Muscle car aficionados have plenty to get nostalgic about don't they? The pony car era from the mid 60s to the early 70s produced some of the most exciting cars Detroit has ever offered. The multinationals seemed to be tailor making a wide range of cars for a youth culture audience, who rushed down to the dealerships, (and banks no doubt) to pick up the latest factory hot rods on offer.
For better or for worst, the party got interrupted by the oil crisis, catalytic converters and…. the economy car. Times changed and the Hemis, GT500s, Z/28s, Trans Ams, R/Ts etc were traded in for Pintos, Vegas, 510s and Corollas. Small and efficient cars became the thing to have.
In more recently times, with the return of the Challenger, Camaro and the fastback Mustang, we've seen the pony cars come back to life with a bit of a second coming- but I do question if this "new" Muscle car era can last. Will these big, heavy pony cars be able to weather the credit crunch and the eco movement?
Unfortunately for the Sport Compact crowd, our second coming party is over before it really got started…. The credit crunch has put an end to several exciting new programs which showed some promise for the future: the new NSX, S2000, RWD Toyota-Subaru, Silvia…. it's a bit depressing huh? Oh well…. The best we can do is go save a CRX, or an Integra… Or you can stare at this lovely supercharged machine built by MR2OC and MR2.com member MR2HYBRID93 and think of the days when cars like this were new…. I don't think we'll see an era like the late 80s to mid 90s any time soon unfortunately.
:R