Really, it’s surprising it took them so long.
But it is much more surprising that automotive journalists are leading the chorus ululating for the outlawing of the Dodge Demon muscle car. The automotive journalists at Automotive News – which is (or was) to the car world what The New York Times once was to the news-gathering world, cree that the Demon is “inherently dangerous to the common safety of motorists” and demand that it be “kept off our roads.” See here.
This is not much different than discovering an editorial in the morning paper written by Bernie Sanders arguing that the IRS should be abolished. When did automotive journalists morph into Safety Nags? And when did our roads become their roads?
It’s embarrassing.
First, on account of its general idiocy.
The Demon – a hot-rodded version of the already very hot-rodded Hellcat Challenger – is indeed very powerful. And very quick. And so? There are many such. There are motorcycles that are quicker.
Shall these also be “kept off our roads”? If not, why?
Automotive News says the mephitic Dodge “spits on” the industry’s goal of improving safety. That it “knowingly places motorists in danger.”
How so?
The Demon meets every EPA and DOT fatwa. It has catalytic converters and air bags. It has passed all the required crash tests. It is safe – by the government’s own standards. And it is 100 percent legal, according to the letter of the law.
What more do they expect?
Quoting the odious Ralph Nader – the non-engineer (and non-driver) who lied about the Corvair he never drove – the Demon is “unsafe at any speed.”
Nonsense.
The Demon is safer than the average new car. It is based on the Charger – which is a large, heavy and very solidly built sedan. It has the same high crash test scores and is objectively safer to be inside of than the compact-sized joykills that Nader and his new friends at Automotive News appear to favor.
If the standard is “too much” power or “too much performance,” then at least two thirds of all the cars currently in production must be outlawed and Kept off Our Roads forthwith. A new Toyota Camry or Honda Accord is quicker and faster than most Ferraris made during the ‘80s. The humblest Hyundai is capable of 100-plus MPH road speeds – far faster than the fastest legally allowable speeds.
Who needs that sort of power/performance?
Any 1,000 cc sport bike is as quick as the Demon – and this has been true for at least the past ten years. Why no saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety keening about them? Probably because the automotive journalists at Automotive News can barely drive and forget riding. (I happen to know this to be the case. Their lack of outrage about the performance capabilities of motorcycles is a an act of omission; they simply don’t know much about bikes and so it has escaped their notice that they are exceedingly quick. Demon quick, in fact.)
There’s another angle to this business, too.
It is a disgusting elitism.
Not the ok Jeffersonian kind that springs from merit and hard work and isn’t enforced by government fatwa. What leaks from the beaks of the Automotive News birdies is acidic outrage that something like the Demon is going to be available to the masses. That an electrician might somehow get his hands on one.
How else to explain the lack of keening outrage over, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron? It is much more demonic than the Demon – which only has 840 hp vs. the Bugatti’s 1,100-plus horsepower (not a typo). Also, the Bugatti is much, much faster. It is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 240 MPH (again, not a typo).
And it has been available for several years. To the sounds of silence.
Ah, but only to those who can afford to spend about half a million dollars on one – and who are first approved by Bugatti to be worthy of owning one. Not just any old person can buy one – even if they can afford one.
Few can.
The same is true of other Demon-esque supercars. The Ford GT, for instance. It is literally a street-legal race car, just like the Demon. Which is what the Automotive News creeps claim they object to. Except they do not object to this car. Which is also capable of 200-plus MPH speeds and is silly powerful. But like the Bugatti, the Ford GT costs a quarter-mil and you can’t buy one even if you have the money unless Ford first first deigns to sell you one.
This keeps the sans culottes at bay.
The Demon, on the other hand, will cost under $100k, probably. People like you and I could possibly afford one. It might take scrimping, it might take a loan. But it is doable. The purchase of a Bugatti Veyron or a Ford GT is not.
And that is what the automotive journalists at Automotive News do not like, even if they haven’t got the self-awareness to notice it.
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Automotive News/Crain have issued a mea culpa – some semblance of the free market exists!
“Although I have written a lot of our editorials over the last few decades, the one in the April 24 issue of Automotive News slipped by me. That editorial, which maintained that the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon should be banned from public roads, was misinformed and wrong.”
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170501/OEM11/170429815/automotive-news-is-wrong
Hey Eric,
thought you would be interested in this article
https://consumerist.com/2017/05/01/why-is-subaru-telling-me-to-keep-people-out-of-the-passenger-seat-for-the-next-year/
Apparently, even the thought of disconnecting the defective airbag, until replacements are available, is inconceivable. If lap/shoulder belts are used an airbag is redundant, and in this instance life-threatening.
While it may not be a completely analogous comparison, this reminds me of the irrational fear certain people have with “assault” weapons based on the cosmetic appearance of the machine in question. The collapsible stock, 30-round magazine, and generally “scary” and “militarized” look brings people to call for their prohibition, regardless of how they actually function (especially in comparison to more “tame-looking” firearms). Your general dearth of operational know-how, lack of hands-on experience, and general hand-wringing and fear about “what-if” scenarios should not prevent me from using or owning something for which I possess the safe track record and skills to use.
While it may not be a completely analogous comparison, this reminds me of the people who are irrationally scared of weapons simply on the basis of cosmetic appearance and how they think the weapon “might” be used. The collapsible stock, 30-round magazine, and overall “scary” look of the “militarized” weapon is enough to frighten people into calling for their prohibition regardless of the actual function or utility of the machine in question. Your dearth of operational know-how, hand-wringing fear, and lack hands-on experience should not prevent me from owning or using a tool for which am qualified to use and have a safe track record of use.
Let’s bring them out in the open. All magazines are dealing with sagging readership, and open to anything that might remedy this. So why not a letter writing campaign to every automotive magazine asking for a feature entitled “What Makes the Perfect Car”, and make them tell us what they feel are the characteristics that make a car ‘good’ (to them) and what makes a car ‘bad’. If you can get them to do this you’ll get two things 1) the answer they think you want to hear, which will likely contradict so many of their own previous writings which we can then call them out on under threat of boycott, or 2) their true colors, which is probably that that they think the best cars are the ones that are the most fuel efficient, or are most devoted to government mandates, or are the best for being stuck in city commuter traffic, or some other general indication that they are speaking their own language and not providing anything of value to TRUE automotive enthusiasts. Of course they could choose option 3 and just ignore our requests. At which point they’ll know exactly why they lost readers.
In any case its self induced suicide for the jokers. We can separate the wheat from the chaff this way and support the publications that get it (assuming any are left) and let shit-pot joke publications like Automotive News die a deserving death.
I’m in for some letter writing if anyone else is with me.
Are these virtue signaling hypocrites up in arms over the Tesla Model S P100D?
Hi JTG,
No. Of course not! The Tesla is greeeeeeeeen! 🙂
eric, Autonomous replies exactly the same comment of the person he replies to. So WTF am I missing?
And now I’m back to posting and being put into “moderation”. I suffered this bs for weeks and now I’m back into again.
It’s Friday night. Denver. Done with being pushed pole Kowalski was gonna’ deliver•drive a ‘70 Challenger to SJWisco. By 3pm Saturday. But then he noticed the Demon was also headed wisco way. Took that delivery, instead. Which allowed him to nap until 0300. He rolled into fisherman’s wharf a few minute shy of 1500. Mississippi Queen. If ya’ know what I mean.
But…most of the stuffed crotches who drive Demons & such like couldn’t get outta’ Denver, baby, to Frisco in 12 no matter how many bennies binged. They can just barely get back\forth the Safeway. Which makes the “outrage” even sillier.
If it was built to be driven as stolen, & you’re uber’ing it, who ya’ foolin’? Probably not even that slutty gal with cash register eyes, who drives better than you do, & who’s planning to drive *you* like she stole ya’. Cue Jimmy Buffett cuz you’re just a tattooed margarita blender. Lol…..
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/04/qotd-greatest-killer-time/#more-1560113
“QOTD: The Greatest Killer of All Time?
By Jack Baruth on April 28, 2017
Earlier this week, I told you about the fellow who was convinced that the Dodge Demon was unsafe at any speed. I did not agree, of course; the Demon has been carefully designed to present considerably less risk to its occupants than, say, a swing-axle Beetle in high-wind conditions.
Which leads to a question: if the Demon is not the deadliest car of recent times, what is?
Former TTAC contibutor Doug DeMuro said that the Carrera GT was the most dangerous car on the road. A few years later, somebody actually let him drive a Carrera GT, at which point he changed his mind and said that it was the greatest car ever made. I think we can safely discount both of these opinions.
My personal vote for deadliest car of the modern era: the second-gen Ford Explorer, when the tires were (under)inflated to the factory spec of 26psi against Firestone’s preferred pressure of 35psi. The way I always think of the old Ford Explorers is as 1988 Ford Rangers that were loaded way past their original design specs thanks to the additional glass, metal, seating, and people — then driven in traffic like they were Corvettes on Hoosier slicks by their mostly female owner base.
That last point is significant, because very few cars are dangerous when they are driven in a sensible manner by people who are alert and aware of their peculiarities. The old VW Beetles could and did exit the road ass-first under heavy wind but most people who owned them knew to keep the speeds low in those conditions, the same way you would if you were riding a sportbike. The same is true of 3/4-ton pickups on load-rated tires.
What’s your vote for today’s four-wheeled “widowmaker”?
Posted in Question of the Day
Tagged as 930 turbo, Cars and Coffee, Dodge Demon, fox body, widowmaker
Thanks for this. I worked for Bridgestone/Firestone during the Explorer debacle. What most people don’t know, (and what the Ford whores at Car and Driver never told you) is that the Explorer was always INSANELY dangerous and Ford always knew it and covered it up. Those rollovers didn’t have ANYTHING to do with tires at ANY pressure. During this debacle BFS was able to obtain from a ‘whistleblower’ or sorts, Ford’s original test videos from the original Explorer tests. And long story short they were like a horror movie: 5mph rollovers, rollovers on the skidpad, rollovers in the slalom, rollovers on the wet traction test. And this was BEFORE they made the decision to drop the inflation spec, but definitely a big part of the reason. At 26 psi the Explorer was a death machine. At 35psi it was a death machine. With ANY TIRE OF ANY BRAND it was a death machine, a fact proven by an INCREASE in the number or failure incidents with most of the recommended replacements to the Wilderness AT. But nonetheless Bridgestone took a hit to their reputation and wallets ($1 BILLION) because Ford lied and suppressed evidence about the Explorer from day one until today. Ford should have literally been made to close its doors forever for pushing this plague upon an innocent public, reaping massive profits in the process, none of which were re-invested into making the Explorer safer for a period of nearly a decade. The 1995 Ford Explorer is by all accounts, all test data, all field data, and any other measure, the most dangerous vehicle to ever drive on American roads. Hands down and not even close. Thousands of people in coffins and wheelchairs will tell you the same.
If I am to believe someone at a supplier I’ve dealt with and I see no reason not too, I’ve been told the cause of the manufacturing defect in the tires. It’s something the media simply wouldn’t have time for. I am not sure I should even repeat it. It makes the Explorer debacle, something which the media went steps beyond in complication than they normally do even more complex.
Even then, the problem was not at 26psi it was at pressures far below that. Also each blow out story seemed to contain the one element that is not to be done when a blow occurs, mashing on the brakes.
An old friend /mechanic called them “Exploders”. I’m surprised nobody recalls their propensity for bursting into flames. …in the footsteps of their cousin, the Bronco. Out here in the real heat people go into a store and return to find said Bronco engulfed in smoke and fire no matter their babies are inside being protected from the heat. It was common enough for a decade or two.
Now Exploders are choking out their pheroes by the droves in cities and DPS with uncontained exhaust. It’s sorta funny that the answer so far is to limit their exposure to a couple hours at a time
I find this funny in more than one way. Reducing exposure time simply extends the time needed for carbon monoxide poisoning but a daily dose is just as sure an outcome as sealing them in for 3 shifts. None of these government entities run by your regular bureaucrats seem to be holding Ford’s feet to the fire. Once the problem was identified nobody should be spending any time in these death traps. …and the road goes on forever and the party never ends.
Automotive News appears to be the publication for the suits, the bean counters, the safety managers, the “regulatory compliance officers” of the business.
In other words the mindless, faceless minions that have created the bland, dreary, effeminate, emasculated, regulated world in which we now live.
It’s truly amazing that this car even made it into production.
God Bless the Italians I suppose.
Hi AF,
They are – mostly geeks and as you’ve described. Not Car People.
I often feel like the last of the Mohicans…
You are one the last Road Mohicans indeed! Its why you are the only voice in the auto world I pay attention to.
may the Demon be a runaway success
Thanks, Ric!
And, amen… I have contacts at Dodge; just wish I had the coin to buy one of these.
Careful with your language. I am a geek. A geek who funneled all of his geekiness into physics and engineering degrees so that he could become an automotive engineer. A geek who along with other geeks built an aluminum frame rail buggy with a CBRF3 engine for a college engineering project that still holds every record at the Goodyear test track. A geek that agonizes over fuel mix ratios, horsepower gains, synthetic oils, and rubber compounds. A geek with patents on rubber compounds and dampening materials. A geek who used to have every speed and handling metric for every supercar committed to instant-recall memory. A geek who can feel uneven tire wear, a grooved brake disc, miniscule changes in alignment or expired oil all through the sensations in his feet coming from a gas pedal (a REAL one, not a potentiometer).
So let’s call these non-car people by a better name. WE are the geeks. Extreme over the top car geeks with no shame about it whatsoever. But they are not us. They are the worst possible thing any human could ever become: BUREAUCRATS. Oh the humanity…
Gotcha, Dutch!
Well-said, sir…
These idiotic communist safety-nazis are just one of the reasons I completely boycott ANY media which may be at all considered mainstream. I’m so disgustingly sick of their whining and self-righteous ass-backwards advocacy of everything that is evil; their desire for more big government and regulation; and their vilification of normal men as incompetent fools, that if the enclaves of nanny-state liberalism where these traitors to humanity dwell were to get nuked, I would seriously cheer.
I’m embarrassed to share the same continent with these fools. I’m embarrassed to be of the same species!
Feminism has created an effeminate and homosexualized society, in which men who like fast and powerful things must be reduced to the knitting circle and the coffee klatch.
It’s a form of communism, really. Equality will be achieved by lowering men to the level of women and gays. What do you think this whole “transgender” hoopla is all about? Kurt Vonnegut foresaw this in his classic 1961 short story Harrison Bergeron, where equality is mandated at gunpoint by a bull-dyke government commissar. Read it some time if you haven’t… it’s frighteningly prescient.
And safety culture, government controlled medical care, insurance… the whole ball of wax feeds into it. What is the design? To destroy threats to the ruling class. Domestication.
And for those of us it fails on? Punishment.
There are no gay people, not with the oppression the united States Goverment decrees. There are only male and female homosexuals. i prefer to call them what they are< "Queer in the head".
David Ward
Memphis, Tennessee
THANK YOU! Call a spade a spade.
Not only do they quote Nadir[sic] they give attribution. Any auto publication that uses Ralph as their lodestar isn’t worth the paper (or electrons) it’s written on.
Hi Mark,
I have been in this game since the early ’90s and the changes are … depressing. Most of the “automotive press” consists of City Boy types who don’t even like cars, let alone understand (or work on) them. Here’s a True Tale for you:
I once attended a media event in Manhattan; a guy who writes for a major paper approached me and began to ask me about motorcycles because he knew I was into that, owned a bunch and did track days, etc. This tool freely admitted he had never even sat on a bike and did not know how to ride yet planned to review them for his paper. I began to drool and had to leave the room…
Want another?
The guy who does reviews for The Washington Post (he may be retired now) is Warren Brown. Warren is an excellent business writer who knows less than nothing about cars. When they first began issuing him press cars, Porsche sent him a 911 with a manual… which he could not drive because he didn’t know to drive a car with a manual transmission.
Really.
Warren Brown
Columnist — Washington, D.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/warren-brown/
Not surprised in the least. In 1973 I was somewhat interested in cars. That was the year I read Nadir’s[sic] hit piece on the Beetle, which I owned. It was also the time when I bought my Road & Track, the 25th Anniversary edition with an MG-TC and Ferrari Daytona on the cover.
Guess which path I took.
Your ending gave up the ghost on this.
They are not outraged about the other vehicles mentioned throughout, because they know that limited production (and the requisite high prices) will keep them away from the masses. They know that they won’t see one of those other vehicles every time they turn their collective heads.
But the thought of Dodge possibly pricing the Demon under $100K? That puts it near Corvette territory. And that’s why their collective undies are in a wad. And no; I don’t want to see the size of the knot in their collective undies.
They are showing the collective upset that “the masses” might be able to scrimp up enough cash (or a bank loan) to actually purchase these Demons. They would rather the sale of the car be restricted, using some mechanism other than price, to prevent ownership by “the masses.”
It’s those types of journalists that give the entire profession a bad name.
“Automotive News – which is (or was) to the car world what The New York Times once was to the news-gathering world,”
So they covered up the destruction of millions of Yugos by the USSR?
My E55 AMG with a few mods and a tune is a crazy car, even dangerous unless driven carefully. But it sure is a blast to drive, but leave it home in the rain.
And Benzes being perceived as stodgy make it a surprise to some. I only drive it when it suits. I have a number of more “practical” cars, but that thing is just plain fun and humans need fun…
Hi Erik,
Excellent!
And: The Demon, with its modern/grippy tires and overall superior chassis (as well as electronic safety nets) is far saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafer than my ’76 Trans-Am with its meager 350 or so hp… on 15×7 wheels, leaf springs and coils, etc.
I never figured why the Z28 and the TA never got the 15X8 other GM cars had
Hi Eight,
The TA did!
Beginning in 1978, if you ordered the WS6 handling package, you got 15×8 snowflakes or (beginning in ’79) 15×8 “turbine” wheels.
eric, we mocked my Elco wheels 15X7.5 for the tow package that set a good inch or so to the inside on a Z28. It was obvious a 9 inch wheel made like that wheel would have fit fine. ….even at least another inch on the rear.
Ordering wheels with the correct offset allowed much wider wheels front and rear.
“This keeps the sans culottes at bay.”
What really keeps them at bay has nothing to do with the cost or the requirements to get the other cars. It is that to attack those cars would be to attack the rich whom are mostly responsible for keeping the boot licking academics gainfully employed.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you…
Millenials can drive a Demon for $325.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-dodge-demon-experience#/
Sadly only 3300 Dodge Demons will be produced, meaning that most people will never get to experience this record shattering beast. We want people to experience 0-60 in 2.3 seconds, a 1/4-Mile in under 10 seconds and popping a wheelie in a production car.
That’s why we have created this campaign, so that we can bring a Dodge Demon to the closest Drag Strip near you and record your experience in this magnificent peace of engineering.
Voting for Trump is voting for slowing the growth of govt.
Absolutely a good thing if you had the time to spare.
A real anarchist would refuse to use fed dollars, ignore all illegitimate laws, etc.
Gail and all of us are flawed libertarians, cognitively incoherent limited govt believers.
We are all partially clovers and mostly corrupted beyond repair.
Best we can do is to roll up our sleeves and repair each other with whatever philosophical tools we can scrounge.
We hate the state yet we are unwitting sucklings of the grim mistress America. We hate ourselves and each other. In this time of chimpanzees we’re the monkey.
We don’t believe everything that we breathe. We get a parking violation for having a maggot on our sleeve. We shave our face. With some mace in the dark. Saving’ all our fiat food stamps. And burning’ down the fema trailer park.
Love you loser limited govt libertarian ladies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE
Je suis un perdedor. Viva Le Pen mightier than the globalist sword.
I think its amazing that a car like the Hellcat and Demon even exist with the amount of regulation we have today.
So many things in the USA get canceled after those looking into doing something, see the stacks of regs they have to wade through and go, “its not worth it anymore”. I know at least two people with cool business plans that are shelved because of stuff like this. Since there is little chance of change, they are likely shelved forever. And it’s a shame, because there would be people who would love the chance to have a job with those “never going to happen” businesses.
I know, pretty amazing that you can buy one of these and not a new TDI. It is insane.
It must have something to do with being such a limited run car or cheating the system.
Dodge takes a page from the CEO of Carl’s Jr/Hardees:
“I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it’s very American,” (Puzder) says.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246487
The best thing for Dodge is to have the mainstream press get their panties in a bunch. The more the gentrified and dignified writers complain, the better their punk credibility. Besides, you’re not ever going to see a Dodge at Pebble Beach, no matter how good it is. But you will see them on Woodward Ave being driven by someone smoking a cigar and drinking a (not diet) Coke. With their slutty girlfriend/wife in the passenger seat. On their way to Carl’s Jr for an “obscene” amount of calories.
Exactly, Ready!
Hot damn . . . as the late great Doctor used to say. I need one. The slutty girlfriend, I mean…
The Demon would be much less trouble and expense and pleasure than the slutty girlfriend.
Hi Joe,
This is Pravda!
But a slutty girl for an hour or so would be okay, too…
Easy enough to rent one…
Hell yeah, Eric – slutty women are great. I am sure you can get a discount for frequent use. Don’t buy one though
Hi Swamp,
Working on the slutty woman thing. What the hell… right?
The wife’s gone. So, why not?
Eric,
Here is my take on sex workers. They provide a service the market demands. They generally do no harm and in most cases render complete satisfaction. This obviously competes with the woman that wants to enforce the monopoly on sexual favors via marriage. So this market must be criminalized.
However, I define prostitute as anyone that shills for the state to their monetary convenience.
David Ward
Memphis, Tennessee
Eric,
If push comes to shove, so far as muscle cars are concerned. Make our own, below is a link to V8sandrocket, these and others similar to them could be made into street cars. I have a 2002 Silverado whose frame is becoming increasingly rusty, its 4.3L four speed auto would probably be a fine donor and suit me.
http://www.sandrocket.com/
Eric, a Mexican friend was showing me a video his friend sent him from Mexico showing himself getting in a home built machine very similar and driving from his home in the country to the store in town on a grocery run…..the difference being it wasn’t big power but was legal on the road. He said it had become popular. No windshield, wipers or horn. The video was from inside so I’m guessing it had the proper lights.
Re 8’s and chiph’s early posts:
Ruger (RGR, NYSE) is still an independent, wholly owned manufacturer.
As to quality, price point is important to most of us. And Ruger does a good job on that. My 10/22 and my wife’s Mk II have functioned beautifully, even when being forced to digest some of my hoard of 50 year old (!!!) Xpert ammo from Woolco (remember them?). The stuff is frequently green on the outside, but with the exception of a few failures to light, the Rugers handle them as if brand new. Never due to a failure to feed and nice deep dents in the rim, so obviously a primer defect due to being so long-in-the-tooth. Generally whacking the rim at a different point will even make them light off. And they always eject with no cracked cases. Good stout chambers in those Rugers.
My Super Blackhawk (c. 1962, S/n 14,xxx) still performs like it did when new (even though my ears do not).
As to Assault Weapon Ban, what Bill Ruger did (and I agree that he was wrong) was to suggest that, instead of defining Assault Weapons by various bits and pieces, the problem goes away with a single line which bans magazines with over 15-round capacity. There may even be some merit in simplifying an idiotic law created by simpletons. I think the complaint about that error kind of falls in that category of “But what have you done for me lately?”. Millions of people own tens of millions of Ruger weapons and are overjoyed to be able to get them.
After Bill passed away, Ruger (the firm) changed their position on the issue. I like their guns personally (I have two). I think they’re well-built and represent classic American engineering.
“My Super Blackhawk (c. 1962, S/n 14,xxx) still performs like it did when new (even though my ears do not).”
Yeah, I sold mine to buy something I liked better. It was either to scope it(the long barrel)or trade it. Every other gun I had I could stand to shoot soundwise except for a few .357’s but the .44 was beyond loud. I didn’t have a recoil problem with it but trying to hunt and wear Norton ear plugs sucked.
I thought the Mark 1 was great as well as the 10-22. I bought my dad a Super Six for my mother for Xmas. He didn’t even own a gun and I couldn’t imagine why he wanted one. It was a good gun for me if I had liked that type. It’s too much for somebody who doesn’t intend to practice and do so with instruction and ear protection. When I found out it was because my sister who knew absolutely nothing about guns but took the cops word for it, I nearly had a fit. I’d been reloading since I was 10 and had shot nearly everything but exotic huge bore rifles. I owned close to 70 or 80 guns at the time and had been through hundreds.
Probably 10 percent of people who own .357’s practice with .357 ammo and fewer practice with what they keep in the gun. I loaded my own ammo of every sort. When I practiced it was with what I intended for personal protection. My rifle loads have always been what I keep in them for various purposes. Obviously my Garand sighted in for 600 yds. was a specific purpose gun as is various AR’s sighted in with different sorts of sights for different ranges. My HK Compact .45, BDA, Combat Commander in .38 Super were all practiced with the same load I kept in them. People who don’t reload either spend a shitwad of money or don’t practice much(don’t practice much is the norm). I load basically two 12 gauge loads, one fur upland game birds and sometimes a different shot size for quail and magnum 4 shot for large varmints, 2 and 4 legged. Everybody can avoid the bidness end of my loads simply by not fucking with me. It’s so easy even a few LEO’s get it……but not many. They think their shit don’t stink….until they have to smell it scattered everywhere. Too late then a-holes…and by them olfactory senses aren’t really working.
A Veryon is over a million. And even if you could swing that, maintenance is a killer. Set of tires? $25k. New transmission? $120,000. That’s why I’ve got my ’08 Lotus – Toyota Celica GTS engine and transmission. Fluids and drivetrain parts can be had at Autozone and tires from Tirerack.
I’ve got one too. I love the little car – 215 HP and 1950 lbs weight runs circles around most Ferraris at the track, and it’ll go all day in 100F heat without overheating.
I had a chance, a few years ago, to buy a stock/original Sunbeam Alpine… and let it slip through my fingers…
Dad had one way back in the late 60’s. As long as you don’t get the wire wheels (no one knew how to properly tighten them so they make crunchy sounds as he drove) you’d be fine. I saw one a couple of years ago here in Austin – the tail fins are *cute* 🙂
Probably the reason Ruger was absorbed by that big corporation that got S&W and several others. The big irony here is Ruger sells one of the cheapest AR’s around. Not saying their quality is not good but CDNN near where I live has been selling them for $499 and Colt’s for $699. You won’t get a Spike’s Tactical for less than $1000 above that.
This is like when Bill Ruger came out in support of the Assault Weapons Ban.
I know people who to this day won’t buy or handle a Ruger.