Great article on owning a muscle car

AJ/FormS said
I bought my first muscle car at age 17. It was a 70Swinger340-4spd.3.55s with Rally Suspension, and E-70-14s. It was incredibly dangerous. And incredibly much fun.It earned me the nickname of "ditcher" in grade 10, cuz that beast was always putting me in there. But the boys all lined up for thrilling rides, and coughed up gas money.Boy, she was hard on tires. I worked after school,and Saturdays, at Canadian Tire, so I could get deals on rubber. In the 4years I owned it, I seem to remember installing 7 sets of rear tires. I did finally learn to keep the back, in the back.I sold that worn out puppy in spring of 75, to another young kid,who was thrilled.
BTW;That Dart had great power disc brakes. Trouble was those tires. Those Es were pure junk, loc-em-up at 50 miles an hour, and flat spot 'em at will. And you know when they're smokin' on the front;you can't steer right? Oh look, here comes the ditch again!

Yeah, I don't know why people bag on the brakes in the old cars. Maybe they just feel better than they are, but I drove a 69 Charger with power drums, not even disks, and despite it being a 4000 pound beast, that thing would put you through the windshield if you weren't careful. My Dart feels like it stops pretty dang well, even just with manual brakes if you hit them hard enough. Tires are usually the ultimate limiting factor. if you can lock your wheels, bigger brakes won't make you stop any better in an emergency situation, they'll just be more resistant to fade over repeated heavy use (like tracking the car). If you can't lock your tires, you could probably use a little more powerful brakes.