The guy on the bike gets my vote for the biggest cahunas in the group. I maybe still fresh from my situation but if someone blew a tire, and swerved, what would happen to him?

I'm with you on this! And while I appreciate the effort that Porsche is putting forth with the Cayman GT-4, $100K for a 400hp mid-engine sports car isn't quite the revolution that I was hoping for.

Better join another forum 1st! From what I hear unless you love driving by wire, (virally) you will soon become bored riding in a GTR while the car drives itself. :(

Not sure what "days" you are referring to. In 1954 "ish" a Pontiac engineer invented the individual stud mounted rocker arm with ball pivot. This increased valvetrain rpm limitations. I believe Chevy used them on their engines in 1955-present. About 1964 Malcom McKeller designed the Pontiac exclusive, overhead cam straight six engine as directed by John Delorean who wanted a economical engine with good power for their new economy car, the Tempest.

The only example I can think of is the Cadillac Northstar engine 4.6L 300HP 1994? Oldsmobile was allowed to use the engine for it's new Aurora a few years later but was limited to 4.0L & 250 HP. In 1997 Olds had a contract with Shelby American to build the Shelby Series 1 to be sold in Oldsmobile dealer showrooms. (Not your Fathers Oldsmobile) We had to use the 4.0 version engine. Power could be increased but C.I.D was limited to 4.0L. Custom cams, exhaust headers & PCM by Delco raised power to 327HP. We could use just about any GM suspension parts except for the recently introduced C5 Corvette.

Sheets on the bed? you're getting too fancy RN.


On the issue of power, Juan Pablo Montoya did an interview discussing his personal car collection not too long ago. He's had all manner of Porsche, Ferrari, GTR (b-day gift from wife), etc. He says the HP is getting out of hand and now avoids these cars on the street. For a guy who has driven all manner of car to the limit, and has plenty of experience in taming such beasts, it really makes you wonder. When he drove for McLaren we had a friend in common who told he said that the V12 whatever Mercedes engine was simply "not safe" for the lead-footed public.
Being that he does most of his personal driving around Miami, I can see the concern.

Out of hand or foot
 

I think we all wish for more HP from time to time, I think if I had a 981 S it would just about be all I would ever need...heck my 01S hos more power than I ever really use..once I had it to 145 ( and that was no big effort)...once and will never do so again unless I am trying to out run a tornado ( our State Animal here in AL)

The 981 S is just over 300HP , probably 290ish to the wheels but mostly the non concern of the IMS "Feature" porsche gave us would be mind settling.

My car will corner better than anything I have ever owned including my E36, it spends most of its life at 3K RPM on the road doing 60 MPH

If I was going to have an American Muscle Car, it would be a Challenger.\
When the Big 3 did the redo a few years back of the 70's cars, only Dodge kept it true to form. The Camaro looks like Godzilla stepped on it and squashed it, The Mustang is pretty good, but Dodge hit it out of the park, at least styling wise. Put a 70's Challenger next to a new one and they look almost the same. The new one is updated slightly, but very true to form.

As far as 700 HP, well it will be really fact in a straight line, but our Boxsters will run circles around it on curves, even with a 3rd of the HP. Hell, the 0-60 time isn't that impressive considering the HP and Torque. A new 911 turbo is faster with a lot less HP

Owned one
 

Back in the middle 70's I had two Dodge Chargers, one was a cherry 318 Engine that was just a decent car...the4 other was a 440 Magnum with a 6 Pack....used gas like it only cost 32 cents a gallon......hey it did ;-)

But they were not that great of cars, the interiors left a lot to be desired, both mine seem to start rusting almost as soon as they had 5 thousand miles on them. Differential problems ...more out of the 318 than the 440 Mag.

Most people do not remember what it was like to dispose of a car when it hit 85K because it was worn out.