When I started high school there was a contest on about who could produce the most horsepower. Hemi's, Cobras and Rats, 0 to 60 times under 6 seconds. 300 plus horsepower. And guess what. The mayhem on the streets had the insurance companies lay down the law to manufacturers and muscle died, very quickly.

Enjoy it while it lasts. I can see trouble ahead. 500 horsepower pickup trucks doing 0 - 60 in 5.4 can only spell trouble. A bunch of drunk up country cousins are going to ram one of these into a bus load of Sunday school kids and the game will end. With the huge lawsuits making the papers these days, insurance companies are going to be far less tolerant than they were in the 70's.

On the bright side, I got my coupe and they can't take it away.

Live for today, life is too short to live for tomorrow!
Telegramsam

 

you are right on dude... in the 80's and 90's it was all about economy gas milage, now its about SUV's and Trucks and more horsepower...just like how large sunglasses and bell-bottoms are somewhat coming back into mainstream, just look at a few musicians and you will see what i mean
Life is a cycle anyway...enjoy the peak of it while it lasts....hahaha

<font color=blue>-Ramb<font color=red>0</font color=red></font color=blue>
Yeah, Mongolians!

 

Wow, I wasn't around in the musclecar days but I hope what you're saying doesn't happen (though I can definitely see it happening). Fingers crossed, glad I locked in a good rate!

 

Implementation of congressionally mandated emission controls and the quadrupling of gas prices killed the horsepower race, not the insurance companies.

lawman

 

Your point on emissions is correct, it certain did impact the industries ability to produce powerful cars The 55 mph limits that were imposed throughout the US also killed the enthusiast car. Your point on gas pricing is off though, gas was dirt cheap in the 70's and really did not climb until the mid 80's. Gas is at it's highest level ever now yet people are driving gas guzzling SUV's and high performance cars and trucks everywhere. I can tell you that in Canada, there is a movement building right now among insurance underwriters to deal with the horsepower issue. They will do it through increased premiums on high performance vehicles. I can also tell you that they "did" do it in the 70's. My insurance did increase more than 4 fold in a short period back then even though I was accident free.

I see by your handle that you are a lawyer. I suspect you may take issue with my argument regarding large injury claims killing horsepower. I guess all these lawsuits have nothing to do with my sons $ 5,700.00 per year insurance premiums (clean license, no fines or tickets, accident free driver with 3 years licensing) for PL/PD only. There is a law firm in our city that has an add on t.v. showing an accident with a couple of badly smashed cars with the slogan " is today your lucky day?" You wait and see what happens to the market for these high performance cars if the insurance premiums for people my age hit this level. Rumor has it that's where the rates are headed. I do hope that I am wrong and you are right though :-)

Live for today, life is too short to live for tomorrow!
Telegramsam

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Your point on gas pricing is off though, gas was dirt cheap in the 70's and really did not climb until the mid 80's.

<hr></blockquote>
You must've missed the Arab oil embargo in 1973 where the price of gas shot up.


<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Gas is at it's highest level ever now

<hr></blockquote>
Seems high to me too. But in the 70's my income level was $30,000 a year. I now make six figures. For me, and I suspect for most people, relative to income, gas is cheaper than it was in the 70's and 80's.



<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

I can tell you that in Canada, there is a movement building right now among insurance underwriters to deal with the horsepower issue. They will do it through increased premiums on high performance vehicles.

<hr></blockquote>

The main reason I didn't get a performance vehicle when I was younger was because I couldn't afford the insurance. Once I hit 25 (many years ago) my insurance premiums dropped like a rock.

Since 1995 (my mid-life crisis age), I've been a two car family. One has been a performance car and the other a family car. I've always paid higher insurance premiums on the performance cars, even though I was in my 40's in the 1990's and have since busted 50 wide open.

lawman