Modern Supercars

[69hurstSC]

With 707 HP Hellcats and mega HP Shelby's now being mass produced it's easy to forget about some of the modern supercar ancestors. IMO, the modern muscle car era began with the Turbo Buick's of the 1980's, but the modern Supercar era began with Saleen and Roush Supercharging Mustangs in the early 2000's. Here is my 2001 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 convertible (1 of 73) and my brothers 2001 SLP Pontiac Trans Am Firehawk (1 of 137). Let's see some of your modern supercar pics!

[old5.0]

Great cars, but starting with them leaves out a lot of significant cars from the previous 2 decades, I feel. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img]

[earntaz]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: old5.0</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Great cars, but starting with them leaves out a lot of significant cars from the previous 2 decades, I feel. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img]</div></div>

Yep -- and they are not &quot;built&quot; !! A lot of the people that own these &quot;modern supercars&quot; only have the $$ to buy them and their mechanical abilty goes as far as being able to twist the key. Most of these vehicles wouldn't stand a chance garnering attention in the show arena when placed with hotrods/muscle cars from the past ... Just sayin' but to each their own. TAZ

[RPOLS3]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: earntaz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Yep -- and they are not &quot;built&quot; !! A lot of the people that own these &quot;modern supercars&quot; only have the $$ to buy them and their mechanical abilty goes as far as being able to twist the key. Most of these vehicles wouldn't stand a chance garnering attention in the show arena when placed with hotrods/muscle cars from the past ... Just sayin' but to each their own. TAZ </div></div>

Sometimes true and sometimes not.

Just look at what the LS crowd is doing, many times in their own garages just like the old days.

One thing I can tell you is that now is a great time to be a car guy looking to buy a new performance car. My wife's new 2015 SS Sports Sedan daily driver with a bone stock LS3 is the fastest car in our stable and will embarrass both our modified big block Chevelle and modified Turbo Regal.

I definitely agree nothing gets attention like a 60's/70's musclecar though.

[Lynn]

&quot;Let's see some of your modern supercar pics!&quot;

So, guessing you are talking 2000 and newer, either factory or tuner built, street legal cars.

While I certainly agree with Taz's sentiment regarding $$ vs. talent to build, there are those of us who appreciated cars in BOTH arenas. I personally believe there is room to enjoy both types. Besides, the same type of argument could have been made in 1967 when some rich kid went and bought a L-88 Corvette and beat his buddy who spent all summer tweaking the 265 in his 55 Chevy. The kid with the Corvette displayed as much talent building his car as a kid buying a Ferrari today.

Are we limited to &quot;mercan&quot; cars? Like it or not, there are definitely lots of &quot;other&quot; supercars out there.

[9SECONDYENKO]

I have a 2002 GMMG Hot Rod Magazine edition car #1987 a Black hard top with a red hockey stripe does this count as a modern supercar? I just can`t figure how to upload pictures.

[old5.0]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lynn</div><div class="ubbcode-body">&quot;Let's see some of your modern supercar pics!&quot;



While I certainly agree with Taz's sentiment regarding $$ vs. talent to build, there are those of us who appreciated cars in BOTH arenas. I personally believe there is room to enjoy both types. Besides, the same type of argument could have been made in 1967 when some rich kid went and bought a L-88 Corvette and beat his buddy who spent all summer tweaking the 265 in his 55 Chevy. The kid with the Corvette displayed as much talent building his car as a kid buying a Ferrari today.
</div></div>

Agree with this 100%. Old cars weren't always old, and a 66 GTO would have drawn little to no attention at a car show in 1966, either.

My comment was simply meant to point out that this style of supercar existed before 2000, not to disparage the cars that came after. The Saleen SC, SSC, and SA10, the SAAC cars, Steeda drag package cars, the GT40 package cars from Tommie Vaughn Ford in Houston, the Stage III Dominator Mustangs from Summit Ford in KC, the Crawford Quarterhorses... a lot of neat iron gets left out of the conversation. I guess it's true that several of the above weren't actually street legal, since they were built before emission compliant hop up packages were common, but they were built and sold to customers all the same. Some people, like Summit, got in trouble for doing so which makes the cars even cooler in my opinion.

[PxTx]

The 1992 SAAC factory 460hp car Charley sold to my buddy Anthony. Very limited production, hand built by Steve Greek while at Watson Engineering with Holbrook engine work. Neat car!

[69hurstSC]

Well, the beginning of the modern supercar era certainly is a debatable topic. It all depends upon how you want to define &quot;supercar&quot;. 1993 Cobra-R Mustangs and Buick GNX's were factory offerings, though Ford did outsource some of the work on the 93's to Creative Industries. And the argument could be made that the era of the supercar never ended either, as cars continued to be offered by Yenko (Turbo Z) and other outfits throughout the 70's and 80's. So, I'll recant my statement on the early 2000's being the starting point of the modern supercar and simply state that &quot;here are a couple of cool modern super cars&quot;.

Now, let's see some more pics!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: earntaz</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: old5.0</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Great cars, but starting with them leaves out a lot of significant cars from the previous 2 decades, I feel. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img]</div></div>

Yep -- and they are not &quot;built&quot; !! A lot of the people that own these &quot;modern supercars&quot; only have the $$ to buy them and their mechanical abilty goes as far as being able to twist the key. Most of these vehicles wouldn't stand a chance garnering attention in the show arena when placed with hotrods/muscle cars from the past ... Just sayin' but to each their own. TAZ</div></div> <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: old5.0</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lynn</div><div class="ubbcode-body">&quot;Let's see some of your modern supercar pics!&quot;



While I certainly agree with Taz's sentiment regarding $$ vs. talent to build, there are those of us who appreciated cars in BOTH arenas. I personally believe there is room to enjoy both types. Besides, the same type of argument could have been made in 1967 when some rich kid went and bought a L-88 Corvette and beat his buddy who spent all summer tweaking the 265 in his 55 Chevy. The kid with the Corvette displayed as much talent building his car as a kid buying a Ferrari today.
</div></div>

Agree with this 100%. Old cars weren't always old, and a 66 GTO would have drawn little to no attention at a car show in 1966, either.

My comment was simply meant to point out that this style of supercar existed before 2000, not to disparage the cars that came after. The Saleen SC, SSC, and SA10, the SAAC cars, Steeda drag package cars, the GT40 package cars from Tommie Vaughn Ford in Houston, the Stage III Dominator Mustangs from Summit Ford in KC, the Crawford Quarterhorses... a lot of neat iron gets left out of the conversation. I guess it's true that several of the above weren't actually street legal, since they were built before emission compliant hop up packages were common, but they were built and sold to customers all the same. Some people, like Summit, got in trouble for doing so which makes the cars even cooler in my opinion.</div></div>

[old5.0]

Okay, I know it's a little older, but check this out:





Quick history lesson. Summit Ford in Kansas City was a high perf. oriented dealer and as soon as the new 5.0 HO engine came out in 82, they immediately started modding them with 4 barrel carb conversions, bigger cams, and even ball-drive Paxton blowers. By 83, the idea had coalesced into a series of packages, Stage I, II, and III. I and II were a series of bolt-ons, but the Stage III was a different animal altogether (emphasis on &quot;animal&quot.

The engines were pulled and sent to a local speed shop where the stock pistons were trashed in exchange for forged, domed TRW slugs which bumped the compression up to 12:1, the heads were ported and oversize valves installed, a big solid lifter cam replaced the stock stick (not 100% sure on brand, but I've heard Iskenderian), and a non-emissions Holley was perched on the factory aluminum intake. The smog was ditched, long tube headers and a home brewed ram air kit were installed and the whole mess was topped off by a water-meth injection kit and MSD ignition system. The package was good for low 12's on the stock tires, and 11's on slicks (and remember, this is 1983.)

Only 27 Stage III's were ever built, and at present there are two documented survivors. One is a GT hatchback, the other is the loaded GLX convertible pictured above. The convertible was ordered new by an Overland Park surgeon and Porsche collector who liked the styling of the Mustang and thought that a Stage III vert would make an entertaining driver and save wear and tear on his Turbo 911's. As it turned out, though, the Mustang was more car than the good Doctor was used to, and a much milder engine was swapped into it. Even so, the Doc only drove it once or twice because, as he said, it was insanely fast, so much so that it was more scary than enjoyable. It rested for years amongst the Porsche's in his garage, and is an extremely low-mile time capsule. Likely the only one of it's kind ever built.