"King Kong" isn't always king!

We all say we want the ultimate version of any musclecar, but in reality it's often not true. I love the new Dodge Challenger, and the gearhead in me says get the 475 hp 6.4 liter SRT8 Hemi with the six-speed and 3.92 gears. However, I'm thinking about relocating to the San Francisco area from my home in Reno, Nevada because of an awesome job opportunity. I'd only be three hours away from my longtime friends and family. In reality, if I do buy a 2011 Challenger the extra 10 grand the SRT8 costs over the R/T, will make me buy the "Lesser" model. But hey-the R/T's  5.7 Hemi with "only" 370 hp will be enough for me, and since I'll probably spend a lot of time in Bay-Area rush-hour traffic, or commuting over Donner pass to see my kids and friends, the automatic and 3.06 gears will be the right choice for ease of operation and nice high-speed cruising. This happened a lot to buyers back in the glory days. That's why there are a lot more 383 and 440 Chargers and Road Runners than there are Hemis. I know two guys that had 1970 Mustangs. One was a Mach 1 with the 351 "Cleveland" and the other was a Boss 302. The guy with the 351C loved it, and kept it for 15 years. It was cool-looking, fast, the engine idled smoothly, the seats were comfortable, and the suspension didn't rattle your fillings loose. In other words, you could live with it every day. The guy with the Boss 302 sold it in less than two years. The stiff clutch made city driving a chore, and the 4.30 gears made the engine buzz at 4,000 rpm on the freeway. Plus, the solid lifter 302, while undeniably fast only made power between 3,000 and 7,000 rpm. I also knew two guys who bought early '70's big-block Camaros. One went nuts and ordered a Motion Phase III Camaro. These were even beyond Yenko models. This one had the vaunted LS7 454 which featured 12.25:1 compression, a solid lifter cam that was hotter than the either the L88 or LS6 grind, Hooker headers and sidepipes ( with or without slip-in glasspack mufflers ) a Muncie M22 Rock-Crusher or specially-prepped Turbo 400, and 4.56 or 4.88 gears, and Lakewood traction bars. Deending on driver skill, these were low 11 or high 10 second cars. The dealership my dad worked at raced one, and with only the addition of slicks, it ran 11.01 at the drags! The other guy got a regular 396 Camaro with 3.42:1 gears, 10.25:1 compression and a hydraulic cam. Same thing, the guy with the "mild" 396 model loved it.  The Phase III buyer hated it. It idled about 2,000 rpm, pinged on premium fuel, and you could not time it. If you backed the timing up where it didn't ping, it lost a ton of power. If you timed it where it ran good, it tried to ping itself to death even on 100 octane gas. It got 5-8 mpg, obviously because of the 4.88 gears. The Hone overdrive was supposed to reduce the gear ratio to 3.42, but it could only be engaged in high gear, if it engaged at all. The traction bars made the ride stiff. And you could not take off with street tires. Below 3,000 rpm, the engine would bog. Above 3,000, and the car would light the tires up all through  first and second. The buyer just checked the biggest number on the option sheet without realizing what he was getting into,- a race car with liscence plates. He traded it in on  a hydraulic-cammed, 8.5:1 compression, LS5 454 72 Corvette with an automatic and 3.36 gears and was happy as a clam. So go ahead and dream, but if your going to drive the car at all, in reality a 390 hp 427 Vette might make you happier than an L88 or ZL-1.  Mastermind