As a muscle car magazine here in the not-so-new millennium, we tend to focus on factory-stock examples of the classics and the determination of what is correct for a particular make, model and year. This has been the basis of the muscle car hobby since at least the mid-1980s, and it has continued to evolve to the point that today, the levels of restoration we frequently see are above and beyond what the factory would have been able to produce even on a sunny spring Wednesday after a union contract victory.
Similarly, the intricacy and accuracy of available production information relative to each model is more extensive now than ever before. Increasing parts availability and the refinement of restoration techniques only serves to further facilitate the resurrection of these now decades-old machines.
Yet in spite of that dedication to abide by the manufacturers' specifications, it's difficult to completely separate these cars from the pursuit of performance. It's what they were originally intended for, and it's what appealed to most of their original buyers. Doesn't it figure, then, that some of these cars would still be the subjects of alterations in the name of improved capabilities?
By many accounts, the average muscle car buyer in the late Sixties would leave his car stock only long enough to get it home. At that point, the tinkering would begin, perhaps starting with a super-tune and gradually moving on to bolt-on speed equipment. In extreme cases, the engine would be out of the car before much time elapsed.
That said, a somewhat ironic aspect of today's muscle car hobby is that many of those same guys--the ones who, back in the day, drove off the dealer's lot and straight to a muffler shop to install headers while mounting up their Cragars or Americans--are the ones who will cry foul if they see a similar car with the wrong valve-stem caps on a show field. Sure, they were "kids" back then and, in theory, are older and wiser today; perspective changes matters. Perhaps they recognize now that those cars ran pretty good just the way they were, and so regret their youthful tweaks, but the complete lack of tolerance for non-stock equipment today is still somewhat surprising considering where it's coming from.
Perhaps a good compromise is illustrated by the guys who try to squeeze the most from what the factory provided, as illustrated by the Pure Stock Drags covered in this issue. Without exception, racers are held to stock parts and pieces, and the results are eye-opening: It's not uncommon to witness 12-second times from moderately equipped models, with some of the top-gun cars diving into the 11s. Then there are the Factory Appearing/Stock Tire (F.A.S.T.) racers, who maintain a stock appearance while concealing stroker cranks and extensively ported heads and manifolds. Even acknowledging these enhancements, the 10-second times that are becoming increasingly frequent are still astounding.
Acceptance of these types of modified muscle cars is fairly broad, which is easy to understand, as the F.A.S.T. cars most often appear as high-level restorations. But more obviously altered cars still represent a significant portion of the hobby, and we try to provide them equal exposure in these pages with our Modified Muscle features. Of these, the most polarizing seem to be the ones that can be categorized as modernized muscle--vintage steel merged with up-to-date drivetrain and suspension upgrades in an effort to match the multifaceted performance of contemporary sports cars.
It's not hard to understand the motivation for such projects; most of us have become accustomed to a level of handling and braking from our daily drivers that would shame the average late-Sixties American sedan. These shortcomings can become apparent when the "fun" car is taken out on a weekend and suddenly that on-ramp, so often encountered and managed without incident during the daily commute, starts to make itself known as antiquated tires lose the battle against inertia.
Muscle cars are supposed to provide an involved driving experience, one that may compromise comfort, but not performance, so it's no wonder that lots of the hot-rodding types who tend to own these cars seek to improve their cornering and stopping prowess.
Our cover car this month falls into this grouping. It was spawned to take on late-model Corvettes, European sports cars and Japanese exotics in competition during cross-country road rallies, and thanks to well-sorted upgrades, it's a 40-year-old competitor that doesn't need to make excuses for its age. It's fair to say that most of us wouldn't want to modify a factory Daytona much, if at all--they're rare, valuable and well suited for preservation. However, creating the look of one, as this standard Charger does, and then coupling it with outstanding performance that can stack up against a variety of challengers seems like suitable justification for its substantial deviation from factory.
Overall, we like the thought of that beak filling some Bimmer driver's rearview mirror on the approach to a road course chicane. It's good to know that a big, burly muscle car can be intimidating on racetracks other than drag strips.
This article originally appeared in the January, 2010 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.
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