Modern vs. Old School

Mrmopartech said
Yes the old stuff is still king,but they are catching up quickly.And ask them how fast thier car would be if they had to push 3600lbs with a 4 cylinder 200hp motor.Mrmopartech

Bone stock to bone stock there is very few of the "old stuff" that can hold a candle to the modern 4cyl turbo car. I have a book at home that is all reprints of magazine road tests of Barracuda's from 64-74. Stock even the big block E-bodies were only low 14 second cars. That SRT-4 will run 13's.

I have had at least one turbo mopar continuously since 1985. A Shelby GLHS with less than $1000 worth of upgrades can be made to run 10 second quarters. A friend of mine had a turbo 4cyl mini van that ran a best of 12.99 in the quarter. He used to love driving to the drags with his family in the mini-van then go out and embrasss most every other car there on street tire night.

The SRT-4 is under 3000lbs and certainly has an advantage over a B-body but the advantage is minimal with an A-body. My current turbo mopar is an 03 turbo PT Cruiser, it weights in around 3200lbs, more than my Barracuda. Though not as fast as the SRT-4 it still goes like stink.

The other thing to remember is that 220 HP the SRT-4 and PT have would be over 300 (more than any factory 340) if it was measured the same way that horsepower was measured up through 72.

Don't get me wrong, I love the old stuff. The unrefined brut torque, the noise and attention is great, it's just that as delivered from the show room the modern performance cars out accelerate, out brake and out handle the cars as delivered from the show room in the muscel car era.