I'll chime in here and I'm old enough to be considered "old school"...
That pic of the trailer hitch is for haulin'. Haulin *** that is!!
I have a business associate/friend that has a new 2007 Charger SRT8, "425 hp" Hemi...
Loaded, moon roof, leather, CD, the works...
I made the first runs with 1800-ish miles on the car at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA on a Wednesday night last summer...
12.80's (fairly consistant) at 106. Then, after three runs...I made a lap with the AC on...just for kicks...
12.88 @ 105. BONE STOCK. On the scales it weighed 3,998 with NO DRIVER and a 1/2 tank of gas.
Good point on a junk yard find: A low mileage from a wreck, ported heads...and it's EASY HP in ANY ride.
Comparision: Car Craft took a 5.-something liter GM LS-2 and with a cam change made 480 HP....a set of GM PERF heads took it over 500 HP...for about $4000-ish!
So, I convince a buddy with a 70 Nova to do the same thing. He gets a LS-2 something that's 364 inches, adds the GM cam that Car Craft used, a single plane intake from GM with one of the 750 Holleys I've got laying around. With a L480E-something trans, a 10" street converter, 3.73 gears, a 28" drag radial in that Nova, runs VERY consistant 11.40's @ 116. AND gets 16 MPG on the highway!! GM or not, IT ROCKS.
That makes me think that a 5.7 Hemi, single 4 Holley and a OD auto in a 3000 lib A-body outta run the same and be COMPLETELY street-able!!