Mustang's or owners?

When I was a "yute" 400 HP was a magic number, anything over was sent from heaven. 406 Fords started at 385 and went to 405, 409 Chevys went from385 to 425, Chrysler 413s went to the Magic number. Today, bone stock pickups come from Ford with 450 HP. A 6 cylinder Toyota has better 1/4 mile and 0-60 times than a Fuelie Corvette from the 60s. Of course ya'll know why those cars are so rare today, we tore em up, wrecked em, blew em up, and they ended up in the junk yard. 1968 I bought a new SS Chevelle 396-375 4 speed car for $2,725, in one year it was puffing smoke outta both exhausts. So, I bought a new 69 with the same equipment for $2,825. When I sold it a year later it had a distinct Knock down deep.
We showed up and tore stuff up....kinda like they do now. It just cost a little more.
 
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Honesty, its young guys letting their ego get ahead of their skill. Young, inexperienced guys with way more power than they know how to handle. They hammer down on the go-pedal, and panic when it starts going sideways.

Now days, every dealership lot has a number of 400hp or better cars to choose from. Some kid who's never driven anything like that is bound to get into trouble.

I've owned two mustangs, and only lost control of one of them once. About a week into owning my 03 GT, I spun out in an intersection while trying to make a turn too fast on wet pavement. Pride hurt, but lesson learned. I've still got the car, and I still enjoy driving it. But I learned to respect its boundaries and to know what I can and can't do.
 
I bought a truck with 385ish at 22 and never had a single issue. The truck drove so well I made my stepson sick in the mountains going through curves. I done a lot more stupid stuff on dirt roads with a four banger. Luckily there was never a camera around.
 
GoWolfpack said:
So, how old should someone be before they are allowed to own a 400 horsepower car?

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It’s not that they shouldn’t be allowed...I just don’t think anyone should be surprised by them wrecking cars and running into crowds.


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Both my parents autocrossed when I was a kid & the old man taught me how to steer with the throttle early on. I keep thinking about a Challenger R/T Scat Pack, but with 485hp & 6-spd manual trans, replacing those 275/40-20s is gonna be breathtakingly expensive.
 
When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in a big empty parking lot figuring out how my car behaved in various situations. I could afford to replace tires, I could not afford to replace cars.
 
I got a '93 Cobra (fox not Shelby) when I was 21. Worked my ass off to pay for that car and the insurance. Drove it several weeks before I ever turned it over 3k rpms. I felt I needed to respect the power by learning the quirks of the car before I beat on it. Wasn't a powerhouse like these cars today but was fast enough to wad up if you didn't know what to do and when to do it. Then again maybe I was just lucky...
 
Infamous1 said:
I got a '93 Cobra (fox not Shelby) when I was 21. Worked my ass off to pay for that car and the insurance. Drove it several weeks before I ever turned it over 3k rpms. I felt I needed to respect the power by learning the quirks of the car before I beat on it. Wasn't a powerhouse like these cars today but was fast enough to wad up if you didn't know what to do and when to do it. Then again maybe I was just lucky...
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Luck has nothing to do with it. You were mature enough to understand you had something that could be an issue if you didn’t respect it.

At 17 I had an 1100hp RX7. I never wrapped it around a tree because I knew not to drive like an idiot. It’s not hard to have something with power and not wreck it, even when you’re young.


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GoWolfpack said:
So, how old should someone be before they are allowed to own a 400 horsepower car?

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Its not a question of numerical age, but of maturity. Some kids figure it out young. Some guys are pushing 40 and still trying to live like a high school senior. Just like guns, cars require a level of care and respect, and some cars are far less forgiving than others.

But if you're only a few weeks out of taking drivers ed in the county-owned Civic, you're probably not going to have a good day when you slam the go pedal down on a brand new GT mustang coming out of a corner.

Flipping through my old high school yearbook, I can count over a dozen guys who never made it to 25 because they put a car or motorcycle into a tree, barrier, truck, etc. In almost every case, they thought they were 10 feet tall and invincible. Physics proved them wrong.
 
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dman24 said:
I done a lot more stupid stuff on dirt roads with a four banger. Luckily there was never a camera around.
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Some of the best driving lessons I have came from driving dirt roads as a kid/teen with curves and playing around. What I learned early on there has saved me many times later on in slick situations.
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
CC, if this is Even a small deterrent , you are shopping over your head Brother.
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Oh yeah. Definitely. Really just day dreaming & my inner child is a juvenile delinquent hooligan that absolutely can not resist the temptation to grip it & rip it. Learned my lesson with hot rod motorcycles years ago & finally overcame my need to constantly scare the crap outta myself.
 
BurnedOutGeek said:
is it the mustang, the owners or both?

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So the newer gen mustang's run a traction control system that does not fully disengage, and most dont have a true LSD, they use torque vectoring. I think a similar system has been used since 2005, maybe slightly there before. That combined with inexperienced drivers is a great combination to create awesome video footage.
Oh and the terrible suspension isnt helping
 
Skaufma0 said:
If I'm not mistaken I believe they were still using leaf-springs in the rear until a couple of years ago...
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Well it was 1978...

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Lol

1979 went to 4 link
1999 Cobras went to independant
2015 went independant across the board
 
Infamous1 said:
Well it was 1978...

Lol

1979 went to 4 link
1999 Cobras went to independant
2015 went independant across the board
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I just remember one of the big complaints of one of the Shelby's was that it was leaf-spring rears...that may have been in another market though. I seem to remember it was Top Gear reviewing it and showing leafs under it, might have been 2007?
 
Jp8819 said:
Some of the best driving lessons I have came from driving dirt roads as a kid/teen with curves and playing around. What I learned early on there has saved me many times later on in slick situations.
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Same here.

One of the first things I did when I got my license and first car ('69 Cougar XR-7) was find some gravel roads to slide around on. Learned to hook the ditch with the inside front right quick. All I learned during the many years I spent on dirt bikes before getting on 4 wheels translated almost directly to handling the car. Non-riders often scoff at that notion, but it's all about being able to feel the machine and manage traction.

Most people have no clue how to manage a skid. They may have been told to "steer into the skid" in driver's ed, but they've never done it.
 
Y’all have gone a page and a half on this, and nobody has addressed the most glaring issue...

Why is there an apostrophe in Mustang’s in the topic title? :confused:
 
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