People used to mock bodybuilders for posing. All those mighty muscles – but what do you actually do with them? You show them off.
Well, inflatable muscles would serve just as well for that purpose.
How about cars with muscles that almost no one uses?
With lots of clenched-teeth-looking posing? 
The average new family car has more power and potential performance capability than the average performance car of the ’90s. A 1995 Mustang GT’s 5.0 liter V8 made 215 horsepower; the car could do zero to 60 in about 7 seconds. A 2021 Camry with the standard 2.5 liter four cylinder engine has 203 horsepower and gets to 60 in just over 7 seconds. With its optional 301 horsepower 3.5 liter V6, the Camry can make that run 5.6 seconds, easily blowing the doors off the ’90s V8 GT. Which was one of the top three fastest American cars available back in the mid-’90s.
But back in the ’90s, people who drove Mustang GTs used the performance they were capable of. In the today, people who drive family cars like the Camry with more performance capability seem afraid to use it. The new Camry looks really angry, though – much more so than the ’90s Mustang. Probably because it is so frustrated by its driver.
All new cars seem to look this way. Great gaping maws for grills with slitty cat’s eyes off to each side. It’s a lot of huff and not much puff. A kind of sad performance kabuki. A show without the go.
High-powered “luxury sport” sedans are the most aesthetically-dissonant of all. Many have 400 horsepower and yet move with the athleticism of an ’86 Aries K car.
Anyone who still drives will affirm this observation.
One can be driving a vehicle with very little performance capability; for example, my Old Steady pick-up, a nearly twenty-year-old truck with a four cylinder engine that does not get to 60 in either 5.6 or 7.9 seconds, regardless of my best efforts. In fact,my ’02 Nissan Frontier has about the same performance potential as a new Prius. But I use every bit of potential it does have and that makes me faster than most new car “drivers” who are behind the wheel (sort of) of vehicles with twice the performance potential.
It’s like a guy in a wheelchair winning the Boston Marathon. 
When these gimps-behind-the-wheel “pass” another car – if they even make the attempt to pass another car – it is done with excruciating lethargy, kind of slow-motion Safety Dance on four wheels.
First, the wait. These non-driving people have to think about it a bit before they initiate any action.
Then they signal. Always the signal. This having been bored into their minds as the Most Important Thing to do when passing, rather than competently executing the actual maneuver.
Then some more wait, just to make absolutely sure everyone within a quarter mile knows they are thinking about attempting to pass. Then the tepid, tentative foray commences, with the alacrity of molasses dripping from a spigot in a winter. In New Hampshire. The passing car sort of wanders into the passing lane; its speed increases to just slightly more than that of the car being passed.
Then the signal comes on – again. And then, glacially, the car meanders over to the right, just in time to prevent you – if you were behind him, also trying to pass – from also passing before the passing zone ends.
These people seem unfamiliar with Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration – a reference from the ’70s, when speed limits were low but for the most part people still knew how to speed.
There was also this thing called the passing gear.
It engaged when you pushed down on the accelerator pedal – in a car equipped with an automatic transmission. It amounted to a forced downshift to a lower gear, in order to increase the mechanical leverage of the drivetrain, in order to get the car moving, quickly. Which was considered desirable for passing other cars and for increasing one’s speed to match that of other cars, as when merging onto the highway.
It was a selling point, talked up in car ads (today, the ads talk about apps and “assistance” technology).
It was considered – it was taught, in driver’s ed – that it was safe to pass quickly – so as to reduce the amount of time one spent in the opposing lane of traffic and so as to avoid wandering into the travel path of traffic proceeding at a much higher speed, forcing it to swerve or brake violently to avoid rear-ending you.
But the passing gear only works if you push down on the accelerator pedal – the Original Sin in the catechism of the Safety Cult. This theology posits that the worst possible thing one can do behind the wheel of a car is to push down hard on the Evil Pedal.
One sees Observance everywhere. Lots of go – potentially – but very little show, actually. Cars with 300-plus horsepower that have the capability to get to 60 in half or less the time it takes a Prius to make the same run crippling along as if they had no more capability than a Prius.
Which raises an important question. Why bother with the capability if you’re not going to use it? Is it not wasteful? A 300 horsepower engine uses much more fuel than a 150 horsepower engine; if it is a small engine, it takes an expensive turbo to make that 300 horsepower, plus usually premium fuel.
What about the children? What about “climate change”?
It’s as silly as it is pathetic as it is frustrating – for those of us appalled by the idiocy of people driving 300-plus horsepower cars as if they had no more than 150 on tap.
Usually, with a Face Diaper on.
And they ask me why I drink . . .
. . .
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A proud “super speeder” in several states……
This article makes be glad for my HEMI
Once upon time I was so afraid of getting speeding ticket from the AGWs in the Florida keys, that I took my sweet time passing within the speed limit & got a ticket for passing in a no passing zone
I don’t have that problem any more
My first trip to Cal LA area in 1979, my younger brother and I were driving Dad’s new Dodge van with a 318 auto. Through a twisting road full of sports cars, limping along like some grannies, we passed quite a few Corvettes, Mustangs, Chargers, German sports cars like they were standing still. Great fun we had on that road.
A proud “super speeder” in several states……
I’ve never seen the movie, so can’t vouch for quality, but here is a trailer I came upon while browsing notthebee.com:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4eQsgudVhY
Set in the future (2011).
Here is the article from notthebee, which is a good one:
https://notthebee.com/article/people-before-cars-proclaim-our-social-betters-and-im-starting-to-think-they-dont-know-how-cars-work
Roll. Your. Ass !! (My coworker I carpooled with, he was from Utah)
Looks like WA state driving “skills” have gone nationwide, this place famous for Richard Cranium Dwaddlers since forever.
Best speed demon was a little old blue hair lady in a Subaru wagon, passed me on the freeway at about 85, I was on the motorcycle doing about 75. She had Montana plates, and was not intimidated by the I90 curves east of the pass. God bless those that know how to roll!
‘All new cars seem to look this way. Great gaping maws for grills with slitty cat’s eyes off to each side. It’s a lot of huff and not much puff.’ — EP
Mihnea Radu sees this too, Eric:
‘The presence of testosterone usually creates wider jaws, smaller foreheads and smaller eyes with strong brows.
‘Almost all muscle cars, both old and new, have big chins, strong lines over their headlights (brows) and small windshields in proportion to the rest of the car (equivalent to a forehead). Coincidence? Not really.
‘Just like humans associate the widening of the hips with older age, so too are cars that are wide at the back sometimes chosen by older gentlemen.’
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/does-your-car-have-a-face-55260.html
Why did she have to go and blurt that out? About the hips, I mean.
Unquestionably, the provocative widening of a well-sculpted car body around the rear wheels and subsequent tapering resembles a phat booty.
Once you’ve seen this, you’ll never be able to glide your hand along a smooth, swelling rear fender without feeling like ol’ Humbert Humbert having another go at Lolita, as raging paraphilia makes your breath catch.
And they ask me why I self-medicate …
And thank goodness Eric didn’t write ‘slutty cat’s eyes’ …
Any publication that gave that dingbat a forum is a waste of time and effort.
He looks like a soy-boy who has never turned a wrench. And his horrible articles prove it.
This is why I hate Ze Modern Germans, my old hometown was chokefull of 3/5 series, C’s & E’s, A’s and S’s and the occasional rich bitch with a M/AMG/RS, yet with all that potential, they might as well be driving a ’93 Corolla.
I see a Muscle car (V8) and it’ll move, I see a Jeep (Wrangler) and know they’re sunday driving to the beach regardless of time of year, and I see germans, I know they’re just gonna put around and drive slow despite being more powerful and capable than most things on the road.
Sad when my untuned nearly 3 ton truck can out hustle them, even sadder that the poor cars are gonna be neglected during their leases and be just like every other lot rock once things are up
Came upon one yesterday while I was driving about Instacarting. We were on a 2-lane country road, little traffic, and there was a large truck with a flatbed trailer parked in our lane, apparently to load or unload heavy equipment. The car in front of me was stopped, waiting for it to move apparently. I blew by both of them, despite having only 171 hp (according to Edmunds online) in my Escape with the undersized engine (somehow I don’t believe that number, it really doesn’t perform well at all). That person ended up following me around the stopped truck, but you have to wonder, what the heck were they waiting for in the first place? Hell to freeze over? Oh boy.
‘There was also this thing called the passing gear.’ — EP
My first exposure to overdrive was riding in a Chevy owned by a friend of my mom’s. Unusually, it was equipped with both a three-on-the-tree manual and an electrically-activated overdrive.
Taking our group of kids somewhere on a two-lane rural highway, she decided to give that ‘passing gear’ a whirl. Mind you, she’d been cruising for the past half hour in 3rd gear — direct drive.
So she punched the button and with a lurch, overdrive engaged. Fortunately there was a long runway of empty lane on the left, because the acceleration with overdrive engaged was distinctly underwhelming.
Upon completing the sedate maneuver, she kicked the old mule Chevy back into direct drive, eliciting another shudder from the poor beast.
‘Well, I’ll swanee,’ she drawled, evidently abandoning the daring but disappointing experiment with overdrive, at least for this trip.
She probably didn’t get the ‘spring forward, fall back’ thing neither.
It is quite amazing that although all new cars (and trucks) have become morbidly obese, their power has more than increased enough to have far superior power to weight ratios compared to yesteryear.
As you point out, very few people actually demand, or use, this level of power.
The best way to pass on a 2 lane is WOT. People seem to be concerned with “speeding” instead.
The big lie is “speed kills.” Totally false. Speed differentials kill.
If speed killed, every airline pilot and passenger would be dead. Every astronaut would be dead.
The morons who try to merge onto a 70 mph expressway at 45 mph (where traffic is doing 80) is the most dangerous thing someone cold do. But you’re not speeding, so it’s OK.
For the record this 35 mph “Delta V” crash is about the most severe speed differential even tested by automakers.
It’s not speed that kills; it’s the SUDDEN STOP at speed that does (kinetic energy)! KE=1/2 mv^2. That’s why a motorcycle traveling at high speed can total a bigger, heavier car.
You ain’t kidding.
Went on a call many years back. When motorcycles were getting crazy fast. A rider t-boned a small car (civic – carolla) Killed the driver and you could have picked up the rider in a snow shovel.
In new england, the land of the disappearing passing zone and increasing numbers of zoned out zombie drivers, one has few opportunities to escape the putt putting putz. When a broken yellow opens up ahead theres a good chance pork lies in wait. Eager to capitalize on your frustration.
When in the communistwealth states of the northeast it’s better to pass on a double yellow, and speed where it’s unsafe.
Interesting, Anon.
The only time I was ever on the Cape of Cod was the summer of ’75. The “rotary” was a new term and the intersections with no signage that made “right of way” gospel a real eye opener. It rained a lot. While watching teevee and psa came on. It showed a dawdling driver causing a conga line (h/t Eric) to form and finally someone tried to pass and was killed by an oncoming truck. The point of the ad was to castigate the dawdler. I doubt it’s still being shown.
I came to love the way they drove the rotaries, practically drifting around them in those days. It was a blast in my Fiat x-1/9
Don’t give them any ideas Eric! I use my 400hp v8’s all the time, and enjoy it.
I’m a believer in hammer the things. redline, full load.
Kills me a little “you have to break it in”, haha……….
I buy a lot of new cars and they go full load right out of the dealers lot. they never use oil, never had a problem, ever. I visited a car plant in the 80’s and they put the cars at full load right after they got put together. saw it myself and it changed my thinking forever.
Long time ago, we used to put freshly rebuilt 4cyl motorcycle engines on the dyno and go to full load screaming. no way i was putting those bikes on banked tracks without knowing we didn’t miss a valve keeper, etc….
Honda had to do a special break-in routine right after assembling their Gold Wings because their mature owners didn’t really wring them out, so Honda had problems with unseated rings as a result. What they did right after they came off the line was put a special, light weight oil in the Wing; strap it on the dyno; go to redline as they went through all the gears; run it full speed on top gear for five minutes; then bring it back down through the gears. After doing that, they’d drain the special, break-in oil; put the factory spec oil in; then, they’d ship it. Honda never had problems with ring seating on their Gold Wings again…
I put my Suzuki Burgman 400 under load right away. Though the manual recommended 4,000 rpm for the first few hundred miles or so, I couldn’t do that. Why? The CVT wouldn’t engage until 3,000-4000 rpm, so it would slip and I’d burn out the clutch shoes and housing. I found out about that on a Burgman owners’ forum. Burgman owners were following the manual, and they were burning up the clutches. So, I kept mine under 6,000 rpm until the manual said it was all right to go beyond that. I also read the above Gold Wing story there.
I didn’t know that about the Wing but it makes a lot of sense. I’ve been hammering brand new engines for 20+ years, lots of them.
How about those car shows that show brand new builds going on the dyno, full load.
I’ve been a believer for a long time.
The only thing I do a little different is fresh rebuilds of my dirt bikes (mostly 2-strokes). I let them warm up, then go to redline slowly without over carbureting them (bog) for a couple runs. Cool it down and then it’s hammer time. Again 20 years of this, and when the manual says my rings need re-done at say 50 hours, I’ve learned my engines still look almost new, so I’ve extended my hours to approx. double.
In older cars, passing gear involved a mechanical connection between the transmission, the vacuum system, and the throttle position. It was part and parcel of the same system that shifted up. Mechanically adjustable as well. Now you have no choice in the matter. You get the response the car was programmed to give you. Period.
On vintage Mopars, one had to, in doing a tune-up, ensure that the carb settings, like the stroke for the accelerator pump, as well as the idle mixture, were set correctly. Giving the linkage, especially the KICK-DOWN for those equipped with the Torqueflite, a few dabs of oil or spray lube was a critical but often-neglected part of the “three months, 3,000 miles” maintenance that went along with the oil and filter change. Done correctly, even a staid Dodge Coronet four-door sedan (“The Blue Bomber”) or Plymouth Satellite or Belvederewith a grocery-getter 318 with a “wheezy” Carter BBD 2 barrel, would still give some impressive mid-speed pickup for passing or freeway ramp acceleration.
Needless to say, save for when, every other year, the rig had to pass those early smog inspections, you could fiddle with the settings for either performance or fuel economy. With today’s computer-controlled engines and drivetrains, for all practical purposes it’s impossible to get it the way YOU want, as John punted out.
Eric,
I’d counter that some trepidation on passing, especially on a two-lane highway, is a good thing, as in making damn sure you’ll make the leap before a head-on encounter. So many times have I seen people execute this stupidly, and have to break off the maneuver half way.
That said, when one is sure the coast is clear, get on with it!
All of that horsepower must be nice, I must say. Having to pass people in my ’94 S10, for example, is a chore, nearly requiring a flight plan.
I rarely pass on two lane roads I’m unfamiliar with, unless there is an obvious opportunity. On the other hand, those roads I know well present opportunity even on double yellow line stretches that used to be single line. I know they are coming up, so I prepare for them. Shift to a lower gear to get more control of my speed with the throttle, and shifting to the lowest practical gear when the point of decision appears. And getting on with it.
I agree. When I’m on a 2 lane road, even if the putz in front of me is driving me crazy going 10-20 under the limit, I’ll ask myself if I need to pass. Am I turning off soon anyway? If so, why put myself in danger on a 2 lane? Also, can I do make the pass safely? Is there enough of a straightaway with good sight lines? Once I’m good to go, I hammer the gas and get on with it.
Another thing I’ve done is drop back; build up my speed behind the car I’m passing; then pop out or sling shot around him, while quickly making the pass. Again, the whole idea is to minimize time exposed to oncoming traffic.
The last thing I want is a head-on situation. Even if both vehicles (i.e. the ones on a collision course) are only doing 50 mph, that’s 100 mph closure; that’s lethal!
One thing you have to worry about is the clover in front of you speeding up to prevent you from passing…
True, I’ve had that happen to me.
It’s amazing how OFTEN that happens! Either the slowpoke driver’s ego get bruised b/c (s)he’s being passed, or the “Clover” just has to “show you” by frustrating your legitimate passing maneuver. Asshats like that should be made to ride the bus.
Oh yeah!! That’s happened to me. One time in particular, I was driving my older wagon. It has a 3.0 V6 NA engine that factory specs say originally achieved about 220HP or so.
The dummy in front of me, on a two-lane road coming back to the sticks from Annapolis was being a hugely cloverish ass. So I had it! Pedal to the metal and listen to that engine scream!
I’m guessing that person was a liberal because he/she/they/them/it was clearly unhappy about my decision to pass and started to race me. OK, I’m down.
BUT! That closed the gap with oncoming traffic. So I was left with the choice to keep the petal on the metal or risk a collision with said clover.
For whatever reason, the closest oncoming car decided to increase their velocity as well! It was probably not the smartest choice on my part but, in the moment, I decided to stay the course and did beat the clover.
The oncoming car — who clearly decided to exacerbate the situation ended up almost ditching on the shoulder! And I made it back in the lane just in the nick of time to avoid a head-on which would have surely involved the clover as well.
Dumb. Fucking. People. Needless to say but “safety” is not on my list of goals. Never has been. I’m truly lucky to be alive but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I agree that passing is definitely a risk assessment, understanding that a head-on collision is not going to end good for BOTH parties, why cause it?
And if BEING passed, the courteous thing to do, is, if there’s enough road to permit it, to move over to the right and maintain a CONSTANT speed (see below) and be alert for oncoming traffic, to allow the passing vehicle to complete the pass safely. That’s why I think there should be a special place in Hades for those asshats who, when driving in MOUNTAIN highways, slowpoke along (granted, it depends on their vehicle’s handling and their confidence) and REFUSE to pull into a “turnout” and let cars ACCUMULATING behind them to pass! In CA, if you fail to use a turnout and there are five or more cars behind you, you can (and SHOULD!) be cited for failure to yield.
Indeed, if you aren’t maintaining a relatively constant speed, you are an unknown variable in the risk assessment. Otherwise known as an obstacle.
They get this high performance capable car because its cool, and then realize they haven’t a clue how to drive it. There are a couple of such somewhere in my neighborhood, who drive one of the late model muscle cars. One a Camaro, and the other a Charger. I occasionally come up behind them driving 50 on two lane blacktop, until I try to pass them. Even then they won’t put their foot into it enough to keep me from doing so in my 06 MX5.
One thing i have noticed, as a late teen early 20 something driver, i rarerly had to push the pedal to the firewall when wanting the car to accelerate on the highway. That 88 TBird with the V-8 engine knew when that pedal was moving down that the car needed to go faster and the engine & more importantly the transmission responded immediately. These new cvt equiped cars it almost seems like you have to prove to the computer that you not joking and really do want to go faster before the transmission begins it’s downshift procedure and increases your speed. I don’t know how comfortable some saftey obsessed drivers are with putting enough pressure on the gas pedal to let the computer know you really did want to go faster.
Yet another reason to drive manual transmissions, if there was such a thing. There was in an MX5, and I think that’s still the standard equipment for them.
I have since come to several repeating thoughts in my head regarding all these slow drivers while in my ’20 F150 ecoboost: “You have 350 horsepower, use it!” Also another, “Never give up an opportunity to pass.” And lastly, “Always drive as fast as you possible can!”. Then I don’t have to put up with that crap. Even if the guy I pass comes up behind me at the next light, *at least* I’m ahead of him and wont have to repeat any passing moves!
Many if not most people have lost any desire to understand how something in the real world works, and how to use it. If it’s not contained on a computer or a cell phone, they are unconcerned with it. In fact, such real world things terrify them. Which is not so much a new thing. I have in the past, right after dirt was invented, ridden with drivers who react to an unexpected event on the road in front of them by locking their grip on the steering wheel not allowing it to move, and standing on the brakes, until they get lucky, or hit something. Such being their one and only response.
Nothing keeps your attention span up like trying to merge onto rt 287 with semi’s barrelling down on you at 70+MPH when you are behind one of these clowns who thinks merging means slooowly increasing speed from 25 mph to about 45 mph before cutting off the traffic already on the highway while simultaneously blocking you from merging properly. Then if you are lucky, they slooowly increase speed to 55 once on the actual road. I deal with this almost daily. Normally a tractor trailer can get to 55 or 60 faster than these 250-300 hp turbo charged sedans or crossovers. Its disconcerting but i’ve gotten used to it. Normally i know that i have to plan to merge at least into the middle lane quickly to avoid getting run over.
The 270 HP of my Tacoma is plenty to blow most cars off the line at a red light and easily get up to 70+ on the highway quickly. I have no issue blowing past cars even when those cars are much lighter and boast more hp, usually because people are so inattentive at lights they don’t realize the light has changed.
For a great many such “safe” drivers, the notion of merging onto a highway means driving to the end of the ramp, quite often at ridiculously low speed, signaling and swerving onto the highway without regard for any other vehicle on the highway or the ramp. Simply “assuming” a right of way they don’t have. Forcing other drivers to brake, which is a thing one should NEVER have to do on a dual lane highway, always paving the way to potential catastrophe.
They’re clueless as to the purpose of the ACCELERATION ramp…it’s self-explanatory, as you’re supposed to ACCELERATE to freeway speed and THEN merge, b/c, with your speed and those of neighboring vehicles nearly the same, it’s easier to negotiate entry.
What really rankles me is, n Cali(porn)ia, many freeway on-ramps were retrofitted with the bypass lane for the “hallowed” vehicles that qualify as a “car pool” (two persons in most places, in the Bay Area, many freeways call for THREE) or those considered “clean”, like hybrids and EVs, and, of course, GOVERNMENT-owned vehicles. Those not lucky enough to be “blessed” have to trundle down to a stop light, which cycles green for enough time to allow one or two vehicles (there’s usually a sign saying how many are “allowed”). The trouble is, to keep the queue that inevitably forms during rush hour from backing up into the surface streets, they’ve taken up most of the ramp intended for a reasonable acceleration to freeway speed. Therefore, when the light sez “Go!”, you HAVE to “punch it!”. Not that I mind testing my ride’s mettle, BUT, given that such a “Jackrabbit start” is considered to be wasteful of fuel AND a poor driving practice, doesn’t it seem contradictory to public policy to make it necessary?
I’ve guessed that the whole thing is disingenuous anyway, as most of these “lesser is more” nitwits that have all but run the once-Golden State into the ground actually desire is to get we “proles” OUT of our cars, and into their much ballyhooed “mass transits”. As far as these statist bozos are concerned, we’re “impacting” the Earth, using up more than our “Fair share”, and so on, but, of course, like Al Gore, you don’t see them giving up their limousines and private jets.
I usually accelerate to a bit FASTER than traffic, since your brakes are far more effective changing your delta V than your throttle is.
Yes John we get this crap in Australia a lot. I try my best in my 21 year old V6 to get to the front of the pack and hit the accelerator so I am going top speed on merging. Rarely have problems this way. It’s the slower cars that screw up the whole pattern of traffic around the ramps.
I make quick work against most others on side streets with this :1986 K5 Blazer 6.2L V-8 Diesel, 165hp, 330lb ft torque, 5,500lbs with me and my standard stuff in it- online estimate 0-60 mph (sec):16.5, quarter mile time is 20.7 sec, 0-100mph….no. Makes glorious 6′ high, 8′ out dual clouds of diesel smoke entering a highway for about 1/8 of a mile straight since it is so slow at max throttle. Too bad i can only hog the right lane, but snow days I’m in the left leading the pack. The engine mostly converts fuel to noise, so its funny when people think I’m drag racing from a light and floor it only to zip away easily
Your write up is great
“And they ask me why I drink.” I fully understand, Eric. A friend once said to me : “My wife didn’t know I drank until I made the mistake of coming home sober “…..
In fact, my former wife and I nearly parted ways when I went dry for about 5 or 6 years. She had never seen me cold sober before. Unfortunately, we didn’t. That happened about 15 years later because she “wasn’t happy”, even though I pointed out to her that no one who is paying attention is.
The “passing gear” was one of three available. Now with 8- 9- or 10-speed transmissions when you put your foot down the confuser has to figure out what is the “best” gear to use to answer the call. But like Robocop’s 4th directive, there’s conflicting software running the show. It is very obvious when comparing acceleration on an on-ramp vs attempting to pass. If you’re lucky enough to hit a clear on-ramp most vehicles will push you into the seat with the acceleration from dead stop. But once it is in high gear it wants to stay there. Push the go pedal… engine basically lugs… wait… and wait… “Do you want to go… faster?” By now you’re tailgating the semi and everyone in a pre-2010 vehicle is in the passing lane, and they ain’t letting anyone in.
I’ve had some success in heavy truck traffic (since most of them are locked to 70 MPH) using the quasi-manual mode set to 4th or 5th gear, which while they’re OD gears, will still allow for quick downshifting. The transmission will still be an automatic but stops at the set gear instead of running way out to 9th.
I drive a manual transmission equipped 1982 Mercedes 240D, a diesel producing approximately 54 horsepower and run circles around most drivers on the road today. It’s not necessarily the car’s power but the attitude, skill and proficiency of the driver.
And will to go fast….often it is who is more committed to passing
HANG ON to that staid little oil-burner!
Absolutely YES! Thanks. Valve adjustments every 15,000 miles and all is good. Yes, I do the valve adjustments myself. Over 300,000 miles so far.
Those old diesel Benzes are INDESTRUCTIBLE! Hang on to it. I wish I could even get my hands on one…
So that little OM616 is just BARELY broken in? Fine, just be sure to leave it to ol’ Doug in your will…
Now…lessee…that 2 ft section of schedule 80, 1-1/4 iron pipe ?
Cool. I like the picture of the Ford with the 115 mph speedometer. That brings back some memories. I first noticed the slow driving performance cars during the last year or so of the 55 mph speed limit. I remember seeing some guy in a 84 or so Vette cruising at 54 in the left hand lane down I-820 in Fort Worth. He was holding up a bit of traffic and I just wanted to run over the trunk and hood of that thing. A corrolary was seeing a poster of Dale Earhardt posing with the High Point NC police department stating “speed wins on the track, speed kills on the highway.” I need a drink as well.
Some knucklehead is holding up traffic on the 820 Loop…there was a time, back when a Texas DEMOCRAT like, say, John Connally or “Cactus Jack” John Nance Garner, who were more conservative than most of today’s GOP, would have pulled out a trusty Colt Single-Army Action revolver and have eliminated the “problem”, TEXAS-STYLE.
My experience from Illinois….speed limits are ignored here by 95% of people, but when I went to the DFW and San Antonio areas, people really followed them!