With the right options, I’m sure any of them could have been made to fare well against the pony cars of their time. In the Mopar lineup in particular, given that the Plymouth Barracuda and then-new Dodge Challenger were on the wider E-body platform from 1970 onward, the smaller A-body Dodge Dart and Plymouth valiant were really closer to the original “pony car” concept.
That’s why I think that the term “pony car” primarily denotes a particular bodystyle, while the term “muscle car” denotes an excess of horsepower. Some cars can be considered both, and some 4-door cars and wagons can also be muscle cars.
If the topic of the contest had been “When is a pony car also a muscle car?” I’d already be halfway there with my two posts! :)
@Mike66Chryslers:
Yes, I do consider them musclecars. That as my point, sorry, I should’ve added that at the end of that comment. If they’re big blocks, they become musclecars because of what they are able to do.
And I suppose yes, 6 cylinder pony cars are still pony cars… sort of the economy/base version… kinda slow, but still sporty and stylish?
Do the hypertuned German cars really handle any better compared to say a Mitsu EVO or a Boxster than a big block Galaxie compared to a Jaguar E-Type or a Lotus Seven? It seems from car reviews that the only thing keeping the average AMG Merc or BMW M on the road these days is the electronics.
I think the Germans have the spirit of the musclecar down right. Too much power makes the thing dangerous.
“4. Designed primarily for straightline performance, with other features secondary.”
Not likely to happen in this day. The reason that cars back then didn’t “handle” is because they didn’t know how to design cars that handled well and were still big and roomy and powerful. It wasn’t a conscious decision to make them handle poorly. These days they can make a 3 ton crew cab truck handle like a race car from the 60s.
The American RWD V8 part is easy.
TTAC Writing Contest: Does the American Muscle Car Have a Future?
“No.”
@davey49
Well you have a point, certainly cars of today can’t be unsafe… but one way it can be a musclecar for example, is to have a solid, reliable live rear axle that can take tons of power, instead of a fragile IRS. That’s NOT to say a modern musclecar can’t have IRS, but it’s one example of how you’d trade ride quality and responsiveness for better straightline performance. It’s not so much that the car is unsafe, it’s that handling and responsiveness take a back seat to the first goal–quarter mile.
When is the final round of this contest going to happen? The suspense is killing me.
Tomorrow. Saturday.
Does the Muscle Car have a future?
The Muscle Car will always have a future. The Muscle Car was not only the cars but they are part of our history. I really enjoy Porsche,
BMW etc. but they are nothing in comparison to the American Muscle Car. My opinion on todays cars is you really can’t tell the difference from one to the other. Look at any of the muscle cars driving down the road or seeing them drag race (stock classes)and there is nothing more beautiful than these cars. Including the interior. I agree with the others in regard to
black boxes and restrictions. I think the computer and the chip have replaced us as the source for creativity. It’s sad. They actually did know how to make these cars handle and they did race on road courses. Check it out, you might be surprised how well they handled on road courses. I think it’s rediculous to say they are unsafe. Next time your on an interstate watch who comes flying buy at high speed. Most likey It won’t be a muscle car. I would only hope that these cars are available for future generations to enjoy them have the experience to drive and own them.