1968 '340' Barracuda vs 1968 '383' Road Runner
wow...
what an interesting collection of facts, memories and opinions. i suspect that there is a great deal of truth in all these posts. it's very difficult to talk about what the "muscle car era" was like with "youths" who did not grow up during that period. EVERYTHING was different in the 60's and 70's than it is now. one of the reasons "muscle cars" were so popular from the mid-60's to the early 70's was that the U.S. was a "young" country back then. in 1967, the average age of the population was something like 25! America was seen at home and abroad as a country with "excess" which could do "anything." muscle cars were "excessive" vehicles. they were amazingly fast right off the the showroom because NO ONE cared about gas miliage. "hi-test leaded" gas cost about .37 cents a gallon in 1969. and because the U.S. economy was booming and the middle class kids had lots of money to burn, driving a car that got 8-10 miles per gallon just didn't matter. i "cleared" $40/week at a bowling alley i worked at and could fill up the 15 gallon tank on my 68 formula s 340 4 speed barracuda for around $5.55! with 3.91 gears and a lot of street racing, that full tank of gas usually was gone by midnight on a friday or saturday but i didn't care because i still had around $30 bucks in my pocket! since a "Big Mac" was only .55 cents as was a quart of beer, you can do the math as to how much fun you could have driving these cars on not too much money. and at that time the "car culture" was much stronger than it is now. in 1967, something like 6 out of 10 manufacturing jobs were related to the auto industry. so EVERYONE LOVED cars! so the introduction and marketing of rediculous muscle cars was just part of the "youth culture" and the auto industry. it's hard for most to understand today why the plymouth roadrunner was "motor trends car of the year" in 1969. further, in 1969, the dodge 340 darts were being advertised with ads that said: "6000 RPM for $2999.00!" sexy young girls were all over "muscle car" tv commercials. so to a 25 year old who had some money, owning a fast car usually meant "i'm going to have sex tonight!" and as some of the "old geezer" FABO members probably know (but will never admit), there were lots of girls "back then" that REALLY enjoyed going fast in a car. and when i say "really enjoyed" you can probably figure out what that means. with out going into any detail, the REASON i ended up with a 68 barracuda in high school was due to the fold-down back seat. plymouth advertised that option using a married couple in sleeping bags with a line that said something like "you can even go camping in a new barracuda!" but the "kids" really weren't thinking about "camping." like i said, America back then did EVERYTHING in excess ... there were no other countries in the world that went through the "muscle car" experience. from 1964 to 1971, there were scores of cars that were fast - some faster than others. you could go to a dealer and for a little bit of money as a down payment, you could drive off the lot with a paper license plate in a vehicle that were literally burn the tires off the rear anytime you wanted to try. burn out contests; how far you could lay down two black lines; squelling tires and motors sounding like they were trying to suck the hood down through the carburators - all that and more was just a regular friday or saturday night. before i bought my "used" 68 formula s, my mother and i tried out a "brand new" orange 4 speed 69 A12 road runner wtih the owner of the local plymouth dealer driving. he was "an old guy" to me at the time and he didn't drive a 4 speed much. when he pulled out on the highway and tried to "give the roadrunner a little gas" that 440, 4:10 rear and 1st gear ratio almost threw me an my mother into the back seat! then he let off of the gas and he almost threw us into the windshield! can you even imagine ANY production car now right off the showroom having that much raw tourque and power? maybe there are a few but none that i can imagine a 17 year old high school student could save up and buy. it was just a crazy, crazy time for American cars. sadly, there will never be a time like that again. while there are "fast" cars today and many that i would love to own, the "kids" today will never get to experience what us "old guys" just took for granted for so many years until it was just "over."