Is the Second Muscle Car Era Coming to a Close?

[Shelbyleader]

End of an Era?

With new rules and revised CAFE standards, the days of powerful, fuel-thirsty cars may soon be long gone.

By Lawrence Ulrich Click to see more pictures The goverment is ready to take the gasoline out of car enthusiasts' veins.

 

There's only one thing to say about a Corvette that can top 200 mph, or a Cadillac sedan that makes the muscle cars of the '60s seem like a bunch of wimps: Enjoy it while it lasts. This golden age of horsepower may be coming to an end, at least in the gas-guzzling manner to which we've become accustomed.

 

An initial stroll through the recent auto show in Detroit might convince you that nothing has changed. GM was touting the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, a 620-horsepower 200-mph monster that's simply the fastest production car in GM's history. Next door at the Cadillac display, the CTS-V sport sedan was flexing its 550-horsepower muscles.

 

Even squeaky-clean Toyota — ignoring recent environmental backlash over guzzlers such as its Tundra pickup — offered the 500-plus horsepower Lexus LF-A roadster. This Tokyo demon, heading to showrooms next year, should also break the 200-mph barrier.

 

These hard-drinking machines might convince you that automakers are still partying like it's 1999, when gas cost around $1.20 a gallon. But just under the Detroit show's surface, something else was brewing. And it wasn't high-octane unleaded.

 

Read: Gasoline's New Math: Miles Per Dollar

 

New rules will force the car kings to shift their focus. Revised CAFE standards require automakers to raise the average mileage of their car and truck fleets to 35 mpg by 2020. Proposed pollution standards in the U.S. and Europe may force even more dramatic increases. And if California wins the right in court to regulate global-warming emissions, you might just kiss your super-powered car goodbye — at least those that rely solely on gasoline.

 

In Europe the government and greens are proposing carbon-dioxide targets so strict that, if passed, not a single gas-burning model on sale today — including hybrids like the Toyota Prius — would pass muster.

 

The situation recalls the end of the first muscle-car era, which left Boomers shedding tears for their beloved GTOs, Shelby Mustangs and Hemi 'Cudas. In the early '70s, the first-ever tailpipe standards were a critical step toward cleaning up smoggy cities, but they also helped strangle the muscle car. It took two decades and a serious dose of engineering Viagra before cars recovered their potency.

 

The unfortunate side effect is that the average car today slurps more gasoline than it did 20 years ago. Cars became vastly quicker and more powerful. And of course, Americans switched en masse to SUVs.

 

Read: Fuel Economy: Then and Now

 

For anyone — including myself — with a need for speed, the longtime cliché is that they have gasoline in their veins. But a century's worth of shooting-up has put us where we are now, trying to kick a national addiction to oil.

 

As a result, the Motown show also featured enough green cars to stock a Sierra Club parking lot. On display was Toyota's hybrid A-BAT concept pickup and General Motors' latest hybrids, including a plug-in Saturn Vue SUV that's coming in 2010. Mercedes, VW and Honda hyped their high-mileage diesel cars that can even meet California's tough pollution rules.

 

Tellingly, the show also saw carmakers backing away from the thrilling-but-thirsty V8 engine that's as much a part of American culture as rock and roll. GM deep-sixed a $300 million project to develop a new V8, with Vice Chairman Bob Lutz saying that new fuel-economy rules directly sparked the move. Ford plans to drop V8s from several models, replacing them with turbocharged V6 and four-cylinder engines that go farther on a gallon.

 

If all that doesn't have you seeing the writing on the wall, you'd better schedule an eye exam. Still, if there's a difference between today's golden age of performance and the '60s original, it's the ability of technology to ride to the rescue.

 

Discuss: Do you think the new regulations will really mean the end of high-powered cars or will technology come to the rescue once again?

 

At the Detroit show, I asked Lutz — the GM car czar who famously inspired the Dodge Viper while at Chrysler — whether this was the last hurrah for horsepower. And while Lutz has become a vocal supporter of hybrids, electric cars and alternative fuels, he said that cars like the Corvette would still find their niche. "At the height of the vegetarian craze, the grocery stores are still selling New York steaks," Lutz said.

 

Lutz's point was that some people will always find a way to go fast. But the future does look bleak for speed machines powered by gasoline. While it's too early to predict which fuels will be winners and losers, it's certain that there will be multiple players. Half the new cars sold in Europe run on clean diesel, and that impressive technology is finally on its way here.

 

Mercedes showed off a sumptuous diesel-hybrid S-Class sedan that delivers 44 mpg. Audi will almost certainly bring us a diesel version of its spectacular R8 sports car, combining 500 horsepower with a respectable 24 mpg.

 

Energy experts agree that the transition to alternative fuels will take decades. There will still be gas pumps 30 and 40 years from now. Car lovers will still be able to cruise their classic internal combustion machines, whether it's a '32 Ford Deuce Coupe, a '57 Chevy or today's hottest rides.

 

But the days of guzzling gas as quickly as you can hose it into your tank are over. Looking back 30 years from now, we'll know it was not only the right move, but the only move.

 

Lawrence Ulrich lives in Brooklyn and writes about cars. His reviews and features appear regularly in The New York Times, Popular Science, Men's Vogue and Travel + Leisure Golf.

[bull]

End of an Era?

With new rules and revised CAFE standards, the days of powerful, fuel-thirsty cars may soon be long gone.

By Lawrence Ulrich Click to see more pictures The goverment is ready to take the gasoline out of car enthusiasts' veins.

 

There's only one thing to say about a Corvette that can top 200 mph, or a Cadillac sedan that makes the muscle cars of the '60s seem like a bunch of wimps: Enjoy it while it lasts. This golden age of horsepower may be coming to an end, at least in the gas-guzzling manner to which we've become accustomed.

 

An initial stroll through the recent auto show in Detroit might convince you that nothing has changed. GM was touting the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, a 620-horsepower 200-mph monster that's simply the fastest production car in GM's history. Next door at the Cadillac display, the CTS-V sport sedan was flexing its 550-horsepower muscles.

 

Even squeaky-clean Toyota — ignoring recent environmental backlash over guzzlers such as its Tundra pickup — offered the 500-plus horsepower Lexus LF-A roadster. This Tokyo demon, heading to showrooms next year, should also break the 200-mph barrier.

 

These hard-drinking machines might convince you that automakers are still partying like it's 1999, when gas cost around $1.20 a gallon. But just under the Detroit show's surface, something else was brewing. And it wasn't high-octane unleaded.

 

Read: Gasoline's New Math: Miles Per Dollar

 

New rules will force the car kings to shift their focus. Revised CAFE standards require automakers to raise the average mileage of their car and truck fleets to 35 mpg by 2020. Proposed pollution standards in the U.S. and Europe may force even more dramatic increases. And if California wins the right in court to regulate global-warming emissions, you might just kiss your super-powered car goodbye — at least those that rely solely on gasoline.

 

In Europe the government and greens are proposing carbon-dioxide targets so strict that, if passed, not a single gas-burning model on sale today — including hybrids like the Toyota Prius — would pass muster.

 

The situation recalls the end of the first muscle-car era, which left Boomers shedding tears for their beloved GTOs, Shelby Mustangs and Hemi 'Cudas. In the early '70s, the first-ever tailpipe standards were a critical step toward cleaning up smoggy cities, but they also helped strangle the muscle car. It took two decades and a serious dose of engineering Viagra before cars recovered their potency.

 

The unfortunate side effect is that the average car today slurps more gasoline than it did 20 years ago. Cars became vastly quicker and more powerful. And of course, Americans switched en masse to SUVs.

 

Read: Fuel Economy: Then and Now

 

For anyone — including myself — with a need for speed, the longtime cliché is that they have gasoline in their veins. But a century's worth of shooting-up has put us where we are now, trying to kick a national addiction to oil.

 

As a result, the Motown show also featured enough green cars to stock a Sierra Club parking lot. On display was Toyota's hybrid A-BAT concept pickup and General Motors' latest hybrids, including a plug-in Saturn Vue SUV that's coming in 2010. Mercedes, VW and Honda hyped their high-mileage diesel cars that can even meet California's tough pollution rules.

 

Tellingly, the show also saw carmakers backing away from the thrilling-but-thirsty V8 engine that's as much a part of American culture as rock and roll. GM deep-sixed a $300 million project to develop a new V8, with Vice Chairman Bob Lutz saying that new fuel-economy rules directly sparked the move. Ford plans to drop V8s from several models, replacing them with turbocharged V6 and four-cylinder engines that go farther on a gallon.

 

If all that doesn't have you seeing the writing on the wall, you'd better schedule an eye exam. Still, if there's a difference between today's golden age of performance and the '60s original, it's the ability of technology to ride to the rescue.

 

Discuss: Do you think the new regulations will really mean the end of high-powered cars or will technology come to the rescue once again?

 

At the Detroit show, I asked Lutz — the GM car czar who famously inspired the Dodge Viper while at Chrysler — whether this was the last hurrah for horsepower. And while Lutz has become a vocal supporter of hybrids, electric cars and alternative fuels, he said that cars like the Corvette would still find their niche. "At the height of the vegetarian craze, the grocery stores are still selling New York steaks," Lutz said.

 

Lutz's point was that some people will always find a way to go fast. But the future does look bleak for speed machines powered by gasoline. While it's too early to predict which fuels will be winners and losers, it's certain that there will be multiple players. Half the new cars sold in Europe run on clean diesel, and that impressive technology is finally on its way here.

 

Mercedes showed off a sumptuous diesel-hybrid S-Class sedan that delivers 44 mpg. Audi will almost certainly bring us a diesel version of its spectacular R8 sports car, combining 500 horsepower with a respectable 24 mpg.

 

Energy experts agree that the transition to alternative fuels will take decades. There will still be gas pumps 30 and 40 years from now. Car lovers will still be able to cruise their classic internal combustion machines, whether it's a '32 Ford Deuce Coupe, a '57 Chevy or today's hottest rides.

 

But the days of guzzling gas as quickly as you can hose it into your tank are over. Looking back 30 years from now, we'll know it was not only the right move, but the only move.

 

Lawrence Ulrich lives in Brooklyn and writes about cars. His reviews and features appear regularly in The New York Times, Popular Science, Men's Vogue and Travel + Leisure Golf.

 

i dont trust anybody who lives in NYC, doubtful if he even owns a car, uses public transportation,and tries to tell me what i can and cannot buy, and again...lives in NYC

[mciarochi]

You know, I've been driving since 1965, and the only time since I put a modified 327 in an El Camino that I had less than 300 horses under the hood was when I couldn't afford a car at all.

 

This dude refers to the "end of the muscle car era". When, exactly, did that end? Just because detroit didn't make them, doesn't mean that you couldn't make your own. Did auto racing lose or gain popularity? Why does he think that everybody (even Kia!) are promoting how much power they can pack under the hood? It's because enging strength is, and always has been, demanded by drivers.

 

I think some person, out of ignorance, simply confused "change" with "end". People have been dinking around with their cars since the '20's, non-stop. I see absolutely no reason to expect that they are going to stop in the future. You can buy muscle off-the-shelf, or get it from a catalog and bolt it in yourself. Just because one or the other is less accessible does not indicate that an "era" has come to an end, or even that it existed at all...

[cobrafan]

You know, I've been driving since 1965, and the only time since I put a modified 327 in an El Camino that I had less than 300 horses under the hood was when I couldn't afford a car at all.

 

This dude refers to the "end of the muscle car era". When, exactly, did that end? Just because detroit didn't make them, doesn't mean that you couldn't make your own. Did auto racing lose or gain popularity? Why does he think that everybody (even Kia!) are promoting how much power they can pack under the hood? It's because enging strength is, and always has been, demanded by drivers.

 

I think some person, out of ignorance, simply confused "change" with "end". People have been dinking around with their cars since the '20's, non-stop. I see absolutely no reason to expect that they are going to stop in the future. You can buy muscle off-the-shelf, or get it from a catalog and bolt it in yourself. Just because one or the other is less accessible does not indicate that an "era" has come to an end, or even that it existed at all...

I think most people recognize that there was a definable "muscle car era” We can quibble about when it started and ended, but generally, 1972 was it, and probably 1971. We are talking about a car that came direct from Detroit that was Big, Bad, and Fast. And we wanted our car to be bigger, badder and faster than anyone else, and Detroit gave us exactly what we wanted. It ended in 1973 due to government regulations. We all know the rest.

 

The defining difference this time is that our ability to own these cars will not be taken away; rather, it will be our ability to drive them. We will only be allowed on very special occasions, and that will be by special by permit only, to bring these onto public highways. In 10 years, our ability to use a car like these as daily drivers or even to take it out on a Sunday stroll will be legislated away by those in Washington DC, your state, and your city. All will have ordinances, permits, and taxes to keep these cars off the road.

Oh, you say, it will never happen. Think long and hard on that one. For those old enough to remember the 10's of thousands of lawsuits that were dismissed against the tobacco companies because nobody believed that anybody was so stupid to not know that cigarettes killed you. Well, they finally won. Why, 2nd hand smoke, good lawyering, and the beginning of the pervasive attitude that one is not responsible for his or her own actions, "it's always someone else’s fault, never mine". Today, in most states, you cannot smoke in public. Some cities, mine included, we can't smoke within 25 feet of a building or another person. Some states have passed laws that you can't smoke in the car with your kids. Others are reviewing legislation that you can't smoke in your own house if another person lives with you.

Oh, you say, this can't happen, this is American. Think again. Who ever thought that a city council would pass legislation preventing our brave young men of the United States Marine Corp from parking in front of their office to prevent them or at least hinder them in doing their jobs so that others that hate them and hate our country could harass them? Who ever thought a city council in the United States of America would pass legislation condemning the presence our Brave men in uniform from doing their job in their city?

This is all going to happen and we are just going to stand by and put another coat of Zaino on the car and park the queen back in the garage.

The fat lady on this "muscle car era” will also sing, but it is going to be a much different tune than it was the first time.

As the Boy Scouts say, be prepared.

 

As a side bar, I’m not a smoker, never was.

[Dropping__Chronic]

Gasoline drinking muscle cars probably are going the way of the dinosaur. But that's not to say man's obsession with speed isn't still going to keep on going.

 

If I could afford a Tesla, I'd buy one. Electric zero emissions and fast as hell.

 

There are teams in Denmark that are working on Hydrogen powered cars. Currently they have a fully hydrogen powered go-kart that is able to go 40mph and not burn any fuel.

 

They have a diesel hybrid electric that has a top speed of 155 that averages 116mpg.

 

Times are changing but the passions will remain the same. I look forward to advances in technology reducing/eliminating pollution and still give us all the tire screeching fun we are all fans of. Sure we might give up the V8 rumble, but fast is fast and that's what really matters in the end.

[cobrafan]

Gasoline drinking muscle cars probably are going the way of the dinosaur. But that's not to say man's obsession with speed isn't still going to keep on going.

 

If I could afford a Tesla, I'd buy one. Electric zero emissions and fast as hell.

 

There are teams in Denmark that are working on Hydrogen powered cars. Currently they have a fully hydrogen powered go-kart that is able to go 40mph and not burn any fuel.

 

They have a diesel hybrid electric that has a top speed of 155 that averages 116mpg.

 

Times are changing but the passions will remain the same. I look forward to advances in technology reducing/eliminating pollution and still give us all the tire screeching fun we are all fans of. Sure we might give up the V8 rumble, but fast is fast and that's what really matters in the end.

Well stated

[spice]

I seriously doubt that we are looking at the change from gas to electric or hybrid. What will happen to all the batteries that are in today's hybrids is one the biggest fears in the industry.

 

Gasoline is not the only solution and only fuel. Hydrogen has been touted as another fuel option but it is dangerous to fuel and to have in the vehicle due to it being highly flammable. Although the consuming of the fuel produces water - a overall positive.

 

Alcohol is a nearly free resource - it can come from any fruit, vegetable, or plant. So as farmers clear a field take the material and make alcohol from that, take rotten fruit and vegetables, even lawn clippings. There are so many more things than corn - gasohol. E85 is 85% alcohol - ethanol and 15% gasoline. Alcohol could be 100% but then there are fears of alcohol taxes and how to stop people from drinking it, so many believe it could only be 95-98% alcohol with some denaturing agent.

 

Alcohol if placed in to a Shelby GT500 would drastically increase the horsepower of the vehicle - today the engine demands 91 octane - E85 alcohol has a octane rating of 105. Think of a custom tune with the higher octane levels and how much that could improve the horsepower and torque numbers. True the miles to the gallon on alcohol is less - ever notice how quickly alcohol evaporates and why its used to remove water from things, so more would be consumed. My personal opinion is that alcohol based fuels and even more power from even smaller engines are in our future. But we must remember the gasoline industry is getting even more powerful and even more rich with the higher gas prices and that will be a hard industry to get around for auto manufactures as is was in the 70's gas crunch.

 

The drag car's running alcohol with 1000+ hp show the abilities of the fuel, we know the availablity is very good, it becomes an issue of how to get it out into the industry and replace gasoline - something that will be very difficult.

 

I choose a more positive outlook, I enjoy horsepower too much. :happy feet:

[INDYSHELBY]

Its all BS what percent of cars today are muscle cars? There are way more SUV than muscle cars. Back in the 70 it was BS no cars got good mileage station wagons had big motors as well as big sedans same old thing ,we have to attack muscle cars, just crazy