pony car comeback?

[8bit]

Will the V8 pony car ever return as the sort of vehicle that sells in the tens of thousands, or will it be resigned to being just a niche product bought by the rich and old?

Traditional pony car

http://www3.sympatico.ca/f.bevil/My1970Swinger340.html

http://www.er3.com/firebird/

http://www.fast-autos.net/ford/fordboss302.html

[mbossman2]

while there is a certain market for low to mid range v8's, the price of gas and their overall poor fuel economy will throttle back the sales of cars like this.

[Hi Ho]

The Mustang is still selling in the tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands, in fact. I think the Corvette is still in the tens but I'm not sure. I don't know how much of a comeback they will make because of the rising cost of gas and the pressure to make more fuel efficient vehicles as well as find alternative sources of energy. Ford is working on conventional internal combustion engines that run on hydrogen. If they bring that concept to production some day it may bring back big V8's without the restraint of emmissions output. The only by-product is water.

[Tin]

pony cars arent the same as they were 35 years ago. back then, a guy right out of highschool with a halfway decent job could afford a brand new one. now you have to be 40, single, and bring in 40k a year .

[8bit]

The Mustang continues to do well by being a moderately sized car and at 4.6 liters the V8 versions aren't excessive. GM probably made the mistake of letting the F body get too large, expensive with a 5.7 engine. If they had a 3,000 lb 4 liter V8 powered rear driver for 25K that might be an alternative to an EVO or WRX. But, yes, you have to be quite rich to buy something like a new GTO.

[Hi Ho]

Another point to bring up is the cost to drive those things. I have a friend that stuggles to pay for gas because he has an old Mustang that gets about 8 MPG. I get 45 MPG in my Civic. My truck gets 8 MPG and that's why I don't drive it so much. I'd love to have an old Mustang but not as my primary car. It's just too expensive to drive. What really cracks me up are the people that buy Civics and think they are sports cars. They most definetly aren't. I can't help but laugh when I see cars like mine with giant picnic tables (spoilers), giant coffee cans (mufflers) and neon lights. It's just hilarious. Those are what young people are growing up to know as "muscle cars".

[j4ck]

They call those Rice Burners where I am from Hi Ho. I am not sure if that is a regional term or not...

[Hi Ho]

That's exactly what they're called here too.

[Karnevil9]

I think they will be just a niche for the old and fair to do. That is who the auto makers are targeting when they market them. These are the same cars that appealed to people like me in the 60' and 70's when I was in my teens and early twenties. They still appeal to us but now we also make the money we need to be able to own one. They recently had a report that the majority of Harley owners are over 50. I think that is a main reason that the 2005 Mustangs are a retro version of the 60's mustang.

[8bit]

That sounds logical, but maybe if GM tried the affordable approach with the F body it might still be with us. Instead sales declined as they kept pumping up the spec and price. The trouble with a Harley is that if you make it too contemporary it stops being a Harley, so its stuck in its niche. But the Fox Mustang was a different sort of car than the original Mustang so maybe you have that scope to reintroduce a car.


The source of retro

http://bradbarnett.net/mustangs/time...nBoss302-6.jpg

http://bradbarnett.net/mustangs/concept/71boss302/

http://www.nastyz28.com/camaro/camaro70.html

http://www.geocities.com/wrenchplus/73xtra.html

http://www.angelfire.com/mi/jamos1/index.html

http://www.sd455.com/transam.htm

[Outshined]

The new Mustang isn't too bad...you can see the influence of the older models.

http://www.fordvehicles.com/2005mustang/home.asp

http://bradbarnett.net/mustangs/concept/s197/

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....rticle_id=7691

300 horses isn't too shabby, either.

[HAL9000]

I'll wait to win the lottery and buy a Chrysler ME-412